Waipā ratepayers fly two officials to France for museum opening

Tuesday, 28 February 2023

Two Waipā District Council officials will visit the opening of New Zealand War Memorial Museum and Visitor Le Quesnoy, France, in October this year (file photo).

Waipā ratepayers will pay for two elected officials to fly to France for the opening of a New Zealand War Memorial Museum and Visitor Centre in October -including one who once abstained from the vote to help pay for it.

Mayor Susan O’Regan and Cambridge Community Board Chair Jo Davies-Colley will be visiting Le Quesnoy, a sister city of Cambridge for 23 years.

Waipā District Council, on Tuesday, authorised staff to book economy class air travel as soon as an opening date is confirmed.

Ironically, O’Regan had abstained five years ago, when a councillor, from a vote on Waipā ratepayers funding the museum to the tune of $150,000 .

The total budget for the trip is anticipated to be under $10,000, which would include two return air tickets, connecting travel to Le Quesnoy and accommodation if needed (there may be private hosting), and meals.

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The link between the two towns has its foundation in the liberation of the French walled town by New Zealand troops on November 4, 1918. Stained-glass windows in Cambridge’s historic St Andrew’s Church depict Kiwis scaling the walls by ladder.

New Zealand troops entered the walled town using ropes and ladders, rather than grenades and mortar fire, ensuring there was no loss of civilian life.

The battle involved the loss of 135 Kiwi lives.

Jim Mylchreest, mayor when the funding was approved, had conceded the museum would be of no direct benefit to ratepayers and while district councillors had approved of the funding, current mayor O’Regan, then a councillor, had abstained from voting on moral grounds.

At the time O’Regan said she believed the New Zealand Wars should be at the forefront in terms of relevance to Waipā, rather than the battlefield of Le Quesnoy.

'I have difficulty with investing that quantity of money offshore and out of our district,' she said four years ago.

O’Regan said she still stands by her comments made in 2018, but ultimately the decision of early release of the funding was a collective one.

“Protocol is we support the outcome irrespective to what our views are on it.

“That happens quite regularly.

“Now the project is coming to conclusion and there is very clear expectation, I understand from authorities, that mayor of our district will attend.”

In a report tabled at Tuesday’s council meeting staff advised there was an expectation from Le Quesnoy officials as well as the New Zealand Memorial Museum Trust, that Waipā officials attend the opening.

Sibling rivalries

Palmerston North celebrated its 40-year link with Missoula, in the United States, in November with one of the most American of pastimes: A hot dog-eating contest.

Invercargill councillors last year voted to spend $30,000 hosting a delegation of 13 from their sister city of Kumagaya in January.

New Plymouth spent $90,000 on a garden, also in Kunming in 2013 after its sister-city ploughed $300,000 into one to beautify its Kiwi sibling in the early 2000s.

Correction: An initial version of this story stated Susan O’Regan had voted against Waipā supporting the Le Quesnoy museum financially. She abstained from the vote. Amended 4.45pm, February 28, 2023.