Joanna McLeod

Auckland Council’s Annual Plan 2026/2027 takes effect in July and basically determines the council’s services, activities and investments, and how it will pay for them. The council wants your feedback on its overall plan for the year, plans for your local community (there are 21 local boards that invest in local priorities), changes to rates, fees and charges, and planning input on the future of Auckland.

Tamatha Paul (Ngāti Awa, Waikato Tainui) has always openly lived with disability and chronic illness. But things did initially feel a little different talking about disability as an MP. Eda Tang speaks with Tam about disability identity, community, and using her voice more as a disabled Māori wahine.

Story by Joanna McLeod Where do I start to tell this story? Five minutes to five thirty p.m.? That morning? The night before? Maybe I should start it on the midnight ferry, where we sat in a corner, near a mob of bikers, and I lowered my voice to read Douglas Coupland aloud. The bikers still listened in, some laughing, others annoyed at my encroachment on their territory. Later I laid down on the floor, the boat gently rocking, engines vibrating and humming beneath me, my head on my bag, and I slept.