Mission statement

From personal dealings with the Tasman District Council, Christin and Mathias Schaeffner experienced what they would call a lack of duty of care in regards to democratic decision making on a local government level. This extends to concerns about quality assurance, public participation and access to information. This unarguably affects all ratepayers and residents. It puts the social, economical, environmental and cultural well-being of the community at risk.

A number of people in our community do not have the capacity to effectively deal with local government issues due to barriers, be it financial, cultural, emotional or others. This was the starting point of Tasman Democracy.

Tasman Democracy is a non-profit organisation that advocates for the interests of the community and provides a way that the voices of the “voiceless” are heard. We encourage and support open debate, freedom of speech and access to information. We try to bring people together so that they work collaboratively on solutions for the whole of the community.

Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier advocated for an oversight organisation for local authorities at the Governance and Administration Committee on 20 November 2019. Until such an organisation is in place, Tasman Democracy tries to fill this gap.