Sparks not seeking re-election
Community lawyer and Kawerau district councillor moving on
Kawerau will lose one of its district councillors at this year’s election and the Eastern Bay one of its longstanding community law advisers. David Sparks has filled both sets of shoes in recent years, but having moved to Rotorua in January, he will not be standing for re-election to the Kawerau District Council.
Having lived in Kawerau off and on for about 16 years, Sparks said he had a lot of time for the town and would keep up with his many contacts in the community.
He has served two terms as a councillor, describing it as “an interesting journey”.
“It’s quite time-consuming. It’s not just a case of attending meetings but you’ve got to keep up with the reading matter and also you tend to get involved with workshops and committees as well. You have to be prepared to put the time in, but it’s worthwhile to serve your community. I would like to think that my legal background has helped. You tend to discover quite a few interesting things along the way.”
One of the roles he was most pleased with during his time on council was being chairman of the Crime Reduction Forum which meets every three months.
“The forum has members from police, Neighbourhood Support and Corrections. The thrust of it is about combating crime and initiatives. I like to think I’ve been a bit influential in some of those discussions.”
He said the “spectre of amalgamation” with other councils was one of the obvious challenges facing not just Kawerau district, but other districts nationwide.
“Local government is going through a very turbulent time with the Three Waters Review, and the Local Government Review as well, and I can’t help but think that smaller councils may well face an amalgamation.
“The major one of course is Three Waters because we feel the bill is misconceived. We don’t have any objection to a water regulator, Taumata Atuwai, but with these large entities they’re talking about, effective representation and community voice will be lost. We believe the Internal Affairs figures have been skewed, not properly analysed. We commissioned an independent report which said there were a lot of flaws, and it will be an increased cost for the ratepayer.
“There is a push, at the very least, to get any implementation of the reform postponed until after the general election. Whether that will succeed, remains to be seen.
“At the end of the day, it’s really expropriation of council assets. In Kawerau we’ve managed our water resources very efficiently. We also point out that we are unique in that we have no debt.”
Recently, the council has had Zoom meetings with councils in Victoria
and Tasmania.
“It was interesting that in both states, after their water reforms, the number of local authorities fell due to amalgamation. I don’t think that’s coincidental.”
Sparks said he did not think he would look to stand as a councillor in Rotorua.
Originally from Auckland, Sparks qualified in law in the late 1960s and was a partner in law firms in Auckland Whakata¯ne, South Waikato and O¯ po¯ tiki.
Though he no longer holds a legal practising certificate, he said he didn’t need to because he worked in what the legal profession refers to as deregulated areas. He became involved with Baywide Community Law in 2007, which offers free legal advice and was with them until 2020. One of the things he enjoyed most about this was regular radio segments and articles about legal matters.
“I always tried to put myself in the position of a lay person and try to demystify the law because, all due respect to the legal profession, some of us are not too good at not using jargon.”
At the age of 77, he classes himself as semi-retired but doesn’t know if he will ever stop working entirely.
He says his new home is just five to 10 minutes from his new job at the Rotorua Community Law Centre, where he works two to three days a week.
“One thing about the law is that a lot of lawyers go on until their 80s. I know a retired High Court judge in Auckland, he’s still doing mediations and arbitrations and he’s well into his mid-80s. That’s not uncommon.”