MEET THE POLITICIANS

Meet the candidates for the mayoralty, ward councillors and Waitakere Ranges Local Board at the Glen Eden Business Association’s event on August 30. The meeting starts at 7pm at

Glen Eden RSA, Glendale Rd, Glen Eden. Mayoral candidates Phil Goff, Vic Crone and John Palino will attend. The evening will be hosted by Fringe editor Ed King and questions for the candidates are welcome from the audience. All welcome. Refreshments will be provided.

RATES PROMISES

Three candidates standing for council out west have promised to keep rates down. John Riddell, David Rankin, standing in the Waitakere Ward, and Anne DegiaPala, in the Whau ward, have vowed to support no measure that would increase rates on average more than 2 per cent a year, the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance says. A total of 25 candidates across the city have signed.

ROUNDUP ‘SAFE TO USE’

Glyphosate is not likely to be a cause of cancer, the country’s Environmental Protection Agency says. The weed-killing chemical that was first sold as Roundup has been labelled by the World Health Organisation as ‘‘probably carcinogenic to humans’’. But in June this year the EPA manager Ray McMillan said the EPA had newly reviewed the evidence and it disagreed with the WHO. ’’We ensure risks are managed by setting controls which cover how, when and where it should be used, and by whom,’’ McMillan says.

CLIMATE ACTION

Auckland’s greenhouse gas emissions per person decreased in the four years to 2013, the council says. Although they rose by 0.9 per cent, there was a 5 per cent increase in population and an 8.4 per cent increase in GDP. Per person emissions have decreased from 7.6 to 7.3 tonnes each year. ‘‘This is a small but very significant achievement for us because you would expect a rapidly growing city to experience increased emissions and it’s just the opposite,’’ Mayor Len Brown says. The council’s target is for a 40 per cent reduction by 2040.