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Elderly widow has warning for
minister New
Zealand Herald, August 7, 2003 An
elderly North Shore woman at the centre of Judith Tizard's grilling in
Parliament over the Auckland Regional Council's rates rises has some
political advice for the Auckland Issues Minister. Janie
Farquharson told the Herald: "If she wants to stay in Parliament, she
better do a lot of thinking ... because, believe me, she won't have a seat
there next time. "I
much prefer her mother." The
88-year-old Takapuna resident's comments came as Ms Tizard, daughter of
former Governor-General Dame Cath Tizard, continued to be bombarded in
Parliament about the effect of the ARC's rise on superannuitants and its
effectiveness in improving public transport. Ms
Tizard said that while she felt sorry for Mrs Farquharson, there was
nothing the Government or Parliament could do. She
said that "Mrs Farquharson and others like her have many more choices
than some other people who live in Auckland north". Ms
Tizard was later heckled about whether ratepayers such as Mrs Farquharson
were being forced to take on the cost of a "debilitated" rail
system. "If
we want a better one, then we will have to pay for it," she said. Mrs
Farquharson has an $8500 combined rates bill. Since being contacted by Act
MP Deborah Coddington, she has been used in Parliament as an example of
how the rates rise is hurting superannuitants. For
64 years, Mrs Farquharson has owned and lived in her Takapuna beachfront
house. She and her husband bought the house in 1939 for £605. Now,
with multimillion-dollar houses all around, her property is worth around
$2.7 million. Every
year the rates bills have crept up, angering the widow who looks after her
blind 63-year-old son, Max. "When
you buy a home anywhere, you don't imagine that people are going to charge
such exorbitant rates" Mrs Farquharson said. "When I first
bought this place, it was just a paddock with a house." "Fancy
living to be this old and be talked about in Parliament ... But I'm so
tired now. "I
don't like the public life, I enjoy the private life." An
ARC spokesman said that by 5pm on Tuesday, 75 per cent of ratepayers in
North Shore and Rodney - the first areas to be sent bills - had paid. He
was unable to say how many had been paid in full and how many had taken
the 10 per cent monthly instalments options. Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging |
