Sir Kerry Burke to tackle Heathcote River

[Sir Kerry Burke is standing for election as a Councillor for the Spreydon Heathcote Ward in the October elections. One of his key policy points is to give greater priority for cleaning up the Heathcote River. Here, Sir Kerry explains why.]

The character of much of our Spreydon – Heathcote Ward derives from the Heathcote River. Its condition is not as good today as it was in earlier years. There are far fewer fish and too many planned sewage spills. We can and must do better.

Leadership at any level of government or in a business or family is about setting priorities because resources are always limited. Greater priority should have been given to the river that defines the Ward.

The current City Councillors' priorities have been misplaced, spending $17 million rescuing a troubled private business and planning to spend $30 million more than is necessary to build a bus exchange. In all of this, the river has been forgotten.

Policy interventions do work. Ten years ago I was on a panel that recommended that ECan develop a project to help people meet the costs of converting their homes to cleaner forms of heating.

Since 2003 the Clean Heat Project has helped 17,000 households to convert. It has been a brilliant success. People in our hill suburbs can see the improvement in the city's winter air quality from their homes and all of us can smell the difference. We need similar thinking for our river.

The river and the hills were safe, healthy playgrounds for me and my friends when I was growing up in Opawa. I want them to be clean and accessible to you today and for every generation. It's a priority for me.