Coastal advisory panel

Appointed chair of the coastal advisory panel in April 2021.

Rt Hon James Bolger was Prime Minister of New Zealand from October 1990 to December 1997. During his 25-year career in politics he led the National Party for almost 12 years, was a Minister for 16 years and had three consecutive terms as the country’s head of government. He is a member of the Order of New Zealand (ONZ) and a former Ambassador to the United States. He currently holds a number of key governance roles including Chairman of the International Advisory Board of the World Agricultural Forum and Chairman of the Gas Industry Company Limited. He is also a member of the Te Uruwera Board and a Treaty Negotiations consultant. He was the Chancellor of the University of Waikato from 2007 to June 2019 and was Chairman of Mt Cook Alpine Salmond Ltd, NZ Post, Kiwibank and KiwiRail among other companies.

Kia ora, I am a student of Victoria University of Wellington, currently undertaking my Masters in Ecological Restoration with an additional focus on development studies. I have strong interests in the social and ecological responses to climate change, as well as effective altruism and community development.

Having been a Kāpiti local for all 21 years of my life, my love for our environment and the Kāpiti community drew me to the coastal advisory panel position. I am looking forward to learning from everyone and collectively finding a solution that benefits both our community and the environment we call home.

I have spent a significant part of my career in public sector management working with seven local councils in the Manawatu, Waikato and Taranaki regions. Along the way I continued my education firstly completing the NZIM Management Diploma and then a Master of Public Policy degree from Victoria University of Wellington. My wife and I moved to the Kāpiti Coast in 2002 to be closer to family based in Wellington. From our base at Paraparaumu Beach, I continued my career path working with governments, a not-for profit organisation, working as an independent consultant and as co-director of community engagement company, Engagementworks Ltd.

My current voluntary community service includes being a member on the KCDC Community Liaison Group for Kāpiti Airport, Board Member and Secretary/Treasurer for Kāpiti Living Without Violence and as an interviewer/Treasurer with Kāpiti Citizens Advice Bureau.

Membership of the coastal advisory panel provides me with an opportunity to contribute to one of the most significant challenges confronting our community – the impacts of climate change.

I look forward to learning more about our changing environment, how we will be affected and to working with our community to develop responses that ensure the ongoing safety of our district for both present and future generations.

In August 2021, 195 governments formally approved a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that includes the most detailed scientific review so far of future changes in sea level. This clearly supports planning frameworks that have been established in some countries to consider sea level rising by one metre or more in the next hundred years. However, local effects of this on coastal erosion and flooding back from the coastline are still not well known.

In 2008, I established Victoria University of Wellington’s Climate Change Research Institute that has developed methods for planning in the face of uncertainties. These need to be part of a social networking process that brings together a range of views on when and how to respond in proactive ways.

 My wife Janine and I have made the Kāpiti Coast our home since 1995, and our children have attended local preschools and schools here. I was born in Whanganui and I am of Māori and European descent. I have tribal affiliations across the central North Island from Whanganui to the Hawkes Bay and also English and Irish heritage.

My work has been at senior levels in the service of New Zealand, in public service and the military. I have governance and management experience handling complex and high value projects.

My interest in the Takutai Kāpiti coastal advisory panel is based on its community engagement remit: enabling our communities to be better informed about the risks, threats and exposure of climate change along the Kāpiti Coast and enabling ‘Kāpiti Coasters’ to have an influential role in shaping adaptation strategies here. To preserve the character of the Kāpiti Coast as a place to live, work and play over the short, medium and longer term we have a collective responsibility to work together and share our knowledge, skills and experiences. As a community, we can prepare for and adapt to a rising sea level and coastal change (accretion and erosion).

Susie is from Waikanae Beach where she lives in her family home which was built in 1962 not far from the Waimeha Stream. Approximately 10 years ago following concerns with coastal erosion, she helped form the Field Way Dune Restoration Group. The group has been involved in restoration work around the Waimeha Stream supported by the Kāpiti Coast District Council. She is also a member of the Coastal Restoration Trust of New Zealand.

Susie has a law practice in Waikanae where she now works part time as a consultant. Her primary focus has always been land subdivision and historical property work, alongside a general law practice. She is also a member of the Waikanae Volunteer Fire Brigade and a founding trustee of the Kāpiti AED Trust. She is also known within the local art community with her involvement in glassmaking.