News
As a local democracy reporter in the South and in Central Otago, and thanks to the beauty of advanced technology, I watch a lot of meetings online - Invercargill City, Central Otago district and Otago Regional councils.
I’m a born and bred Southlander and I often say to people that reporting on issues in the South from the safety of my home in Alexandra actually gives me a better perspective, because I’m not emotionally involved and the decisions made by the ICC don’t affect me personally.
I’d like to think the old saying still stands, “you can take the Southlander out of Southland but you can never take Southland out of the Southlander.” My family history runs deep in this province and I still have an active interest in what’s happening down your way.
whatsoninvers.nz founder Mike Sanford found me back in the first Covid lockdown when I wasn’t actually doing any reporting for anyone. He convinced me to start writing again - my work establishing websites for companies and writing business profiles had come to a half. I thought I would give reporting another go.
As an SIT journalism graduate of 2001 - you could almost call me a veteran (although not quite like Peter Arnett - who the course was named after). You never quite forget how to spot a good story - having a ‘nose for news’ is something that stays with you for life.
What’s on Invers has never received any Government funding from NZ On Air and must almost be one of the ‘last independent media standing’ in this game. Now the funding has run out but we’re still here. Thanks for sticking by us.
Back in 2020 we followed Covid-19 with interest and dug a bit deeper than mainstream media to find ‘real’ stories - the doctors who refused to tow the line and those who had become vaccine injured (myself included). We started publishing the stats from Medsafe and ACC and we watched every minute of the Wellington protest. And then came the attacks from people accusing us of being anti-vax. They even got quite personal. We stopped reporting the facts. The risk just wasn’t worth it. We knew the truth would come out eventually - and it did.
Back to 2024 - we’ve enjoyed following the Invercargill City Council with interest, and obviously it came as a shock to us when Mayor Nobby Clark had a heart attack and went into surgery almost a year ago.
When he came back early after two months in early 2024 and jumped straight back into the fire, we knew things were going to get interesting.
Those ‘slip of the tongue’ comments got him in an awful lot of trouble but luckily two cardiac specialists found he was suffering from brain fog and he was off the chopping block.
Other interesting stories we enjoyed covering was the Zookeepers elephant that came out of hiding after 25 years.
https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=zookeepers elepha
Yes I was around actually living in Invercargill as a student when that thing was here. It now takes pride of place on the verandah at Invercargill Central.
When Paul Clark closed his successful cafe on Tay Street in 2019, the iconic corrugated iron elephant on the roof was sold to the developers of the new shopping centre.
Paul said he paid a fortune for iron sculptor Jeff Thomson of Wellington to create the African elephant back in 1991, and never told anyone how much it cost.
“Six thousand dollars was a lot of money back then. We drove up to Wellington and picked it up and then put it up on the roof with a forklift and tied it down… Southland weather and all.”
In 2016 the elephant received a bit of a spruce up, because after 20 years on the roof it had started to deteriorate quite a bit.
The elephant has never had a name, “he’s just the elephant,” Paul said, but he is specifically African because of the size of his ears.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and continues to support us in 2025. Keep an eye out for more interesting stories from the South in 2025.