ABOUT US
WHY WE EXIST AND WHAT WE DO
Why Lobby for Good Exists
Too many important issues fall through the cracks.
Marine facilities. Police accountability. Public land sales. School support. Local infrastructure. Each one affects real people, yet the pattern is often the same.
Deny.
Delay.
Deflect.
Discredit.
Communities are left in the dark. Decisions happen out of sight. And when the truth finally surfaces, it is usually too late to change the outcome.
Lobby for Good exists to change that.
We investigate. We mediate. We bring sunlight into systems that rely on silence. We help shift power from back rooms to public view, and we make sure decision-makers are held to account.
When people speak up, something should happen.
Not just in headlines.
Not just in promises.
In Real, Tangible, Actual Change.
If you want decisions in New Zealand to be transparent, fair, and accountable, join us.Your voice matters.
Your membership gives us strength.
And together, we can make sure the systems meant to serve the public actually do.
ABOUT US - THE FOUNDER STORY
Written by: Erika Harvey
I never planned to challenge councils or national policy. I was working in corporate and startups. I enjoyed solving problems and building things. Politics was not on my list.
Everything changed when our daughter Piper was diagnosed with autism. We needed more flexibility as she prepared for school, so my husband and I made a big call. I left my full-time job, the job that paid most of our bills, so we could start a family fishing business. His family had fished in Tauranga for generations. Joining the family boat made sense. The council’s plans for Tauranga’s Marine Precinct looked solid, long term, and well documented.
We backed ourselves. We backed the council’s vision. We bought a house.
But once we were there, the truth was different. Decisions were happening out of sight. The public story did not match the reality. And at the same time, our local school told us Piper would need to be picked up at lunchtime every day because funding was too tight.
We kept meeting with stakeholders to rebuild trust and it looked like council was finally moving forward. The wharf was in the annual plan. The signals were positive - trust was finally being re-built. It felt like everything was on track.
WHATS POSSIBLE WHEN WE WORK TOGETHER?
That question became the seed for Lobby for Good.
I worked on the idea throughout lockdown and launched it in May 2022 with a video that shared the journey. My goal was simple. If people and politicians worked together in good faith, we could fix things that had been stuck for years. I genuinely believed that better relationships would lead to better decisions.
We believed the problem was solved, but it found its way back through the process again, enabled by Government-appointed Commissioners.
Story continues below....
BUT THE MARINE PRECINCT STORY WASN'T OVER.....
In 2022 life had other plans. After ten years of being told natural conception was unlikely because of Piper’s birth, I found out I was pregnant in my forties. By 2023 I was on maternity leave.
And while I was home with a newborn, the council was at it again, this time under the governance of government-appointed commissioners.
The process was almost impossible to see from the outside. I thought there was nothing to worry about. After everything we had worked through, and everything they now understood about our industry, it seemed impossible that anything could go wrong. We had spent years in “consultation”, countless meetings through the Marine Precinct Advisory Group, and an internal investigation had already confirmed the need to rebuild trust. No one could have imagined something so blatant, with terms so poor for the work boats and ratepayers, would ever get this far. I still struggle to understand how it happened, or how there could be such disregard for the time, effort, and commitment that went into keeping this land in public ownership for future generations. I never expected they would move ahead without us.
Then we discovered what was happening behind the scenes.
They hired a lawyer known for securing specific outcomes for clients, and who had previously worked with the council in a local law firm. By bringing him in house, the work became “internal”, which changed the rules around oversight and transparency. It meant major decisions were shaped behind closed doors, with no public tender and no meaningful scrutiny.
On paper it was legal.
In practice it removed the safeguards that keep public decisions honest.
Even if you watched every council meeting, you would not have seen it. You would only see the final outcome, not the full pathway that produced it.
That was when I learned the truth about consultation. It can become a box-ticking exercise, and it does not always have teeth. Communities can speak, but their input does not need to be used. Legal and ethical are very different. And public good is not always the driving force behind decisions unless you have strong community-focused elected members.
We followed the system. We followed the process. We raised the alarm with political parties, MPs, Ministers, and agencies.
Still no investigation.
Still no accountability.
The financial strain, the time cost, and the emotional toll were immense. And while raising a newborn, it became clear that the issue was bigger than one decision or one council.
People were not just fighting bad outcomes.
They were fighting bad information, incomplete advice, and processes designed in ways that made transparency optional.
That was the turning point.
WHY LOBBY FOR GOOD, LOOKS DIFFERENT.
When I started Lobby for Good, I thought the problem was a lack of connection between people and politicians. I believed that if we listened better, shared stories, and built trust, the system would shift.
That is still part of the work. But it is not enough.
The real issue is deeper.
If leaders are making decisions based on inaccurate, incomplete, or biased information, the outcomes will always be flawed. Communities feel unheard not because they are quiet, but because the system filters what reaches decision-makers.
That is why Lobby for Good has changed.
WE'RE BUILDING A NEW MODEL THAT:
• gathers real data and evidence
• exposes where information to elected members is wrong or missing
• tracks patterns, not one-off mistakes
• supports communities with tools, not just stories
• operates independently, without relying on political favour
• builds membership strength so no one stands alone
• partners with organisations who value transparency and accountability
And we are preparing for 2026.
Not as a small advocacy project.
As a collective with enough membership, data, and partnerships to influence national conversations and fix patterns that have gone unchallenged for too long.
Lobby for Good began as a bridge between people and decision-makers.
It has grown into something stronger.
A way to shine light on systems that are failing people, and a way to help communities push for change together.
This should never have happened to us.
It should not happen to anyone else.
And with the right people behind this, it won’t.
