Ben Bell: 'We all look back and realise mistakes were made'
New Zealand’s youngest mayor joined prime time national television show The Project on set on Tuesday night where he was quizzed about his tumultuous start to his Gore mayoralty.
Ben Bell admits he “came in hot” at the start of his stint as Gore’s mayor and on reflection says he probably should have taken more time to make change.
New Zealand’s youngest mayor joined prime time national television show The Project on set in Auckland on Tuesday night where Bell was quizzed about his tumultuous start to his Gore mayoralty.
The 24-year-old fell out with long-time council CEO Steve Parry, and also with many of his council colleagues.
It led to a request for Bell to resign and a notice of motion was put forward around a proposed vote of no confidence in Bell.
However, that wasn’t acted on as Bell and councillors agreed to move forward while an intense national public spotlight hovered over the council.
The Project panel asked Bell why some council colleagues were after his resignation so early in the term.
“I came in on a mandate for change, so there was a lot of change from that first instance,” Bell told The Project.
“Me being there was a change enough, coming in for a mayor that had been there for 18 years.
“I also came in and kicked down the door and wanted to change committees and things like that.
“I came in hot, so on reflection, I could have taken a bit more time to install that change. But that’s what you learn through a bit of reflection.”
He was asked how he emotionally dealt with that challenging period which involved plenty of conflict.
Bell acknowledged it was “pretty tough”.
“Coming into this role I thought I would find out about the world as it is and politics, but I definitely learned more about myself and how I deal with my mental health, and when it does get overwhelming to take some time back.
“I’m a big bike rider and going to the gym, but also hanging out with friends and things like that. It’s all the simple stuff, it sounds cliche, but it really does work.”
Bell was asked by host Kanoa Lloyd if his council colleagues looked back and were embarrassed by the way they behaved.
“I wouldn’t say embarrassed, I think we’ve all looked back and realised that mistakes were made, and we could have done things differently. But we’ve all been adults and got into a room and talked things through and found a way to move forward together.”
The Gore mayor was also asked, despite the political drama, whether he had been able to implement some of his ideas at the council.
“Politics is a slow game I’ve discovered. We haven’t got recycling going yet which is one of the things we are working on, but we’ve got the new library open.”
Was hardly a game changing interview,actually it was a lets mock gore pantomine