Campbell: Electioneering should be put on hold
“I think we councillors were elected with the expectation that it is a three-year term, rather than two plus a year for electioneering."
Invercargill deputy mayor Tom Campbell says the council has plenty of work ahead of it this term and believes councillors should put electioneering on hold.
The Invercargill City Council will on Tuesday hold its first meeting for 2025 - an extraordinary infrastructure and projects meeting.
Campbell is one of two people who to date have confirmed they will stand for the Invercargill mayoralty at October’s election. The other is Alex Crackett, with Ian Pottinger also expected to announce he will stand.
The looming election - with the prospect of a new mayor - will attract some attention throughout this year.
Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark has acknowledged some current councillors may look for a point of difference - particularly around rates - in the lead up to the election.
Campbell hopes any electioneering is held off until later in the term.
“I think we councillors were elected with the expectation that it is a three-year term, rather than two plus a year for electioneering.
“So, I’m going to resist the temptation to come out with my own manifesto until mid-year,” Campbell told The Tribune.
“The current Council has a number of horses running that I’d like to drive over the line in the next six months, without being distracted too much by the election.
“In particular we need to drive down any rates blowout and that is my first priority.”
It has been suggested the Invercargill City Council may require an 8.5% to 10.5% rate rise for 2025-2026 to continue as it is. Mayor Clark has made it public that he wants to get the rates increase down to 2.3%, in line with inflation.
The rates setting is more than likely going to surface as an election issue as some candidates look to position themselves in the eyes of the public.
While Crackett decided to announce her mayoralty bid before Christmas, and also outline her priorities for next term if she became mayor, Crackett said she would “just keep doing what I’ve been doing” as a councillor in the final year of the term.
“The reason why I came out before Christmas to join him [as a candidate] is I genuinely believe that [standing for mayor] takes commitment, and it takes a demonstration of commitment,” Crackett said.
“But quite like Tom said, I’m still going to continue giving it everything [this term].
“The mahi has never stopped, you are elected for a three-year term. For me, it most certainly is not electioneering. It is just me doing exactly what I’ve done for the last nine years.”
There is still nine months until the Local Government elections in October. Although Mayor Clark has noted for the final three months of the current term the council isn’t able to make significant decisions before the new council takes over.
Clark has confirmed he will not stand for re-election.
While it is eight months to the local body election and still too early to draw any conclusions as to likely Mayoral Candidates, Councilors, or a team made up of a mayor and a group of Candidates as we had for 2022. It is time to begin considering how the new council in 2025 would be most effective and what combination of skills are required to progress the city. And indeed what "progress" would mean.
Has the team approached worked, I would say no. While there may be a voting block on Council, I'm not convinced it has delivered a coherent policy platform. It may be an issue of the personnel involved, a mayor who sort headlines and controversy, and a number of councilors who were voted in on the basis of being members of a team. In at least two cases, they are clearly not up to the task.
Tom Campbell has said he is more concerned with business as usual at the moment, which is reasonable, however I'd hope he has gained some skills and understanding regarding the functioning of council as his previous experience at Rio Tinto has virtually no relevance.
Alec Crackett, would appear to have a number of years of relevant experience and would again, appear be a new start as a leader for the city, however her ability to activate an on-line poll will add up to a "hill of beans" if she doesn't have a team of people to get the vote out.
Iain Pottinger the other probable mayoral candidate, would seem an experienced and capable option but unless, or until, he declares his candidacy, it is all a bit hypothetical.
Then we would need a group of capable and selfless Councilors who are interested in serving all of the community, not just the rate payers. That could well be tougher again than getting an effective Mayor elected.
Still, we have this exceptional thing called democracy, so we have to make the effort to make this work.