One term and out: Mager reflects on council frustrations
Bonnie Mager believes under the current system councils end up with people who had the privilege of being able to afford to do it, which did not necessarily reflect the entire community.
Bonnie Mager says it was at about the six-month mark when she realised it wasn’t working.
In 2019 Mager decided to stand as a councillor for Environment Southland. She was successful, and somewhat bucked the trend.
Mager was one of just two females elected and was 19 years younger than the next youngest councillor at the table.
Even in the lead up to the election that youthfulness and willingness to think outside the square shone through with her “put a tick in my box” election campaign.
The video was a spoof of "Dick in a box", a song by The Lonely Island comedy group.
Mager went into day one of her time as an Environment Southland councillor with plenty of enthusiasm. She has a bachelor of science in zoology and geography and felt she had something to offer, not just by bringing some age diversity to the table as a then 32-year-old.
But that enthusiasm started to subside.
Mager said she discovered a system that was not set up for younger people. Both in terms of working the local government role around a career, and simply having any cut-through at the table.
“I didn’t think I was going to get in. It was more to make other people aware that we have a regional council and people should pay attention.
“When I got in, it became really obvious how restrictive it is for certain types of people to be involved, I think.
“Not just being on the council but also the conversations and consultations, it’s all set up in such an old school way.”
Mager said they would have a couple of all day 9am to 5pm meetings in a week, on top of the required reading in between meetings.
For a younger person trying to perform the role of a councillor properly, as well as holding down a career, it was unrealistic, she said.
The system lent itself to having a council made up largely of older people who might be retired, or at least had some flexibility with their time, Mager said.
“It was originally designed for retired people right, to give back to their community. It is still very much designed for people who have time during the day to do this.”
After one term, Mager decided it wasn’t working. To be frank she also found the whole process “boring”. Mager opted not to stand again for a second term.
So, what can actually be done to allow more younger people the chance to be involved in local government and help with that diversity quest?
“I try not to be negative, but I don’t think you can. I don’t think it’s realistic. Particularly if you’ve got a career or a young family, it’s such a barrier.”
“Maybe technology could make it better. But the way they Zoom they don’t do it well, if you are on Zoom you are basically not participating because they never look at the screen.”
“I think one of the biggest barriers is the pay, but then you don’t want people who are just politicians, you want people who understand the communities in different ways. The pay is less than a fulltime job, but if you were to do it well - and I was really conscious I was never able to do it well - you would have to do it fulltime, and it just doesn’t pay a fulltime wage.”
Mager believed under the current system councils ended up with people who had the privilege of being able to afford to do it, which did not necessarily reflect the entire community.
On top of making it work time-wise, Mager said she found challenges in having an impact given she was much younger than her colleagues.
She said she had good support from fellow councillors Lyndal Ludlow and Robert Guyton but otherwise felt she struggled to have any cut-through.
“When you are so much younger than everyone else you are going to have quite different opinions, and you are kind of by yourself sometimes. If there’s not a majority, you can’t do anything anyway. I found it quite frustrating.”
While she was on the wrong side of plenty of votes she hopes her voice at least got others around the table thinking about her views.
Mager was also pleased she got to work with Youth Councils and bridged that gap between the youth and those that are representing them around the Environment Southland council table.
But it circles back to the feeling that under the current system, Local Government might always be a domain largely for older people.
Is that just the way it will always be?