Before us were candidates for the mayoralty and ward candidates from the NRC and WDC, general and Maori wards (although none of the NRC Maori ward candidates turned up).
Most of the speakers started by attempting to demonstrate an empathetic connection with the local community, like how their second cousin's grandfather used to collect kai moana from a local beach. Most said it with sincerity, which suggested they actually thought we might be interested. And I guess, those who want to know about irrelevant nonsense would have found it interesting.
To their credit, some of the candidates chose not to waste their entire three minutes and did eventually get to the point of why we should vote for them and not someone else.
Mayoral candidate, Ken Couper acknowledged people were “hurting financially” and said he “felt” for them, which is ironic given it was he who inflicted the hurt by voting for the outrageous rate increases of the last three years. Maybe Ken was hoping most people would not notice how he actually voted.
More direct and to the point was Marie Olsen, who was one of a few candidates who identified the problems and came up with solutions. It didn’t go down too well in the green seats, but elsewhere there were nods of agreement.
Incumbent mayor Vince was his Energiser Battery Man self. As the figurehead of a dysfunctional troop of councillors, he has a difficult job trying to convince people who have just received their latest rates bill that he has done a good job. Nevertheless, he has been in politics long enough to do what most politicians would do in a tight spot and talk for three minutes without saying anything worth mentioning in a column about the meeting.
Brad Flower, followed in a similar vein, and seemed happiest when he got onto his pet topic – roading. Brad reckons he has some experience in that area and knows more about putting down a good layer of tar seal than the people who actually make the roads. Those in the green seats wanted to know more about cycle ways and T2 bus lanes, but the petrol heads in the room seemed interested. One of the more entertaining cameo performances came from a disgruntled mother ranting about misogyny because her daughter had, she claimed, been excluded from a boys' soccer team that Brad has some sort of loose connection with. It became even more comical when Brad was foolish enough to attempt an answer when an experienced politician would have let the matter lie.
Fiona Green got a warm round of applause in general acknowledgement that she was braver than most of us for having the courage to get up in front of an audience and talk about the needs of the disability sector. As interesting as it was, I could not help but wonder where her second preference votes would fall.
As far as local councillors were concerned, local greenie councillor McKenzie reminded us that he has one child in the local daycare and the other at the local primary school. He said he loved being a councillor and he would really like to do it all again, because he doesn't have a real job anyway.
When asked why he voted against the public having a say about changing the voting system from FPP to STV, he avoided the question and instead said 15 councils were using it because it was so great. He did not mention STV is not used by 63 councils, because no one understands it, so voter turnout usually drops after it is introduced. He also did not mention that STV is a Green Party policy because it favours minority candidates promoted by the loony left.
He eventually got around to sort of answering the question – why did he not see any need to consult with the public? His answer: Because he didn’t need to! Perhaps Cr McKenzie, like former PM Ardern, thinks he is the sole source of truth and knows what’s best for the public, even when the public doesn’t agree.
These people are dangerous, not in a physical or aggressive way, but in their disregard for the fundamental principles of democracy: One being that it is electors who should have the final say about how they elect their representatives, and another being that the role of a representative is to represent.
As far as the local ward candidates were concerned, all seven spoke about council getting back to basics, the only difference some thought “basics” meant infrastructure and property services, while others, like Chantelle Armstrong, thought (to the delight of the green seats) back to basics meant “People Place and Planet”.
In stark contrast to PPP Chantelle, Susy Bretherton was clear, to the point, and realistic. Steve Martin, namesake of the comedian, did not offer any jokes but spoke common-sense stuff that would have appealed to the farmers - had there been any in the audience. The green seats were not impressed – they don’t like cows.
The mix and mingle after was no more inspiring than the main act. The Mayor and another sitting councillor heartily recommended I chat to two individuals barely out of their teens, huddled at the back of the hall. Both are standing in the Whangarei Urban ward and were said to be the rising stars of local politics. So it was with elevated anticipation that I elbowed a direct path to the future.
“What are the key issues you are campaigning on?” was my first question.
After two minutes of garbled waffle, I offered an answer: “You mean, back to basics?”
With a nod of agreement, I did a Jack Tame follow-up: “Anything else?”
“Oh, property development, like Ken Couper said”.
“You mean like Oruku Landing?”
“Yes”, came the reply.
“So you agree with Ken that $23 million of ratepayer money should go into a project that 80% of ratepayers do not support, and a project that would become an annual cost to ratepayers and a significant benefit to a private developer?”.
“Ummmm, urrrr, I may need to do some more research”, came a tentative reply.
I concluded the rising stars of local politics should spend 20 years in the real world before even thinking about gaining a position of influence over ratepayers who are better informed and wiser than they are. Apparently, the only thing going for them was their youth and the idiotic idea that more young people should be on councils for no other reason than they are young. Cr Connop shows the folly of that.
Unfortunately, the chairman of the event ruled out an innocuous question about the Maori wards referendum, but when challenged could not explain why. Disallowing discussion about the most important political decision of this election is disgraceful. Perhaps that little hot potato is a little too hot for him to handle.
Conclusion: I wonder what I missed on the telly?