And the results are in...

Whangarei District Council

Whangarei has a new mayor and six new faces around the council table. In a close race for the mayoralty, two-term councillor Ken Couper beat the incumbent Vince Cocurullo by 435 votes.

In the Urban Ward, Marie Olsen topped the voting and is joined by newcomer Brad Flower, re-elected councillors Nic Connop and Paul Yovich, and Crichton Christie, who is returning as a councillor after a six-year absence. Carol Peters lost her seat, as did Jayne Golightly. 

Clear choice emerges - election 2025

Three issues have emerged as key election issues during the campaign: Rates, the role of councils, and co-governance. 

Two camps have emerged offering very different perspectives, and a clear choice for electors.

In one camp are those who want the council to focus on core infrastructure and keep rate increases to no more than the rate of inflation, either through a rate and debt cap or by undertaking a comprehensive review of costs to eliminate non-essential spending. Included in this camp are sitting councillors Marie Olsen, Simon Reid, Paul Yovich, and Jayne Golightly; and candidates like Susy Bretherton, Steve Martin, Paul Grace, Matt Yovich, Dave Baldwin, and Crichton Christie.

Opinion piece by Frank Newman: THE PODIUM OF PROMISES

A 𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐍𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐮 (Thursday, 15th August) reminded me why so few people engage in local politics. It was underwhelming and, in hindsight, less attractive than an evening in front of the telly.

The public, of course, was smart enough to know that, which would explain why so few attended. Those who were present were largely candidate hangers-on, with a fair number of greenies adoring the Saints of Wokeness who spoke from the podium of promises.

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.

Greens target mayoralty

In February, Green Party co-leader, Chloe Swarbrick, committed her party to “getting more Green-aligned people into local government positions next year”. It is making good on that promise in Whangarei.

Letterbox understands the Green Party has shoulder-tapped a high-profile candidate to contest the Whangarei mayoralty, and work has begun to build their profile.