WITH NOMINATIONS now closed for the local government elections to be held in October, it is time to start taking some real interest in the candidates standing and policies they support.
Voters across the country will get to choose 1,600 elected representatives – including mayors, regional councillors, local councillors and an array of local and community board members. Voter turnout at local body elections is abysmal – only 41.7% bothered nationwide in 2019.
It appears apathy is always the biggest winner at local body elections and most of us have negligible interest in the candidates standing. Surely we should all be asking what these people stand for, if they have the experience, professionalism, commercial, strategic and political nous to be effective leaders capable of delivering value for money for the services we pay for.
Many of us claim to treasure local democracy, yet we can’t be bothered to vote. Meanwhile, those who do take to trouble to put their hand up for election (and who would want the kind of invasive public scrutiny of silly schoolboy antics one new MP is currently experiencing) are often perennial candidates or political party lackeys.
For farmers and those living in the regions, we face a current government that is hell-bent on making sweeping changes to local government, with the very existence of some councils under threat.
The Three Waters reforms continue unabated, despite a great deal of opposition. This will put control of critical local infrastructure in the hands of unelected and hard to hold to account entities, likely headquartered far away from rural New Zealand. Farmers and rural voters should be supporting candidates opposed to these changes.
There are also moves for district planning functions to be regionalised, which will leave some provincial councils with little left to do. With the Government’s ‘review’ of the future of local government not winding up until next year, poor local election turnouts will give it ammunition to force amalgamations of local councils.
If you believe in local democracy and the value of regional representation then it is up to you to seek out candidates who support these concepts and vote accordingly – or risk losing it.