Jacindamania arrives and a council squirms
SEPTEMBER: Until August, New Zealand was sleepwalking towards another general election.
Bill English’s National-led Government was odds on to win a fourth term, as Labour limped along under Andrew Little’s leadership.
Then Little stepped down and Jacindamania arrived in the form of 37-year-old leader Jacinda Ardern, shaking up politics like never before, although she looked disappointed on election night when Labour was well behind National.
But this is MMP and she needn’t have worried.
In Palmerston North, the seachange was reflected in Labour narrowly winning more party votes than National, a stunning turnaround from three years ago when National was well ahead.
There was never any real challenge to Labour MP Iain Leesgalloway’s hold on the Palmerston North electorate. He defeated National’s Adrienne Pierce by 6400 votes. NZ First’s Darroch Ball also made it back to Parliament on his party’s list.
Labour’s Adrian Rurawhe kept Te Tai Hauāuru, National’s Nathan Guy comfortably won Ōtaki, while National’s Ian Mckelvie again romped home in Rangitīkei.
After what felt like the longest campaign in years, late September became a poltics-free zone as NZ First leader Winston Peters, holding the balance of power, waited for the final results before coalition negotiations could begin.
Before the September 23 polling day, the election dominated and the Manawatu¯ Standard gave Palmerston North electorate hopefuls the chance to nut out important local issues at a candidates’ debate.
Mental health, child poverty, employment and the closure of State Highway 3 through the Manawatu¯ Gorge were the main topics covered in the 90-minute discussion, streamed live on Facebook.
While many organisations encouraged public discussion, Midcentral District Health Board gagged one of its employees, ordering her not to attend a church-run social justice forum in Palmerston North a fortnight before the election.
The mental health worker was expected to be part of a community panel running alongside a general election candidates’ debate. But, she was told by the health board this could undermine her political neutrality as a state sector employee so close to an election.
Perhaps her absence said it all.
The gorge road closure was seldom far from the headlines in 2017. In September, sleep-deprived and constantly shaking Ashhurst residents were told by transport officials a bypass around the town to the Saddle Rd might not be open for months.
Later in the month the NZ Transport Agency announced its proposed 13 routes for an alternative highway between Manawatu¯ and Hawke’s Bay. These were whittled down to four in October.
In Horowhenua, the email interception saga reared its ugly head again. The district council’s chief executive David Clapperton was in July revealed to be snooping on emails sent to council staff and some elected members. He claimed the measure was to protect staff from abuse.
After audit reports raised concerns about the practice, the council adopted a new policy where screening could still apply to staff, but not elected members. This was a major backdown, after Clapperton and most councillors defended his snooping.
A bad batch of synthetic drugs in Feilding left one person dead and four in hospital. Twenty-oneyear-old Bradley James Wahanui’s death came after a string of fatalities in Auckland, also because of synthetic drugs.
Feilding called a public meeting to discuss the crisis. There, the town’s youth aid police officer John Samuela pleaded for the public’s help to solve the scourge of synthetics.
A small part of Feilding was also in uproar for different reasons. Down Mahi Grove, a street of about 40 residents, a gift-hamper business was given an offlicence so it could stuff alcohol in its gift packs.
Neighbours Roger Locke and Gordon Yule were opposed, saying such a business had no place in a residential area.
Sarah and Richard Walton, of Barclae Ridge Gift Solutions, said their business attracted about one courier van a week, but Locke said they couldn’t predict growth until it happened.