Stolen signs ‘disheartening’
Bernie Goldsmith (Tūhoe, Ngāti Porou) wants to keep her local body election campaign ‘‘positive’’, but having her signs stolen is disheartening.
‘‘It’s a campaign: if your face isn’t out there, it’s hard to get the message out there,’’ said Goldsmith, who is standing for Nelson’s newly minted Māori ward.
Of the five signs Goldsmith erected, only three remain. One, on a fence on Tāhunanui Drive, sat alongside those of a handful of Pākehā candidates. Goldsmith’s sign was removed, but the others were untouched.
‘‘It’s disheartening when your sign is the only one taken out.’’
At about $80 each, the signs ‘‘take some organising’’, Goldsmith said. But it was the lack of visibility that concerned her.
‘‘We want people to be interested – we want the people on the Māori roll to see Māori faces out there.’’
Last year, Nelson City Council voted in favour of a mixed twoward system for the 2022 local body elections, dividing Nelson into two general wards and one Māori ward, while retaining several ‘‘at large’’ councillors.
When Goldsmith ran as a council candidate in 2019, she drew her own signs, after another Māori candidate told her all their signs had been defaced and stolen in a previous campaign.
There are about 2000 voters registered on Whakatū’s Māori electoral roll, compared to almost 51,000 on the general roll. Goldsmith would like to see this figure double before the 2025 local government election. She would also like to see better voting access for Māori, to increase voter participation.
‘‘We all like to think that we are on an even playing field and that we are all the same, but that’s just not true.
‘‘The wards are about inclusion and participation, and it is already working, with six Māori candidates standing this election. There will be bumps in the road, but change is coming, and change is good.’’
Some other councillors have had their signs vandalised, including several mayoral candidates.
Mayoral candidate and current councillor Tim Skinner has had several signs hit with graffiti. He said that while this was ‘‘a bit disappointing’’, the level of vandalism was not above average compared to previous elections, and did not seem to single him out.
Skinner said he had seen several candidates’ signs knocked over or stolen, including his own.
Mayoral candidate and current councillor Matt Lawrey has also been hit by taggers, posting a ‘‘handy tip’’ to clean off marker pen tags with hairspray.
He said that so far, his signs had seen less vandalism than during previous campaigns. A moustache added to hoardings in the Wood was ‘‘so stylish, I’ve left it’’.
However, mayoral candidate and former Nelson MP Nick Smith said vandalism to his
‘‘We all like to think that we are on an even playing field.’’ Bernie Goldsmith, candidate
hoardings this campaign had far less good humour than in previous elections.
Smith said he had had 20 signs defaced. Candidates are allowed a total of 10 signs, but the sign at one location had to be replaced five times thanks to graffiti of ‘‘profanities I would rather not repeat’’.
‘‘We just have to keep replacing them,’’ he said. ‘‘The part that’s worrying is that politics internationally has become more polarised and less peaceful.’’
Smith said that this time around, there were far fewer politically motivated vandals and far more vulgarities.
‘‘It’s part of the change in elections and democracy. We’re just not as connected as a community.’’
He said the increasing vandalism was a symptom of a broader mood.
‘‘People are absolutely entitled to support whatever candidate they wish. I just wish that they would channel that in a more positive direction.
‘‘What we saw in the United States in January last year – I just hope we never end up that way.’’