City council democracy worth the fight?

In what is thought to be a rarity, four Christchurch city councillors secured seats in the chambers two months before election day. Georgina Stylianou reports.

When councillors debated overhauling Christchurch’s ward boundaries last year, some warned it would make ousting incumbents difficult and result in ‘‘patch protection’’.

The election is still six weeks away, but are the predictions already coming true?

This year, Christchurch will elect 16 councillors from 16 wards – up from 13 councillors from seven wards – as the result of a Local Government Commission review of the city’s ward structure.

Despite an extra three seats created, only 40 nominations for 16 council positions have been received. That is an average of 2.5 people contesting each ward. In 2013 and 2010 about four people contested each seat.

The words ‘‘representation review’’ don’t sound exciting. Perhaps that’s why just 100 submissions were received about the issue. Earthquake fatigue and increasing political apathy are among the theories.

What isn’t up for debate though is that councillors Andrew Turner, Jamie Gough, Tim Scandrett and Deputy Mayor Vicki Buck have challenge-free rides into the council chambers for another three years.

In the 2010 and 2013 elections, no city councillor was elected unopposed in Christchurch.

This year Christchurch has three mayoral candidates – incumbent Lianne Dalziel, Keep Our Assets Canterbury candidate John Minto and serial candidate Michael ‘‘Tubby’’ Hansen.

In 2013, there were 12 mayoral hopefuls and 14 in 2010.

For the past three elections, only three councillors have been elected unopposed in Auckland. Auckland has 17 people vying for its mayoralty and 69 nominations were received for 20 ward councillor positions across 13 wards. In Dunedin, 10 people are challenging incumbent Dave Cull and 43 candidates are jostling for 14 council spaces. Wellington has an average of six candidates in each ward and eight mayoral candidates.

Gough said the representation review had ‘‘drastically favoured incumbent councillors’’.

‘‘I voted against [the new system], but ironically it’s benefited me while others have stiff competition.

‘‘I’ll take the win but I didn’t want a cushy re-election ride . . . we want quality candidates and the representation review has negatively impacted on that.’’

He believed it would also put ‘‘patch protection on steroids’’ and said more councillors did not mean the council would be more effective.

‘‘Now is one of the most defining times in the history of Christchurch and there wasn’t a lack of interest from candidates three years ago.’’

Gough warned against a silo mentality around the council table, saying people were only accountable to the residents of the small wards that elected him.

Community boards will consist of two elected members from either two or three wards to form seven community boards, one fewer than the status quo.

Former Christchurch City councillor Helen Broughton is standing for the Halswell-HornbyRiccarton community board in Riccarton. She said she was surprised by the lack of applicants and pointed the finger at the smaller wards.

‘‘It creates patch protection, which really isn’t good and because of the smaller wards, you end up with less of a social mix in each.’’

People would see Gough in Fendalton, for example, and think it was a ‘‘largely blue seat that could not be won’’, Broughton said.

‘‘I think there’s a low energy in Christchurch and it’s not just the earthquakes but the hassles with insurance.’’

People’s Choice spokesman and Banks Peninsula councillor Andrew Turner said the representation review had ‘‘brought democracy closer to the people’’.

‘‘One councillor representing one smaller area . . . it increases accountability.

‘‘Anybody was able to nominate for election, so the fact that they haven’t, I don’t think we can say was a direct effect of the representation review.’’

If a councillor had done a good job, their chances of being reelected were higher, Turner said.

‘‘I think in Christchurch people understand the size of the issues and the size of the job. People are generally comfortable with the direction this council has taken.’’

Mayor Lianne Dalziel said the representation review had only decreased competition for ‘‘highprofile candidates’’.

‘‘Where there’s a high-profile person, people assume they will win their seat, so only one councillor per ward put them off.’’

In 2013, there was ‘‘hot competition’’ in Banks Peninsula, Dalziel said, but this year Turner was elected unopposed.

‘‘The fact that nobody is running suggests people are happy with the work he’s doing.’’

New wards, including Harewood and Halswell, had attracted strong competition, she said.

She said it was a positive time for the city and felt people were not seeking to overhaul the council, like they were in 2013.

‘‘People are exhausted, but there are also people who are thoroughly optimistic about what the future holds.

‘‘We have had significant Government intervention in the city but that has been replaced . . now we have a new set of institutions in place.’’

Political commentator Bryce Edwards, of the University of Otago, believed lower candidate numbers was a nationwide trend.

‘‘There’s [places] in the country where there is only one candidate for mayor – Napier, Masterton, Hurunui and Clutha – so mayors have been elected unopposed too. It’s always hard to work out what’s driving such democratic deficits, but I wouldn’t be too quick to point just at the system in Christchurch or even the earthquakes.’’

However, it did seem ‘‘counterintuitive’’ in Christchurch, Edwards said.

‘‘With so much politics going on and so many decisions at stake, it is surprising that more people aren’t throwing their hat into the ring.’’

He believed central Government reforms had affected how much power local authorities had in some places.

‘‘If [local government] is seen as unimportant . . . then citizens will take less interest in it.’’

Edwards said the smaller wards in Christchurch could have discouraged candidates but could also increase voter turnout.

‘‘The [new system] seems sensible. It’s possible that it’s suppressed candidate turnout, but doesn’t mean there aren’t other advantages to the new ward system. It’s easier for voters to be in a smaller ward and electing one person rather than being in a large ward and electing more than one.’’

By law, local authorities are required to review their representation arrangements at least once every six years. This was the first to be conducted in Christchurch since the earthquakes.

Before the review, Christchurch was divided into six wards, each represented by two elected councillors and one community board. Banks Peninsula was represented by one councillor and two community boards.

Based on the previous ward boundaries, there was one councillor for every 26,000 people in Christchurch, far below the ratio in other metropolitan cities where, on average, there is one councillor for every 16,500 residents.

The new arrangement is expected to save around $24,000 annually because, although there will be three additional councillors, there will be one fewer community board.