Fight for southern grey vote heats up
Candidates standing for two major councils in the south have been reminded that water quality and the unresolved recycling contract are two of the big issues voters will consider when deciding whose names to tick.
Most of the Environment Southland (13) and Invercargill City Council (18) candidates fronted up to a candidates’ meeting hosted by Grey Power at the Ascot Park Hotel in Invercargill yesterday.
About 200 people filled the room as MC Geoff Piercy opened his account with, to use his own words, provocative statements, before letting candidates speak.
He reminded Environment Southland candidates that many elderly found rates to be unaffordable and causing distress, with food banks struggling to keep up with demand. Any rates rises above inflation had a real social impact.
Invercargill used to be an aquatic play land when he was a kid but was now a ‘‘filthy stinky mess’’, he said, referring to the New River Estuary and rivers.
Councillor Robert Guyton jokingly suggested they should all just hang their heads in shame but some candidates said the dirty waterways had been a long time in the making and work was being done to address that.
Lyndal Ludlow was the only woman of the 13 Environment Southland candidates who turned up, and said water quality was a complex issue, before making a very female analogy about the council sticking to its knitting.
‘‘We are just not making socks any more – we are making jumpers and scarves and hats and socks . . . expectations of what ES should be doing have changed and it’s giving us quite a lot of work to do.’’
Most of the other Environment Southland candidates in the room were older white men, but sitting councillor Maurice Rodway said that what mattered was how much they cared about where they lived.
There was just a handful of questions from the floor, with water quality and dairy farming top of the list.
The first clap of the night was for candidate Nathan Surendran who believed Southland had reached ‘‘peak cow’’ numbers before he called for a moratorium on any further dairy conversions.
When city council candidates had their turn, Piercy said it appeared the current council was disconnected from the public, and he highlighted problems including the museum closure and the fiasco over the recycling contract.
The museum closure got plenty of speaking time but it was the unresolved Southland-wide recycling contract that stirred the audience. Several sitting councillors used it to promote themselves, not always successfully.
One of the last words was had by a disabled woman in the audience: ‘‘If you want to know what’s going through the minds of people with disabilities, ask them and don’t disregard what they have to say,’’ she told candidates.
Voting documents will be sent out to enrolled voters between September 20 and 25, with election day on October 12.
The museum closure got plenty of speaking time but it was the unresolved Southland wide recycling contract that stirred the audience.