Bond joins race for mayoralty
Seven people are now in the race for the Invercargill mayoralty and the latest contender reckons the more the better.
Ria Bond, a former New Zealand First MP, said yesterday she would stand for the city’s top job at October’s local body elections. She will also stand for a councillor’s seat.
She joins incumbent Sir Tim Shadbolt, deputy mayor Nobby Clark, city councillors Ian Pottinger, Rebecca Amundsen, Darren Ludlow and Bluff Community Board member Noel Peterson in seeking the top job, and others may follow.
Bond welcomed the high number, saying voters could choose the best person from multiple options.
She did not buy the ‘‘splitting the vote’’ argument.
‘‘I think the more people who have the credibility and the guts to put themselves forward and can back themselves should be doing it. It’s time for change, we have to put ourselves out there.’’
Shadbolt said he was not surprised the field kept widening.
‘‘We have had a council in pitched battle needing official observers in place.’’
Ratepayers were sick of the negative and they deserved better than what the council had offered, he said.
For Bond, it will be a case of second time lucky, with her 2019 mayoralty bid ending before it began. She was left devastated after attempting to register for the mayoralty 15 minutes before the cutoff time, but was unable to because the correct address of one of her nominators was not on the voting system.
For the past three years she said she had been working in the community with Rotary, taken time out following a family tragedy, been a business mentor with small businesses in Invercargill and got her real estate licence, she said.
People she had talked to wanted a cohesive council that worked together ‘‘and we just haven’t got that’’.
She believed the current council was lacking in governance skills and said she had a ‘‘strong business and governance background’’.
‘‘I am running for mayor not because I need a retirement plan, but simply because I believe everything we do as leaders should always be about the people who we represent.
‘‘It is time to move our city forward ... I have multiple skills and abilities with decisive leadership to fight for our city.’’
As a former New Zealand First List MP based in Invercargill, for two years until 2017, Bond said she had advocated for Invercargill’s people and still had relationships in Wellington.
Elected members had an enormous influence on how things were run in the city, what projects were given priority and where investments went, she added.
‘‘The mayor is responsible for policies, budgets, promoting our community, to represent its people, to exemplify strong, reliable leadership.
‘‘Councillors are responsible for understanding and implementing principles of good governance in decision-making, not get involved in operational matters, maintain respect.’’