Conflict and common sense

Today, 11 men and four women will decide the future of New Plymouth for the next 10 years. Councillors Gordon Brown and David Bublitz are gung-ho for the district to get a new sports hub as quickly as possible in the long-term plan. That’s hardly surprising. Brown is the council appointee to Sport Taranaki, which is spearheading the project. Bublitz is heavily involved in basketball – he is a former coach of the Mountain Airs, in fact.

Animal rights activist and vegan councillor Anneka Carlson wants to see New Plymouth’s horse racing club exit the council-owned land it occupies in the central city.

And councillor Colin Johnston, who lives in Waitara, is keen to see the New Plymouth Coastal Walkway extended to his hometown.

All of these, it could be argued, are conflicts of interest. They could also be described as the opinions and values and biases of councillors, many of which we were well aware of when voting them in. In some cases they were probably the very reason a councillor was voted for in the first place.

In total, New Plymouth councillors have declared 71 conflicts of interest.

So when does one’s conflict or bias reach the point of needing to be declared?

Long-time councillor Brown, who has officially listed five interests, says it’s a matter of individual accountability. ‘‘The test is, do you have any personal gain from it?’’

Brown – who has no pecuniary advantage from his position on the board of Sport Taranaki – said in a city the size of New Plymouth, with 15 elected members around the table, a conflict could arguably be declared for every second issue.

‘‘If you honestly believe that you can make an objective decision based on what you have in front of you, it’s fine,’’ he says.

That places a lot of trust in our councillors’ integrity. Let’s hope it’s well-placed.