The big ideas and controversy among NPDC candidates’ Q&AS
A number of New Plymouth District Council candidates have come under the spotlight, and not always in a good way, for the answers they provided to pre-election questions.
As part of a drive to get more people to vote, council officers sent those standing in September’s local body election a series of questions for its ‘‘know your candidate webpage’’.
A question relating to whether or not candidates support the establishment of a Māori ward drew the ire of a number of critics, including former mayor Andrew Judd, while mayoral candidate Dinnie Moeahu described it as race baiting.
Moeahu also revealed he had asked acting council chief executive Jacqueline Baker why the question had even been asked, believing it was to ‘‘cause division and use anger as the way to get people to vote’’ in the election.
While the answers provided by the candidates largely supported a Māori ward, a number of candidates were clearly against it, including first time council candidate Chris Avery, who is standing for one of the seats in the Kaitake Ngāmotu ward.
Avery said race-based policies would always be discriminatory and favour one group over another.
‘‘Also, if the policy is implemented there will be costs with genetic tests and what percentage of Māori DNA (would) be the cut-off,’’ he said.
Avery also used the question to put forward the possibility of the council buying the Taranaki Daily News to make ‘‘the paper a voice for locals’’.
Like 34 of the 41 candidates standing for council, Avery was against the
Three Waters reform, which would see council water assets run by one of four new entities.
In support of the reform are education reformer and first time council candidate Bali Haque, who said some services are better provided by central government, especially those requiring large capital investment. Just four other candidates supported the reforms, including Dave Kurth, Te Waka Mcleod, and sitting councillors Amanda Clinton-ghodes and Harry Duynhoven.
Hepa Te Moana was divided in his stance – loving the idea of cogovernance but feeling like the reforms need a lot more work, while Sam Bennett believed the mandated reform could not be stopped. ‘‘... conversely we must now proactively influence the outcomes for our community,’’ he wrote.
Few candidates provided concrete answers to what their priorities would be if elected. Some said mental health, while looking after ‘‘the people’’ found common cause, as did transparency in decision-making, keeping rates down, working with the community and putting it first, listening, and prioritising essential infrastructure.
Chris Avery again stood out from the crowd for his priority, which involved criticising council’s 2021 mandate policy that excluded those who had not received the Covid-19 vaccination from using some public facilities when the country was in a red light setting.
‘‘China has never had vaccine passes and treats its citizens equally so why can’t we be the equal of China,’’ he asked.
Overall, most candidates provided answers to most questions though councillor Marie Pearce, already elected to the Kōhanga Moa Ward as the only candidate, answered none, as did Kaitake Ngāmotu ward candidate
David Payne.
Mayoral candidate Murray Mcdowell, known as Muzz, chose to answer four questions with a yes or no, skip three others before getting a bit more expansive on his priority if elected – which was to say a ‘‘big thank you’’ to those who voted for him.
First time candidate, and member of Voices For Freedom, Tane Webster made no mention of his affiliation with the anti-mandate group throughout his introduction or the answers to any of the questions.
However, Webster did clarify to media last month he was standing as an independent and the reports that VFF had instructed its members to hide their affiliation were allegedly
‘‘taken out of context’’.
Most candidates did not deviate from conventional answers, some did provide some fresh, or reasonably fresh ideas, including at-large candidate Hepa Te Moana, who advocated bringing back the Devon St mall and trams for the suburbs.
Waitara Community Board member and at-large council candidate Jonathan Marshall also stood out from the pack, claiming the proposed Tūparikino Active Community Hub cost had ‘‘blown out to already $140 million’’ despite no costings yet made public.
He, along with other candidates, had been asked if they supported capping the council’s contribution to the $40m it has budgeted in its long-term plan.
‘‘We don’t need to spend this amount of money that will only meet the needs of a small group of sports,’’ he said.