Crime, co-governance on table at spirited debate
Monday night’s Hamilton West by-election debate has been good practice for the candidate who will make it to Parliament on December 10.
At the debate, hosted by the Waikato Chamber of Commerce in Te Pukenga’s atrium, the most recent holder of the seat, Dr Gaurav Sharma, was joined by National’s Tama Potaka, Labour’s Georgie Dansey, ACT’s Dr James McDowall and Dr Naomi Pocock of The Opportunities Party to field questions from host Mark Bunting, a former Hamilton City councillor.
Candidates traded jibes, defended past policy, and tried to remain collegial in the face of each other’s attempts to court the votes of the 70 or so audience members.
Debate was lively, and the topics of crime, co-governance and government coalitions were all broached.
Hamilton West is an electorate that typifies many of the most telling socioeconomic statistics about New Zealand and gave candidates the added challenge of traversing national as well as local issues.
The evening belonged to one local issue in particular – Sharma.
Having stood down as an MP in October, Sharma had little to lose on Monday.
He trod a line between claiming Hamilton West’s successes for himself and deflecting blame for current hot button issues – such as crime – to the candidate for the incumbent party, Dansey.
Dansey painted herself as a strong voice for Hamilton West in government and said she wanted to continue ‘‘ensuring the people of Hamilton West have a really strong voice’’.
Potaka promised voters they wouldn’t have to wait long for representation in government if he were elected, being ‘‘part of the Christopher Luxon-led National team to take New Zealand forward’’.
When asked if the Government had consulted councils and ratepayers sufficiently on the controversial Three Waters legislation, Potaka’s response drew laughs from the audience.
‘‘No. There has been insufficient consultation . . . It’s like my marriage. On matters of real importance and consequence, if I don’t listen, the amount of times the Labour Government has not listened – there’s a door over there,’’ he said, gesturing to the exit. ‘‘Haere rā .’’
Pocock added that evidence of the effective government funding intervention after the 2010-11 Canterbury earthquakes could inform what her party would do regarding Three Waters.
Dansey reminded the audience that the much-used cycleways along the Waikato River were a product of her party’s constructive approach to working with local government in Hamilton, describing the relationship as ‘‘absolutely vital in the progression of our city’’.
McDowall, the only current MP on the by-election ballot, said that while the Government’s approach was ‘‘so ideological’’, he was proud of the work he had achieved on immigration settings regarding nurses.
Sharma impressed the audience with his candid responses to Bunting’s questions. He drew gasps when he said: ‘‘The $4000 for fog cannons – those fog cannons are not going to be installed until the second half of next year.’’
Although Sharma stood out as being willing to take the fight to the Government, it was Potaka in particular who took up the policy slack. Candidates were asked whether they supported an extension to the expressway from beyond Cambridge to Piarere.
The portion of road that has been labelled a ‘‘death trap’’ will most likely be extended if Potaka is elected. ‘‘As someone who’s been involved with building and interrogating infrastructure at my time at the superannuation fund, I’ve seen the BCRs [benefitcost ratios] that go with that motorway out there, the expressway – tick,’’ Potaka said.
The elephant in the room was crime, and it was left until the end of the debate to be addressed.
While the candidates of the major parties talked up their plans for ‘‘fog cannons’’ and youth ‘‘boot camps’’, TOP’s Pocock cautioned the audience about taking ‘‘a one-liner, PR solution to this problem – they are simply lying to you’’.
‘‘What we haven’t talked about is the reduction in funding under the National government, and continued by Labour, for frontline workers and youth workers – those people in the community, at the coalface,’’ Pocock said.
It wouldn’t have been a local political debate without a few eccentric characters.
Towards the end of the evening’s proceedings, one man stood up and spoke at length about a scourge of boy racers plaguing his neighbourhood.
He was followed by a woman who wondered if the return of caning in schools would alleviate some of our social ills.
The two interjectors were not seated together.