More than 100 people and one slime monster listened to pitches from 10 local government candidates on Monday night (September 19), with water being the topic that flowed most frequently.

Organised by Cromwell’s Lions and Rotary Clubs, chaired by former Cromwell mayor Peter Mead and hosted at the Presbyterian church, the event also provided a chance to hear from those elected unopposed: Central Otago District Council (CODC) mayor Tim Cadogan and members of the Cromwell Community Board.

Otago Regional Council (ORC) candidates’ open criticism of their organisation and each other made for robust discussion, helping voters clearly see where they stood on issues, watery or otherwise.

While the central government’s Three Waters reforms are not fundamentally connected to ORC business, candidates shared their views on the far-reaching issue.

In response to a question from audience member Warwick Hawker, Cromwell-based broadcaster Michael Laws expressed strong opposition to the government’s plans for reworking storm, drinking and wastewater management. He said the “unravelling” of the reforms, which are currently underway, would be a huge issue for opposition parties to grapple with for next year’s general election.

Referring, it appeared, to a so-called ‘Better-Off’ funding package given to local bodies to help with the transition into the reforms, he said councils were effectively being “bribed with their own money”.

They would receive funds now, then pay it back through having to pay for water services once new government entities took over those assets., he said.

“There are a number of reasons why three waters is a disaster,” Michael told the audience, “from the deceit that earned it its infamy, to the fact that the councils are going to be bribed with their own money going into the future… the one and a half billion dollars worth that councils are going to receive is actually going to be added to the new water services entity and you’re going to receive that back through your water charges. It’s a shocking economic model. It won’t work.”

He questioned the fairly uniformly-supported stance taken by the CODC to not attempt to reject the reforms but stay within the discussion and effect what improvements were possible from “inside the tent”.

Michael cited the example of the Christchurch City Council (CCC) who recently defied a government directive around housing intensification.

“They [CCC] said no because it wasn’t in the best interests of their community and it wasn’t good politics or policy. Sooner or later you have to find your courage”.

ORC Dunstan Constituency candidate Tony Lepper expresses frustrations over the Three waters reforms. At rear from left are CODC candidate David George, mayor Tim Cadogan, MC Peter Mead, CODC candidate Neil Gillespie, CCB chair Anna Harrison, CO Health Inc appointee Britta Christensen, and CODC candidates Nigel McKinlay, Cheryl Laws and Sarah Browne.  

Fellow ORC candidate Tony Lepper (who accepted a role with government water services regulator Taumata Arowhai to help resolve rural water issues associated with the reforms) said the group’s recommendations went to government in June and nothing had been heard since.

“We haven’t heard bo-peep from the minister [of Local Government, Nanaia Mahuta]. You’ve got no idea what the implications of the Three Waters reforms are to those of us who live in the rural area, those of us who run irrigation schemes or those of us who run small domestic water supplies… they’re going to cripple some of our rural areas. Three Waters is just a nightmare.”

Water concerns drew discussion relating to lagarosiphon management and whether it was possible to rid Lakes Wānaka and Dunstan of the invasive weed, with Michael Laws saying it should be tried and fellow ORC candidate Mike Barker (a marine scientist) saying it was as impossible as “trying to get rid of the last rabbit”. 

How to deal with silt build-up in the Kawarau Arm was another water-related concern, amid evolving expectations from residents for an attractive recreational asset, irrespective of the inevitability of a braided river replacing the manmade lake currently filling the Arm.

The work done by the Guardians of Lake Dunstan was widely commended, in bringing together the ORC, Contact Energy and others to acknowledge the issue and try and find solutions. 

Slime the nitrate monster (aka ecologist and environmentalist Jennifer Shulzitski) attended the event as an audience member. Slime is standing for a seat in the Dunedin ward of the ORC.

By-election looking likely

A by-election looks likely for the Cromwell Ward if an unofficial poll on a well-supported social media site, and audience reaction at the event, are anything to go by. 

Both show Sarah Browne as a popular candidate. She is already automatically elected to the community board due to only four people standing for four seats, but if elected as a councillor the community board seat must then be forfeited.

A CODC spokesperson explained that the ward seat is taken at the expense of the community board seat and a by-election to fill that empty board seat is then held. This was a fairly common occurrence across the country. Anyone could then stand for election to the seat as long as they qualified as being eligible under election rules.

Voting for any by-elections across New Zealand would be held from November 23 to 17 February an electionz.com official said.

Three of the successful Cromwell Ward councillors will be appointed to the Cromwell Community Board, which already has chair Anna Harrison, new member Mary McConnell (who forwarded an apology for not being present at the event), Sarah and Bob Scott all elected unopposed. Bob Scott withdrew an earlier nomination to stand for a council seat.

The six candidates standing for four vacancies for district council seats in the Cromwell ward are Sarah Browne, David George, Neil Gillespie, Cheryl Laws, Nigel McKinley and Shane Norton.  

There are 11 seats available on the council for the district: four from Cromwell, five from Vincent, and one from each of the Maniototo and Teviot Valley wards.

The five ORC candidates vying for five seats on the huge Dunstan Constituency are Alexa Forbes (absent from the event due to Covid-19), Gary Kelliher, Mike Barker, Michael Laws and Tony Lepper.

Tim Cadogan acknowledged the contribution of three-term Cromwell councillor Shirley Calvert who is standing down from local body politics. Shirley was assisting with running the event on Monday evening.

With the high level of change and myriad of challenges that elected members will have to deal with in the coming term, the message was to do your research, pick the strongest contenders and above all, get a vote in for the October 8 election. 

A live stream of the event showing all candidates presentations can be viewed on the Presbyterian Church’s youTube channel.

More news coverage, profiles supplied by all Central Otago and Dunstan Constituency candidates and general election information can also be found on the Central App’s Election 2022 Button. 

Next 'Meet the Candidates' event to be held at Alexandra Hall, click Events