April 13, 2025 • 8 mins
Almost all of our local government representatives have had a public persona before they went forward for the role.
Is that really all it takes?
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
The'd be almost all of our local government representatives, or
many of them, especially mayors, have had a public persona
before they went forward for the role. But is that
all it takes? We see Andrew Little has signaled, although
he hasn't formally announced, it's probably going to happen tomorrow.
It would be my guest that he's going to run
for the mayoralty for Wellington. But what do we want
to actually want out of our local government? As name
(00:30):
recognition enough anyway? Formal Local Government Minister David Carter joins me. Now, David,
good afternoon.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Good afternoon, Tim.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
So is it the devil you know that makes us
vote for people that we've known in other public roles?
How big an issue is this?
Speaker 3 (00:45):
I think profile definitely helps. The good news would be
trying to get people out to vote in the first place,
because the turnout for local government election tier in New
Zealand's pathetic. But except that, then, if you've got some profile,
you've got to be a chance. That's no doubt about that.
And Levandrew Level was to decide a dance name for
the Warranted Mayority his profile would be high enough, I
(01:06):
think he'd be a very good bet, and frankly, I
think he'd be an excellent beer as well. So profile helps,
but it's not essential.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
But we can all imagine where we have voted, perhaps
for someone who is quite well known, who perhaps didn't
turn out to be the mayor that we wanted. How
do we actually get good mayors? I mean, because let's
face it, if you're a bit of a sports celebrity
or something, you know, you're well ahead of the person
who might actually know a lot more about it than you.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Yeah, I think that's the point I'm making. If you've
got a profile, you'd likely to have more chance of
getting there. But bear in mind, once you're on the
council table, you're but one vote. So many mayors or
many people seem to think the mayor has a more
significant role than other councilors, that's not the case. How
do we get people who are interested in being local
body politicians, be at a council or a mayor. Let
(01:54):
get people who are really accountable for what they're there for,
and that is to wisely spend our rate payers money.
And that would be a vast improvement if we could
get that on many of the councils that I observed.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Are you sort of saying in a way, Look, especially
with mayors, it's like they've only got one vote. If
you get allowsy one who cares. I'm sorry to be
so cnical, but just got it bluntly.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
No, I'm definitely not saying that, but I'm saying that
once the mayor is elected as mayor, he then only
has one vote. So if that person is an extremely
good mayor but has a hopeless council it makes it
very difficult for that person to then perform and show
return for his time as a mayor. He is once
(02:36):
the mayor is there, he is but one around the
council table. How do we get a better quality of
person standing to be a councilor or a mayor in
the first place?
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Well, how do we get the better counselors?
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Then?
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Do you think or is it just like of the drawer?
Speaker 3 (02:50):
A lot of that getting goes back to profile. It's
not the most of the warning of careers. I don't think.
I think for someone on the left it's an improved salary.
For those on the right, they're out there doing your
own thing. It's probably a superposed to do it. My
own father was on the Crossias City count for forty years.
He did it in the time when these guys at
that time didn't even get paid to do the job.
(03:11):
There was a true sense of doing it for the
right purposes, of doing it because you wanted to improve
your city. My observation of the councilor is that we
have now many of them aren't there with that focus.
They see it as a career. I don't think it's
highly rewarded, but probably some people do think it's well
rewarded and they make a career of it. And often
they didn't use that for stepping stone in the central
(03:33):
government politics, don't they.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Or stepping or the other directionists we might say with
Andrew Little, I guess turnout. What can we do to
improve turnout and engagement in local body politics? Do you think?
Speaker 3 (03:48):
I wish I had the answer to that, because I
think turn out as pathetic. I think most people just ignore.
But I think people feel a bit disenfranchise that they
can't make a difference. But frankly, if they were to
vote and we had a higher turnout of voters, that
would make a difference. Part of upon now this postal wedding,
and of course I wouldn't know where to go and
post my papers when they finally arrived in the mailbox,
(04:11):
and I have to serve take able to find a
mailbox and then I hope like it on New Zealand
post clear it within a month that I posted. So
it's actually account and vote. The post system now is obsolete.
It's hopeless. We've got to find a better way to
get people voting, and I guess we're going to have
to go to some sort of online system.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Well, and actually I'm wondering if secretly what you're what
you're suggesting is it would it be better if we
went back to the day where we just had a
day where we all turn up to our local ballot
box and vote. What do you prefer? What do you
think we'd get more people engaged? Because there's something about
seeing the voting booths out there, isn't it. You get
this visibility in the community, you get the signs the campaign.
You just get more awareness of it, don't you You do?
Speaker 3 (04:51):
And if you think back to those days when we
did it that way, which now must be twenty plus
years ago, if you study then the turnout, because I
think they were greater. Maybe one of the solutions. I
think it's either of those two. It's either we go
online or go back to a polling booth on the
day and you get down there and vote. It's either
those two solutions. We're going to have to move away
(05:12):
from postal voting for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
What about in terms of just what advice would you
be giving to local government candidates to get their message
out there? Because look up, I'll be honest, I think
it's probably one of I'm not sure if it's the
most highly read sort of section of the paper, the
local government sort of thing, But how would you get
your message out there if you're not known. You've got
some great ideas well.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
It's back to the name recognition and the agile way
of doing is actually just get out there amongst your
local community, get your your hoardings up there so people
do recognize the name, get out there and do the
hard work, actually do the door knocking. It's the way
most central government politicians actually get there. They get out
there and spend months and months and months wearing out
(05:55):
the shoe live and look on doorsteps even if nobody's home.
You can leave a card and say you're there. I
think the voters want to know they're going to get
somebody who's a worker. And if you get out there
and do that sort of hard yards, you'll be recognized.
If you've got wander up and knock on one door
and speak to somebody, and then the next door there's
nobody there, that neighbor will talk and say that particular
(06:16):
candidate knocked on those dooors. That's part of the job
is a candidate has to be prepared to show there
a worker.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
What about the party politics side of things? What do
you I'm not a big fan of major political parties
getting in there, but there are sort of ways people
identify themselves as left or right. Do you think we
should try and keep party politics out of the local
government side of things.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
I think we'd be naive to think the party politics
aren't already there now. The national party doesn't much to
do with candidates, but the Labor Greens units, particularly my
city of christ are far more organized and they work
well at election time getting their people out to vote.
So while they all crane, they're standing is some sort
of independent. Many of them are deeply embedded in party politics,
(07:02):
particularly on the left, and they then get the machine
Henry associated with the Labor Party and the Green Party
working for them.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Do you pay attention and yourself as a voter, how
much effort do you go to get your head around
who are you voting for.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
I'll definitely work on that, but I guess listen, I'll
be guided by where I think their politics are, my
secret where my politics lie. And I suspect I'll have
somebody standing in my bank's minitial award for christ the
City Council who's clearly aligned to the Labor Party, and
I'll have somebody else who will not be aligned to
the Labor Party. Whether that person's aligned to a right
(07:38):
I've sent a political party or completely independent, that will
affect my vote. If I get a chance, I'll go
and see that person or both candidates perform at some
sort of candidates meeting, and I'll be asking questions around
amphability for rates and rate increases because local government's got
away with murder over the last year. Is it dis
bouncing up rates extraordinary levels when we've been living through
(08:02):
the cost of living curses?
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yeah, well, gosh, there are some big issues to get
your hit around, as a voter, aren't there Hey, David,
really appreciate your time this afternoon. Thanks so much, Always
appreasure Thanks to cheers David.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
For more from the Weekend Collective, listen live to News
Talk zid BE weekends from three pm, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
The'd be almost all of our local government representatives, or
many of them, especially mayors, have had a public persona
before they went forward for the role. But is that
all it takes? We see Andrew Little has signaled, although
he hasn't formally announced, it's probably going to happen tomorrow.
It would be my guest that he's going to run
for the mayoralty for Wellington. But what do we want
to actually want out of our local government? As name
(00:30):
recognition enough anyway? Formal Local Government Minister David Carter joins me. Now, David,
good afternoon.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Good afternoon, Tim.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
So is it the devil you know that makes us
vote for people that we've known in other public roles?
How big an issue is this?
Speaker 3 (00:45):
I think profile definitely helps. The good news would be
trying to get people out to vote in the first place,
because the turnout for local government election tier in New
Zealand's pathetic. But except that, then, if you've got some profile,
you've got to be a chance. That's no doubt about that.
And Levandrew Level was to decide a dance name for
the Warranted Mayority his profile would be high enough, I
(01:06):
think he'd be a very good bet, and frankly, I
think he'd be an excellent beer as well. So profile helps,
but it's not essential.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
But we can all imagine where we have voted, perhaps
for someone who is quite well known, who perhaps didn't
turn out to be the mayor that we wanted. How
do we actually get good mayors? I mean, because let's
face it, if you're a bit of a sports celebrity
or something, you know, you're well ahead of the person
who might actually know a lot more about it than you.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Yeah, I think that's the point I'm making. If you've
got a profile, you'd likely to have more chance of
getting there. But bear in mind, once you're on the
council table, you're but one vote. So many mayors or
many people seem to think the mayor has a more
significant role than other councilors, that's not the case. How
do we get people who are interested in being local
body politicians, be at a council or a mayor. Let
(01:54):
get people who are really accountable for what they're there for,
and that is to wisely spend our rate payers money.
And that would be a vast improvement if we could
get that on many of the councils that I observed.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Are you sort of saying in a way, Look, especially
with mayors, it's like they've only got one vote. If
you get allowsy one who cares. I'm sorry to be
so cnical, but just got it bluntly.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
No, I'm definitely not saying that, but I'm saying that
once the mayor is elected as mayor, he then only
has one vote. So if that person is an extremely
good mayor but has a hopeless council it makes it
very difficult for that person to then perform and show
return for his time as a mayor. He is once
(02:36):
the mayor is there, he is but one around the
council table. How do we get a better quality of
person standing to be a councilor or a mayor in
the first place?
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Well, how do we get the better counselors?
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Then?
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Do you think or is it just like of the drawer?
Speaker 3 (02:50):
A lot of that getting goes back to profile. It's
not the most of the warning of careers. I don't think.
I think for someone on the left it's an improved salary.
For those on the right, they're out there doing your
own thing. It's probably a superposed to do it. My
own father was on the Crossias City count for forty years.
He did it in the time when these guys at
that time didn't even get paid to do the job.
(03:11):
There was a true sense of doing it for the
right purposes, of doing it because you wanted to improve
your city. My observation of the councilor is that we
have now many of them aren't there with that focus.
They see it as a career. I don't think it's
highly rewarded, but probably some people do think it's well
rewarded and they make a career of it. And often
they didn't use that for stepping stone in the central
(03:33):
government politics, don't they.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Or stepping or the other directionists we might say with
Andrew Little, I guess turnout. What can we do to
improve turnout and engagement in local body politics? Do you think?
Speaker 3 (03:48):
I wish I had the answer to that, because I
think turn out as pathetic. I think most people just ignore.
But I think people feel a bit disenfranchise that they
can't make a difference. But frankly, if they were to
vote and we had a higher turnout of voters, that
would make a difference. Part of upon now this postal wedding,
and of course I wouldn't know where to go and
post my papers when they finally arrived in the mailbox,
(04:11):
and I have to serve take able to find a
mailbox and then I hope like it on New Zealand
post clear it within a month that I posted. So
it's actually account and vote. The post system now is obsolete.
It's hopeless. We've got to find a better way to
get people voting, and I guess we're going to have
to go to some sort of online system.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Well, and actually I'm wondering if secretly what you're what
you're suggesting is it would it be better if we
went back to the day where we just had a
day where we all turn up to our local ballot
box and vote. What do you prefer? What do you
think we'd get more people engaged? Because there's something about
seeing the voting booths out there, isn't it. You get
this visibility in the community, you get the signs the campaign.
You just get more awareness of it, don't you You do?
Speaker 3 (04:51):
And if you think back to those days when we
did it that way, which now must be twenty plus
years ago, if you study then the turnout, because I
think they were greater. Maybe one of the solutions. I
think it's either of those two. It's either we go
online or go back to a polling booth on the
day and you get down there and vote. It's either
those two solutions. We're going to have to move away
(05:12):
from postal voting for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
What about in terms of just what advice would you
be giving to local government candidates to get their message
out there? Because look up, I'll be honest, I think
it's probably one of I'm not sure if it's the
most highly read sort of section of the paper, the
local government sort of thing, But how would you get
your message out there if you're not known. You've got
some great ideas well.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
It's back to the name recognition and the agile way
of doing is actually just get out there amongst your
local community, get your your hoardings up there so people
do recognize the name, get out there and do the
hard work, actually do the door knocking. It's the way
most central government politicians actually get there. They get out
there and spend months and months and months wearing out
(05:55):
the shoe live and look on doorsteps even if nobody's home.
You can leave a card and say you're there. I
think the voters want to know they're going to get
somebody who's a worker. And if you get out there
and do that sort of hard yards, you'll be recognized.
If you've got wander up and knock on one door
and speak to somebody, and then the next door there's
nobody there, that neighbor will talk and say that particular
(06:16):
candidate knocked on those dooors. That's part of the job
is a candidate has to be prepared to show there
a worker.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
What about the party politics side of things? What do
you I'm not a big fan of major political parties
getting in there, but there are sort of ways people
identify themselves as left or right. Do you think we
should try and keep party politics out of the local
government side of things.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
I think we'd be naive to think the party politics
aren't already there now. The national party doesn't much to
do with candidates, but the Labor Greens units, particularly my
city of christ are far more organized and they work
well at election time getting their people out to vote.
So while they all crane, they're standing is some sort
of independent. Many of them are deeply embedded in party politics,
(07:02):
particularly on the left, and they then get the machine
Henry associated with the Labor Party and the Green Party
working for them.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Do you pay attention and yourself as a voter, how
much effort do you go to get your head around
who are you voting for.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
I'll definitely work on that, but I guess listen, I'll
be guided by where I think their politics are, my
secret where my politics lie. And I suspect I'll have
somebody standing in my bank's minitial award for christ the
City Council who's clearly aligned to the Labor Party, and
I'll have somebody else who will not be aligned to
the Labor Party. Whether that person's aligned to a right
(07:38):
I've sent a political party or completely independent, that will
affect my vote. If I get a chance, I'll go
and see that person or both candidates perform at some
sort of candidates meeting, and I'll be asking questions around
amphability for rates and rate increases because local government's got
away with murder over the last year. Is it dis
bouncing up rates extraordinary levels when we've been living through
(08:02):
the cost of living curses?
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yeah, well, gosh, there are some big issues to get
your hit around, as a voter, aren't there Hey, David,
really appreciate your time this afternoon. Thanks so much, Always
appreasure Thanks to cheers David.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
For more from the Weekend Collective, listen live to News
Talk zid BE weekends from three pm, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio
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