October 6, 2025 • 34 mins
Christchurch mayoralty hopeful Sara Templeton says her Green values wouldn't define her leadership of the city.
The three-term city councillor and former Green Party member has been challenged on her alignment and the fact Green mayors like Tory Whanau and Aaron Hawkins have been in office just one term.
Templeton told John MacDonald the focus should be on Christchurch, which needs someone with strong environmental credentials, governance skills, and passion for community.
She says they tend to be framed as “Green values”, but she has a strong track record in those areas, and people will be voting based on that track record and her vision for the future.
Templeton is putting everything on the line in her bid.
The third-term councillor is running against incumbent Phil Mauger and isn't seeking re-election in Heathcote as back-up.
Templeton told MacDonald it's been a privilege to serve in Heathcote but she believes she can serve the city better as Mayor.
She says standing for both roles would signal a lack of confidence in winning the mayoralty, so it’s all or nothing.
The former Green Party member says she has no interest in national politics and will find another way to serve the city if she misses out.
LISTEN ABOVE
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Mornings podcast with John McDonald
from News Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Current christ At City Councilor Sarah Templeton will know whether
or not she's going to be the city's next mayor
for the next three years. So what questions have you
got for Sarah Templeton. She's with us until eleven and
you can talk to Sarah directly by calling us right
now on oh eight hundred eighty ten eighty.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Sarah morning, Good morning, John, how are you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Very nice?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Nice to have you with us, Great to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
If you are elected mayor, will you be christ Church's
first Green mayor?
Speaker 3 (00:36):
No, I'll be our first. I don't think i'd be
our first anything mayor.
Speaker 4 (00:43):
No.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
We've had Labor mayors, probably National Party mayors, but I'm
not a party member.
Speaker 5 (00:48):
No.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
But I've used green in the loosest possible way.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
So small G right, big g.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
It would be fair to say that Leanne was a
strong environmental advocate and had a big focus on climate change,
but was pretty focused on the rebuilt, right.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah, So what I'm getting at, why should people vote
for a green with a small tree green me when
they've seen the likes of Tori Faartner survived just one
term and Dunedin's Aaron Hawkins the same.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
I think we need to focus on or to take
christ Church rather than on other cities. So I'm I
think what our city really does need right now is
actually someone with really strong environmental credentials, good governance skills,
and someone who's really focused on our community and community outcomes.
And they tend to be framed as kind of green values,
(01:41):
green credentials if you like. But I've got a really
strong track record in those areas, and I think that
people were voting based on that track record and my
vision for the future.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
So what do you say to yourself in your head
when you hear people banging on or referring to your
psych away.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Sarah, I say thank you so much for recognizing a
lot of the work I've been doing. So it was funny,
you know, the day after I announced, Sam came out
with that one, and within twenty four hours I'd had
three people contact me offering to print T shirts as
a fundraiser. It didn't do that because actually I'm more
about more about climate, environment infrastructure than i am just
(02:19):
about psycho ways. They play a really important role in
those things. But you know it's just you know, name calling.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
How well do you think you've done convincing people otherwise?
Speaker 3 (02:31):
I think that now that people have been paying attention
to the campaign, so over the campaign period, sort of
the twelve week period, people are paying attention. They're watching
the debates, the community debates, but as well as that,
the press Chris Lynch Q and A, and they're seeing
beyond the narrative that's been put out by the National
Party counselors.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
All right, you're not going to go any further on
that one. Let's go to let's go to Renee Rene
to go yeah, very well, serious with you now?
Speaker 4 (03:02):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (03:02):
Oh, jar, how are you?
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Rene? I'm good. Thanks.
Speaker 6 (03:07):
I've got two questions.
Speaker 7 (03:08):
Ones are really quick yes and no, and the other
ones probably just don't want to delve into it. The
first one is the yes no sweet arms, So you
four or against.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Yes where our communities are asking for them. And on
high crash rate intersections, all.
Speaker 7 (03:22):
Right, okay, and also rate caps, you four or against
the rate caps?
Speaker 5 (03:28):
And if it's for or sorry against such a quick very.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
White yeah, yeah, so I'm against a rate cap, so
I'm against Wellington telling our residents in our city what
they can do or can't do with their rates. So
that's the key reason taking away the community voice. It
also means that we're likely to sweat our assets more,
costing us more in the long term, and if we
want to do the infrastructure work, we'd either have to
not do that or increase debt sit exponentially, which we
(03:53):
don't want to do either. So against the rates cap
so that we can keep our community voice strong in
the decisions around the council table.
Speaker 7 (04:03):
All right, thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Thanks you, no living past in commuters to explaining, Sara,
to the person listened to this right now who can't
believe how much they're paying in rates, why they should
listen to your argument there A.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Yeah, rates are unsustainably high at the moment. There is
absolutely no doubt about that. And you know, there's been
a wide recognition for a number of years that the
funding mechanisms for local councils are completely broken. So we
need a strong mayor who can advocate, work with other
councils to advocate to central government for better funding tools.
That needs to happen. We need to make sure that
(04:38):
we don't turn down government funding when it's offered, for example,
for our public transport, which is something that the current
mey did and we need to make sure that.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
We currently would say that in exchange for that, for
giving up forty million, he ended up getting two hundred million.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Well no, that's completely just not true. So there's been
a billion dollars worth of funding that's disappeared since the
national government came in. So there's been twenty six million
for walking in cycling, safety around goals. There's been seventy
eight million dollars for public transport. So we you know,
everyone acknowledges that we want better public transport. It needs
to be convenient, needs to move through the traffic in
(05:15):
its own lanes. We need more bus shelters to make
it convenient. And eight hundred million dollars for the first
stage of the city shaping mess rapid transit was pulled
at the last minute by the ministry after the government
got in. So all of those things are crucial, but
they're also you know, money coming into the city for
jobs and all of those kind of things as well.
All right, and much of that two hundred million was
(05:36):
already allocated by the previous labor government taken away by
National and then given back again.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Oh one hundred eighty ten eighties abdicle with your question
for Sarah Templeton, Morning Joy.
Speaker 8 (05:47):
Oh, good morning. Just a question for Sarah. I have
a friend who's on the general election. She's lived in
Australia for thirty two years, never been a rate payer,
lived or owned a house in christ Church. How come
she received voting papers to staden and then asking me
who she should vote for. I wonder how many other
(06:08):
papers have been sent out and is this legal?
Speaker 3 (06:11):
I think that's appalling and I think it's one of
those things that shows that we shouldn't have, you know,
farmed out our electoral system to private business. So I
think that you know, government needs to look at and
bringing local government stuff in house for a government agency
to run like they do the general elections.
Speaker 8 (06:31):
So are you saying to me that there'll be quite
a few people on the general election, not rape players,
not lived here, probably receive papers.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
I don't know, but there's clearly there's been news around
the country where things have gone wrong in various councils elections,
and I think that that needs work because people need
to be able to trust the democracy that we've got
and so we need.
Speaker 8 (06:52):
And you don't have any trust in the council elections
if this is the way it's been.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Run, that's right, yep. And that's happening around the country.
So there've been ones where candidates details and the one
hundred and fifty words have been left out of booklets
and all of those kind of things, and that really
destroys our roads trust in the process and we need government.
Speaker 8 (07:11):
Station don't have any trust in it is never owned faith,
never been a rate player, been in Australia for thirty
two years and receives papers for the nature.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Yeah, well, thank you, Joy. What does that due to
your trust and confidence in the system?
Speaker 3 (07:25):
Serah, Yeah, it's not good. It's really not good. And
we don't know how many mistakes there have been in
that system. There needs to be a a really clear
and not an official inquiry, but there needs to be
an assessment of it, and that needs to be done
at a national level because it's happened across the country.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
All right. You're portrayed sometimes as a bit of an
outlier around the council table and you refer to your
National Council colleagues before come back to that mentioned before
that you are portrayed sometimes as a bit of an
outlier around the council table. How would an outlier lead
a team of counselors.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
So I'm not an outlier. So if I was an outlier,
I wouldn't have actually been able to achieve things over
my time on council, and I clearly have. So I
have worked with counselors from across the table to achieve
things like the Adaptation Fund, which initially some counselors didn't
think was a good idea, but it got across the
(08:22):
line easily. I don't know if it's a unanimous in
the end, but they had really good community support, things
like the removal of library fines. All of those kind
of things I worked with others to do.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
How intimidated would you be leading a council which you've
already alluded to was having national party representatives or members
who also portray you as psych away Sarah and portray
you as being this outlier. How would you work with
those people? Because it's very different being a fellow counselor
(08:55):
to being a mayor.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
It is completely and you know, I think that our
residents deserve better than the attack style kind of parliamentary
oppositional style politics that they might be doing at the moment.
And you know, a mayor's role is to work with
all counselors. You know, it's for the residents of the
city to tell me who to work with, not for
me to tell them. And I'm a really strong believer
(09:18):
that every counselor should be able to have their voice
around around the table and achieve things in their term.
And I'm determined to make sure that that happens. You know,
put the elections behind us, and then get to work.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
All right, It's like the next called morning, Greg, Yeah,
good morning, Good morning, Sharah.
Speaker 6 (09:33):
How are you?
Speaker 3 (09:34):
I'm good? Thanks Greg.
Speaker 6 (09:36):
My question is we had a situation a few years
ago where the Dela a Lama visited christ Church. Unfortunately,
Deljel refused to meet him because she didn't want to
offend the Chinese Communist Party. If you were the mayor
in that situation, arose, what would your stance be.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
I would love to meet the Dalai Lama. I mean,
that's how I would be meeting with the Dalai Lama.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Is that what you wanted to hear? Greg?
Speaker 7 (10:01):
Lately?
Speaker 6 (10:01):
What I wanted to hear. I was so disappointed with
the Dalzel's stance that to a piece of Chinese communist regime,
and I thought it was disgraceful to treat a man
of has a steam like that.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Just listen. I was just going to touch on something there, Greg,
in terms of international relations, because I think, Sarah, you
haven't flown internationally since what twenty seventeen to minimize your
carbon footprint.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
No, I haven't flown internationally or domestically for a holiday
for recreation. So I've done work stuff. So I have
done a work trip to Indonesia for example. I'm working
on the Sendai framework for a disaster risk reduction, that
kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
So if you became your your personal commitment to minimizing
your carbon footprint wouldn't limit your ability to represent the
city internationally.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
No, I know that's the mayor's job. Absolutely you have
to do that thing. But I'm committed to offsetting the
emissions personally rather than through rates.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
All right, Greg, thanks for call, Thank you sir. There
you go. You'll be what will you be? If you win?
Next to me? You'll be your worship? Will you? Whatever
happens your worship?
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that'll be fine. I'll be Sarah.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Twenty one past t and I eight one hundred and
eighty ten eighties an AUMBL call if you've got a
question for meyoral candidate Sarah Templeton, Sarah, Sarah Templeton, you
talked about being a cheerleader for christ Church. What are
you going to do if you're mayor about the situation
with the Code read environment at christ Church Hospital.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
It's so hard in there at the moment. I've had
family members in and out of hospital and the staff
are phenomenal doing what they can with their very very
stretched resources.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
I mean with respect. I'm going to ask film Major
the same question with on Thursday and that the answer
will be the same.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
But I think we need to advocate really strongly to
Central Government for the resourcing to come here. We need
to do that both with the hospital but actually with
Foreign Emergency in New Zealand as well, so they're really
really stretched for resources. I know that they've got a
one hour strike up as well where they won't be
answering one one one calls for fires in christ Church
(12:11):
for an hour and we need to be really strong
and clear about that with Central Government and find pathways
forward with them because it's our residents that they are
looking at for.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
So would for example, with firefighters, would you be looking
at the council going into bat for them?
Speaker 5 (12:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (12:29):
I think so. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
And what line would you draw when it comes to
industrial disputes, whether you're going to go into bat for
them or for the people involved in those disputes?
Speaker 3 (12:39):
Yeah, I think you need to talk to the people involved,
make sure that our position is an evidence based one
and is really clear, and we need to discuss it
as a council and then do what we need to do,
whether that's writing to ministers, having real conversations in person
about the issues that we're seeing on the ground. But
(13:02):
we need to not be afraid of that, and we
need to do it in a really constructive way, so
it's not a fist thumpings shaking kind of thing. It's
a really constructive way forward that we need with central government.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Off the top of head, what do you thinks needed
in relation to the hospital here in christ.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Jurge More resourcing, more staff is what I'm hearing, and
the staffing is crucial. We've seen what's happened with cuts
to the public service in Wellington, the impact that has
on communities and on services that are provided to the community,
and I think councils can play a really strong role
(13:39):
in being a bit of a counterbalance to that at times,
and we see that again and again because our election
cycles are different that sometimes you'll have a government that's
coming in doing lots of cuts and slashing and burning,
and the council can pick up some of those pieces.
But we also have a role as a council in health,
so we create the environment that people live in, and
(13:59):
we know that environments play a really large role in
how healthy people are. And when Phil and I went
to the health sector debate, for example, we were asked
about that by the health sector, by senior staff working
in that space, what we would do all.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Right, do you think the council has done enough in
relation to advocating for health services in christ Church?
Speaker 3 (14:18):
No? No, I don't, And you.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Have you tried to push the council in the direction
to do more.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Not at the moment.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
No.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
As a counselor, I think you know, my role has
been you know, in the climate change space, the mayor's
role is to lead the city on those higher leveled discussions.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Always been in touch, Sarah. It wants to know if
you will be open and transparent, if you are meyor
and involve residents and decision making.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Absolutely, transparency is one of the core principles that I have.
That's why I've been really open about the diners in
my campaign, for example. And my plan is to have
what we call deliberateive forums. So actually getting groups of
residents together. Is it a representative from across the city,
maybe fifty or so for some of the big issues
and big decisions that we need to make.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Why do you need to add that complexity?
Speaker 3 (15:09):
I think it's complete complexity. It adds trust into the process.
So these residents, you know, they don't have the egos
and the political ambitions and the votes to think about
and what it does. They've been used in Auckland over
their transport plan and their water because she's in Auckland
with water, and what they found is that it built
(15:29):
trust in the process and the decision making. And I
think that's worthwhile and it means we can involve the
communities much more in residence, so it would be on
top of the regular consultation process.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
All right. Sharon's next are Sharon.
Speaker 7 (15:41):
Oh bye, Sharon. Hi, I'm in a cell In district,
so I'm not voting for you, so totally natural, but
a full full disclosure. I am a candidate in the
cell On district and I was interested to know if
you got in and I major would do this too,
would you be interested in talking to the outlying district
(16:05):
to see if they could from to some arrangements to
have health hubs that are more servicing after ours in
the outlying districts to take the pressure off the Christ
Church Hospital.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
That sounds like a really good idea. So I've spent
nine years on the Greater christ Church Partnership working with
Selwyn Way, Macerdi and e Ken on big issues around
the city, and I think a joint approach to government
though in the last term of Council we met with
ministers as a group, and I think that the Greater
Christ Rich Partnership working together should be inviting ministers or
(16:39):
going to see ministers together as well to talk about
those key issues that affect all of us together.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Are you kind of hunting share on whether Sarah would
be interested in amalgamation as well?
Speaker 7 (16:52):
Well, it's more to take the pressure off the Christ
church hospitals, and I mean it means that people aren't
traveling so far to get to the main emergency services.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 7 (17:04):
If we keep doing the same thing a different result,
we know what that label there is.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Yeah, I mean, you know, Selwyn's growing enormously and really
rapidly at the moment, and you know Rolliston is now
bigger than Timaru and so I think that, you know,
having your own services sounds like it would make a
lot of sense.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
All right, thanks Sharon, thank you, Okay, during it's easy
to say that though, Sarah, when you when you're a candidate,
so that makes sense, that sounds good, But when you're
in the job probably quite different.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
There's only so much influence you can have at a
local government level, you know. You know, local government's overseas
often have a lot more power and than we do
here in New Zealand, and the government has been centralizing
decision making more recently. I'm a big fan of us
having more delegated responsibilities, but that needs to come with
funding as well.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Why should people believe that though? When you look at that,
and I know that the Trust surveys there's been incremental
growth or increases, but there's still a lack of trust
there in in the council and you've been part of
that council for nine years. You've got to comp some
of that, don't you.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Yeah, I think so. I mean there is a there's
an element of that collective responsibility. Trust and confidence in
the council took a dive last term. So that was
partly around COVID and there was a large number of
people protesting about a range of things. Partly because there
was a group of councilors at the time taking an
(18:33):
oppositional approach to council and partly now because central government
are you know, batting local government all the time and
that erodes trust and confidence and it's a lot of
work we have to do to build that back up again.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
You see you talk about that you would be a
champion for christ Church and you'd be all for lobbying.
You know, Wellington on behalf of christ Churche. But even
the language you're using these sounds quite competitive.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
No, I think it's just realistic. And you know it's
clear that the central government currently keen on centralizing some
of that decision making. We have at times pushed back
on that. It's been effective in some ways, but you know,
governments change and I think that we need to influence
(19:19):
where we can and we need to not wait for
Wellington on a range of things and just get on
with stuff that we need to get on with as
Autodaki christ Church for our residents.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
We've got headlines creeping up on us. What's an example
of that though, what's an example of self determination that
you would want christ Church Council to lead?
Speaker 3 (19:39):
So in the transport and climate space. So we know,
for example that when we as we mitigate our emissions,
lower our emissions and as we adapt over time, we
need a transport system that will get people around the
city more easily. So we've got a cater for growth.
So we've got thirty thousand more people living here in
the next ten years. We've already got New Zealand's slowest commute.
(20:02):
If we don't do more public transport, cycling, walking, those
kind of things, we're going to be And great book,
that's the physical reality.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
About listen to that are that Caven there is going
we're not.
Speaker 7 (20:11):
Telling the right story.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Yeah, we're not telling the right story and we're not
giving them convenient option where.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
We paused before the headlines there. You talked about the
transport story and I was saying, look, people are cavern
there is and they're not understood in you know, using
cycle ways, that want to drive in their own cars.
And you're saying, we're not telling the transport story properly.
Was the term the world? I think, what do you
mean by that?
Speaker 3 (20:33):
We're not telling it very well. So what we're not
doing what we tend to do is and I think
the transport plane itself does that. But people don't go
and look at strategies and minds.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Right, let's be realized that most of them don't even somewhere,
most don't even vote.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
They don't, but it's important that they do because you know,
the people that get in around the table make the
decisions that impact people's everyday lives. So with transport, for example,
so I said, you know, thirty thousand more people living
here in ten years time. That's not very long. So
that's twenty thirty five. We've already got his own slowest commute.
We could be in gridlock if we still have eighty
(21:06):
three percent of journeys in a single occupancy car. That's
just the physical reality of the space that we have
but we know that we can move people more efficiently
by public transport, cycling, walking, and we know that people
will do that if it feels safe and it's easy
and it's convenient. So how we tell that story is
really really important.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Well, it's not the story, it's the delivery, isn't it.
Say oh, hey, it would be good just you know
it'll take thirty minutes more. But you take a bus
and when you're trying to park, people hear that and think,
oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
The goal is to get not to take thirty minutes
more though, right, So if you put in really good
public transport infrastructure, you actually get there quicker, and that's
the goal.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
So what are you talking about here? And bearing in
mind too that you want to be one of sixteen
around the table. This is the challenge, isn't it that
convincing everyone around the table that it's your way? Well
maybe not your way of the highway, but this is
the way the city needs to go. I mean, what's
a practical example of what you could see being done
(22:05):
to make transport flow better and to encourage people to
use public transport.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
Yeah, so it is partly the story, So it's the
counter as well. So how you enable people to imagine
what it will be like in ten years time when
they're not moving slow. So people might be moving relatively
quickly now and public transport is slow, but that will
flip in ten years time, so car journeys will be really,
really slow if we don't change. So we can tell
(22:35):
the stories that people have already switched. And we know
that when petrol prices went really high, which they will
do again, a lot of people switched to the bus,
but they went back again to their car when petrol
prices went down because it was more convenient.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Would you lobby the government, for example, to provide greater
subsidization of public transport?
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Absolutely, and not necessarily the fares themselves, But you know,
we need the seventy eight million dollars to provide more
bus lanes so that buses are more convenient, they don't
get stuck in traffic. We need to keep doing the
mess rep of transit, and whether that's light rail or bus,
repid trans that's which you ever mode. We need that
kind of thing to get people in and out of
the city in a much more convenient way.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
And Okay, I've got a question from someone without transport
coming up. I've got a lot of questions. John.
Speaker 5 (23:23):
Yeah, Hi John. Good to have you back. And you
didn't get lost.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
It was a good one, well you, assuming I didn't
get lost.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
No tears. Can I speak to and share a temple?
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Temple right here?
Speaker 7 (23:39):
Ah?
Speaker 5 (23:39):
Good, well done.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
I've got full faith in you. Let's h I hope
the big circle comes for you. Because I transport our
end structure. That's happening around christ Church it needs a
massive wake up call.
Speaker 5 (23:58):
I've just come out of hospital.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
I felt so sad for all the people that are
working in there.
Speaker 5 (24:04):
They are under the pump and I them so much.
But these parking around this hospital, it's pathetic. It needs
it needs to be changed. Sarah. Sarah. My father said
to me many.
Speaker 4 (24:21):
Many years ago that Templeton.
Speaker 5 (24:26):
Was going to go burn. There's nothing there, Sarah. And
look what's happened.
Speaker 4 (24:32):
Wow, what a city it is.
Speaker 5 (24:34):
Now you're saying.
Speaker 4 (24:35):
About how this country is growing, You're dead right. And
we need to get on top of it. Fast food
people in Canterbury because if we don't, we're.
Speaker 5 (24:46):
In major troubles.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
And these poor people that work in the hospitals, working
their hearts out and looking after our sick people walking
for miles to get part getting attacked.
Speaker 5 (25:01):
The system is broken. We've got a dirty, big fat
park there.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Come on, what are you suggesting car parking on Hagley Park?
Speaker 4 (25:10):
Yeah, we need something, We need something there. That is
the pressure or is the pressure in town and the
roading around that area, the fumes that are coming.
Speaker 5 (25:22):
Off that area. John, we're in the two thousands.
Speaker 4 (25:27):
You're up there too, and we need a massive change.
And another thing I'd like to talk about is some
of the staff that work behind there, and a lot
of them are deep hits.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
They talk about well you're talking about you talking the
council now, Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (25:45):
There's a lot of them.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
Actually, just stop one this morning that's been well and
truly retired and talking about things around.
Speaker 5 (25:54):
Christ as well. They need to sup their mouse, you
know these people.
Speaker 4 (25:59):
Yeah, these people are doing the best they can and
I trust you.
Speaker 5 (26:03):
Sarah, well done.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
All right, brilliant, Thanks you, John. Just on that Sarah
film major a term which I think has come to
haunt him a little bit over the years. He accused
council staff, council transport staff of running a muck and
that was in relation to the park Terra cycleway. Is
that how you feel?
Speaker 3 (26:21):
No, absolutely not. I mean, on that particular issue, we
had had a report and a council agenda with all
of the information in it. We'd had a memo months beforehand,
and we had a news line story before works began,
and so people shouldn't have been surprised that that work
was happening. I think it was really unfair on the
organization that that went straight to the front page of
(26:44):
the paper.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
All Right, someone says, we've heard a lot about transport
and bikeways and green stuff. Can we hear some more
on how Sarah will keep rates down and will she
cut green projects back to achieve this.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
I think the key thing with rates is that we
need to look at across the long term the unsustainably
high at the moment. One of the reasons for that
is that we keep kicking the can down the road.
Often the green kind of tinged environmental projects save us money.
They cost a little bit to start with. But for example,
the even old Tacato River Corridor where we've got the
(27:17):
the red zone. You know, there's a whole part of
environmental things in there, but they're mixed in with our
storm water. So do we want to stop doing our
stormwater basins and stop banks that would end up, you know,
flighting people's homes.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
What's the answer. What's the answer to that question.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
We don't want to stop doing those. I mean, Phil
has proposed to stop buying land for stormwater basins that
are designed to stop.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
So basically you're saying that you're all for the boring stuff.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
A I'm for the boring stuff. So water infrastructure has
been a key focus this term. I'm the one who's
managed to get money on budget for water meters, for
chlorine free water stations, for a network across the city,
which I want to get done the plan assigned off
in my first six months. I'm the one who's managed
to get our piper and mules.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Do you thinks are wrought though, that there are people
on shared meters who aren't being hit with excess excess
waters chart just because they're on a sheared meter.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
Oh, there are some people without meters at all, about
twelve thousand of them, which is why in the annual
Plan I put forward a proposal to put some money
on budget to make sure that everyone was meeted, and
my colleagues, well, it got approved, so my colleagues. You know,
when they put up the motion to not look at
anything that increased rates, that was them saying, we don't
(28:29):
even want to look at water meters. It wasn't just random.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Stuff, all right, And morning morning, Anne.
Speaker 9 (28:38):
Are you there?
Speaker 3 (28:38):
John?
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Oh, you're loud and clear. Loud and clear.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
Yep, Hi, Anne, you're there, John?
Speaker 9 (28:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Can you hear me?
Speaker 9 (28:48):
Are you there?
Speaker 2 (28:51):
Sarah?
Speaker 9 (28:51):
Very long way away?
Speaker 2 (28:52):
That's all right, Sarah, you're speaking, Savan. Can hear you? Hi? Anne?
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Sarah here? How are you doing?
Speaker 8 (28:58):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (28:58):
Good? Thanks?
Speaker 3 (29:00):
Okay, what can I help you with it?
Speaker 9 (29:02):
But I've got a sedestion for you. Excellent to solve
the transfer bought a problem in christ Church for the future.
My oldest son lives in Sydney part of the year
and the rest of the time in his house in Trance.
But he loved his car until they raised the daily
parking fee to over seventy dollars a day. So then
(29:23):
he was quite willing to walk up the fifteen minute
walk to the train station and forget about his car.
Speaker 8 (29:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
So you're suggesting that we increase parking tags, so.
Speaker 9 (29:34):
Yeah, I have to go that way. Just people are
in love with the cars in New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
You're trying to say, good, that's right. I think it's
trying to sabotage your campaign.
Speaker 5 (29:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
I don't think we need to do that at the point.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
In twenty twenty two, you were one of three councilors
who voted against putting another one hundred and fifty million
to the new stadium, and you said at the time
quote that the stadium was a clear case of privatizing
the profits and socializing the cost and you said it
was hard to justify that.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
What do you mean, Yeah, I mean there's a lot
of narrative around the stadium being on time and on budget,
but you know it's on the current.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Does it not?
Speaker 6 (30:11):
Jet?
Speaker 5 (30:11):
Is it not?
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Well, it's the current budget. It ran over budget by
one hundred and fifty million dollars and we approved a
new budget.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
Are you telling me that this fixed price contract that
everyone beings on about isn't necessarily as fixed prices have
been led to belief?
Speaker 3 (30:23):
No, No, that's fine, because that's because we increased the budget,
though there was a cost blowout before we approved the
extra hundred and fifty million, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Well, what did you mean that it was a case
of privatizing the profits and socializing the costs.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
So stadiums across the world. The stadiums themselves don't make money.
They are a sunk cost for cities when cities built them.
And the people who do well out of the stadiums
are the local hospitality businesses, promoters, people who put on concerts,
those kind of things. I think we need a stadium, absolutely,
(30:58):
I didn't think that we should be spending the extra
one hundred and fifty million dollars. The original size twenty
five thousand was what the experts said would be ideal
for us, so it would be full more often, it
would have a better atmosphere, and it would have been cheaper.
So all for a space for us together and be entertained.
But we are subsidizing it by about six to seven
(31:19):
million dollars a year of rate, so it's one percent
on rates, just the operational cost.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
So how can you be and yourself you're not any stadium,
but I'll kind of, you know, say that you kind.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
Of are anti anti this stadium.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
And you're anti this stadium. How can you be anti
this stadium and pro cathedral.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
I'm pro getting the cathedral done. I'm not pro rate
payer money going into it. So I think the city
needs to play a leadership role in bringing people together
on it. I personally voted against the ten million dollar
original grant. I put forward an amendment to have that
to five million.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
So if you're the mayor, will you be reluctantly advocating
for the cathedrals that what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
No, I will be not reallying. I'll be happy to
advocate for the cathedral.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
And b you're promising that we no money going to it.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
I can't promise that because I'm.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Would you be advocating as.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
As hard as I can for other people to be
funding it. And we don't have really good oversight of
the costs so far of the stadium. So then other
organizations have come for us to us with their own
private organizations that have had cost blowouts. We have been
really clear about saying, right, where did it go wrong?
Let's have a review so that we know that any
(32:31):
money that there's still more of the ten million dollars
that we did agree to to go in, but we
need to make sure that that is all sorted before
we consult with the community.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
All Right, just briefly, are the project people dreaming thinking
they can get counsel money.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
I think it's a tough ask and I know that
they're doing a big sell to the community at the
moment and trying to get more social license for that,
and that will be up to our community to decide.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Are you sold.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
I'm not currently sold.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
No, And what do you mean by that.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
I haven't seen a case for it. I haven't seen
a business case, and I haven't seen the financials behind it,
and so I don't have the confidence in putting extra
funding to it yet.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
And Sarah Templin, why are you putting all the eggs
in one basket and not standing as a councilor as well.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
I've done nine years on council and I have it's
been an enormous privilege to serve the people of the
heathcut Ward. But I know that I can serve the
city better as mayor. And you know, if I went
for counsel as well, people would think I didn't have
the confidence to one, and I do, and so that's
why I'm standing for mayor alone. I would lose probably
(33:46):
two thousand votes if I stood for both, and so
my best shot is all or nothing.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
So if you're not elected mayor. What interest would you
have in national politics?
Speaker 3 (33:55):
Absolutely zero at the point. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Monday, I
won't be standing in the twenty two mus six elections. Yeah,
I just won't be. I will find another way to
serve the city. I have loved being local government. I
really value local government and I will leave central government
to others.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
You don't think being in a like minded caucus would
actually be easier than sitting around a council table.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
Ah, No, I really like the on the ground stuff
at council. I think that you know, when you're in
Parliament you're in opposition half the time, and when you're
around a council table you have influenced the whole time
you're there. All right, all the very best, Thanks so much, John.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
Sarah Templeton mayoral candidate. Remember get votes and add On
Thursday between eleven and midday, Phil Major will be in
for the same sort of grilling.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
For more from Canterbory Mornings with John McDonald, listen live
to news Talks It'd be christ Church from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Canterbury Mornings podcast with John McDonald
from News Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Current christ At City Councilor Sarah Templeton will know whether
or not she's going to be the city's next mayor
for the next three years. So what questions have you
got for Sarah Templeton. She's with us until eleven and
you can talk to Sarah directly by calling us right
now on oh eight hundred eighty ten eighty.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Sarah morning, Good morning, John, how are you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Very nice?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Nice to have you with us, Great to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
If you are elected mayor, will you be christ Church's
first Green mayor?
Speaker 3 (00:36):
No, I'll be our first. I don't think i'd be
our first anything mayor.
Speaker 4 (00:43):
No.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
We've had Labor mayors, probably National Party mayors, but I'm
not a party member.
Speaker 5 (00:48):
No.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
But I've used green in the loosest possible way.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
So small G right, big g.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
It would be fair to say that Leanne was a
strong environmental advocate and had a big focus on climate change,
but was pretty focused on the rebuilt, right.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah, So what I'm getting at, why should people vote
for a green with a small tree green me when
they've seen the likes of Tori Faartner survived just one
term and Dunedin's Aaron Hawkins the same.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
I think we need to focus on or to take
christ Church rather than on other cities. So I'm I
think what our city really does need right now is
actually someone with really strong environmental credentials, good governance skills,
and someone who's really focused on our community and community outcomes.
And they tend to be framed as kind of green values,
(01:41):
green credentials if you like. But I've got a really
strong track record in those areas, and I think that
people were voting based on that track record and my
vision for the future.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
So what do you say to yourself in your head
when you hear people banging on or referring to your
psych away.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Sarah, I say thank you so much for recognizing a
lot of the work I've been doing. So it was funny,
you know, the day after I announced, Sam came out
with that one, and within twenty four hours I'd had
three people contact me offering to print T shirts as
a fundraiser. It didn't do that because actually I'm more
about more about climate, environment infrastructure than i am just
(02:19):
about psycho ways. They play a really important role in
those things. But you know it's just you know, name calling.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
How well do you think you've done convincing people otherwise?
Speaker 3 (02:31):
I think that now that people have been paying attention
to the campaign, so over the campaign period, sort of
the twelve week period, people are paying attention. They're watching
the debates, the community debates, but as well as that,
the press Chris Lynch Q and A, and they're seeing
beyond the narrative that's been put out by the National
Party counselors.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
All right, you're not going to go any further on
that one. Let's go to let's go to Renee Rene
to go yeah, very well, serious with you now?
Speaker 4 (03:02):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (03:02):
Oh, jar, how are you?
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Rene? I'm good. Thanks.
Speaker 6 (03:07):
I've got two questions.
Speaker 7 (03:08):
Ones are really quick yes and no, and the other
ones probably just don't want to delve into it. The
first one is the yes no sweet arms, So you
four or against.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Yes where our communities are asking for them. And on
high crash rate intersections, all.
Speaker 7 (03:22):
Right, okay, and also rate caps, you four or against
the rate caps?
Speaker 5 (03:28):
And if it's for or sorry against such a quick very.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
White yeah, yeah, so I'm against a rate cap, so
I'm against Wellington telling our residents in our city what
they can do or can't do with their rates. So
that's the key reason taking away the community voice. It
also means that we're likely to sweat our assets more,
costing us more in the long term, and if we
want to do the infrastructure work, we'd either have to
not do that or increase debt sit exponentially, which we
(03:53):
don't want to do either. So against the rates cap
so that we can keep our community voice strong in
the decisions around the council table.
Speaker 7 (04:03):
All right, thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Thanks you, no living past in commuters to explaining, Sara,
to the person listened to this right now who can't
believe how much they're paying in rates, why they should
listen to your argument there A.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Yeah, rates are unsustainably high at the moment. There is
absolutely no doubt about that. And you know, there's been
a wide recognition for a number of years that the
funding mechanisms for local councils are completely broken. So we
need a strong mayor who can advocate, work with other
councils to advocate to central government for better funding tools.
That needs to happen. We need to make sure that
(04:38):
we don't turn down government funding when it's offered, for example,
for our public transport, which is something that the current
mey did and we need to make sure that.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
We currently would say that in exchange for that, for
giving up forty million, he ended up getting two hundred million.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Well no, that's completely just not true. So there's been
a billion dollars worth of funding that's disappeared since the
national government came in. So there's been twenty six million
for walking in cycling, safety around goals. There's been seventy
eight million dollars for public transport. So we you know,
everyone acknowledges that we want better public transport. It needs
to be convenient, needs to move through the traffic in
(05:15):
its own lanes. We need more bus shelters to make
it convenient. And eight hundred million dollars for the first
stage of the city shaping mess rapid transit was pulled
at the last minute by the ministry after the government
got in. So all of those things are crucial, but
they're also you know, money coming into the city for
jobs and all of those kind of things as well.
All right, and much of that two hundred million was
(05:36):
already allocated by the previous labor government taken away by
National and then given back again.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Oh one hundred eighty ten eighties abdicle with your question
for Sarah Templeton, Morning Joy.
Speaker 8 (05:47):
Oh, good morning. Just a question for Sarah. I have
a friend who's on the general election. She's lived in
Australia for thirty two years, never been a rate payer,
lived or owned a house in christ Church. How come
she received voting papers to staden and then asking me
who she should vote for. I wonder how many other
(06:08):
papers have been sent out and is this legal?
Speaker 3 (06:11):
I think that's appalling and I think it's one of
those things that shows that we shouldn't have, you know,
farmed out our electoral system to private business. So I
think that you know, government needs to look at and
bringing local government stuff in house for a government agency
to run like they do the general elections.
Speaker 8 (06:31):
So are you saying to me that there'll be quite
a few people on the general election, not rape players,
not lived here, probably receive papers.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
I don't know, but there's clearly there's been news around
the country where things have gone wrong in various councils elections,
and I think that that needs work because people need
to be able to trust the democracy that we've got
and so we need.
Speaker 8 (06:52):
And you don't have any trust in the council elections
if this is the way it's been.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Run, that's right, yep. And that's happening around the country.
So there've been ones where candidates details and the one
hundred and fifty words have been left out of booklets
and all of those kind of things, and that really
destroys our roads trust in the process and we need government.
Speaker 8 (07:11):
Station don't have any trust in it is never owned faith,
never been a rate player, been in Australia for thirty
two years and receives papers for the nature.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Yeah, well, thank you, Joy. What does that due to
your trust and confidence in the system?
Speaker 3 (07:25):
Serah, Yeah, it's not good. It's really not good. And
we don't know how many mistakes there have been in
that system. There needs to be a a really clear
and not an official inquiry, but there needs to be
an assessment of it, and that needs to be done
at a national level because it's happened across the country.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
All right. You're portrayed sometimes as a bit of an
outlier around the council table and you refer to your
National Council colleagues before come back to that mentioned before
that you are portrayed sometimes as a bit of an
outlier around the council table. How would an outlier lead
a team of counselors.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
So I'm not an outlier. So if I was an outlier,
I wouldn't have actually been able to achieve things over
my time on council, and I clearly have. So I
have worked with counselors from across the table to achieve
things like the Adaptation Fund, which initially some counselors didn't
think was a good idea, but it got across the
(08:22):
line easily. I don't know if it's a unanimous in
the end, but they had really good community support, things
like the removal of library fines. All of those kind
of things I worked with others to do.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
How intimidated would you be leading a council which you've
already alluded to was having national party representatives or members
who also portray you as psych away Sarah and portray
you as being this outlier. How would you work with
those people? Because it's very different being a fellow counselor
(08:55):
to being a mayor.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
It is completely and you know, I think that our
residents deserve better than the attack style kind of parliamentary
oppositional style politics that they might be doing at the moment.
And you know, a mayor's role is to work with
all counselors. You know, it's for the residents of the
city to tell me who to work with, not for
me to tell them. And I'm a really strong believer
(09:18):
that every counselor should be able to have their voice
around around the table and achieve things in their term.
And I'm determined to make sure that that happens. You know,
put the elections behind us, and then get to work.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
All right, It's like the next called morning, Greg, Yeah,
good morning, Good morning, Sharah.
Speaker 6 (09:33):
How are you?
Speaker 3 (09:34):
I'm good? Thanks Greg.
Speaker 6 (09:36):
My question is we had a situation a few years
ago where the Dela a Lama visited christ Church. Unfortunately,
Deljel refused to meet him because she didn't want to
offend the Chinese Communist Party. If you were the mayor
in that situation, arose, what would your stance be.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
I would love to meet the Dalai Lama. I mean,
that's how I would be meeting with the Dalai Lama.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Is that what you wanted to hear? Greg?
Speaker 7 (10:01):
Lately?
Speaker 6 (10:01):
What I wanted to hear. I was so disappointed with
the Dalzel's stance that to a piece of Chinese communist regime,
and I thought it was disgraceful to treat a man
of has a steam like that.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Just listen. I was just going to touch on something there, Greg,
in terms of international relations, because I think, Sarah, you
haven't flown internationally since what twenty seventeen to minimize your
carbon footprint.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
No, I haven't flown internationally or domestically for a holiday
for recreation. So I've done work stuff. So I have
done a work trip to Indonesia for example. I'm working
on the Sendai framework for a disaster risk reduction, that
kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
So if you became your your personal commitment to minimizing
your carbon footprint wouldn't limit your ability to represent the
city internationally.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
No, I know that's the mayor's job. Absolutely you have
to do that thing. But I'm committed to offsetting the
emissions personally rather than through rates.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
All right, Greg, thanks for call, Thank you sir. There
you go. You'll be what will you be? If you win?
Next to me? You'll be your worship? Will you? Whatever
happens your worship?
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that'll be fine. I'll be Sarah.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Twenty one past t and I eight one hundred and
eighty ten eighties an AUMBL call if you've got a
question for meyoral candidate Sarah Templeton, Sarah, Sarah Templeton, you
talked about being a cheerleader for christ Church. What are
you going to do if you're mayor about the situation
with the Code read environment at christ Church Hospital.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
It's so hard in there at the moment. I've had
family members in and out of hospital and the staff
are phenomenal doing what they can with their very very
stretched resources.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
I mean with respect. I'm going to ask film Major
the same question with on Thursday and that the answer
will be the same.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
But I think we need to advocate really strongly to
Central Government for the resourcing to come here. We need
to do that both with the hospital but actually with
Foreign Emergency in New Zealand as well, so they're really
really stretched for resources. I know that they've got a
one hour strike up as well where they won't be
answering one one one calls for fires in christ Church
(12:11):
for an hour and we need to be really strong
and clear about that with Central Government and find pathways
forward with them because it's our residents that they are
looking at for.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
So would for example, with firefighters, would you be looking
at the council going into bat for them?
Speaker 5 (12:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (12:29):
I think so. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
And what line would you draw when it comes to
industrial disputes, whether you're going to go into bat for
them or for the people involved in those disputes?
Speaker 3 (12:39):
Yeah, I think you need to talk to the people involved,
make sure that our position is an evidence based one
and is really clear, and we need to discuss it
as a council and then do what we need to do,
whether that's writing to ministers, having real conversations in person
about the issues that we're seeing on the ground. But
(13:02):
we need to not be afraid of that, and we
need to do it in a really constructive way, so
it's not a fist thumpings shaking kind of thing. It's
a really constructive way forward that we need with central government.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Off the top of head, what do you thinks needed
in relation to the hospital here in christ.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Jurge More resourcing, more staff is what I'm hearing, and
the staffing is crucial. We've seen what's happened with cuts
to the public service in Wellington, the impact that has
on communities and on services that are provided to the community,
and I think councils can play a really strong role
(13:39):
in being a bit of a counterbalance to that at times,
and we see that again and again because our election
cycles are different that sometimes you'll have a government that's
coming in doing lots of cuts and slashing and burning,
and the council can pick up some of those pieces.
But we also have a role as a council in health,
so we create the environment that people live in, and
(13:59):
we know that environments play a really large role in
how healthy people are. And when Phil and I went
to the health sector debate, for example, we were asked
about that by the health sector, by senior staff working
in that space, what we would do all.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Right, do you think the council has done enough in
relation to advocating for health services in christ Church?
Speaker 3 (14:18):
No? No, I don't, And you.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Have you tried to push the council in the direction
to do more.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Not at the moment.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
No.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
As a counselor, I think you know, my role has
been you know, in the climate change space, the mayor's
role is to lead the city on those higher leveled discussions.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Always been in touch, Sarah. It wants to know if
you will be open and transparent, if you are meyor
and involve residents and decision making.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Absolutely, transparency is one of the core principles that I have.
That's why I've been really open about the diners in
my campaign, for example. And my plan is to have
what we call deliberateive forums. So actually getting groups of
residents together. Is it a representative from across the city,
maybe fifty or so for some of the big issues
and big decisions that we need to make.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Why do you need to add that complexity?
Speaker 3 (15:09):
I think it's complete complexity. It adds trust into the process.
So these residents, you know, they don't have the egos
and the political ambitions and the votes to think about
and what it does. They've been used in Auckland over
their transport plan and their water because she's in Auckland
with water, and what they found is that it built
(15:29):
trust in the process and the decision making. And I
think that's worthwhile and it means we can involve the
communities much more in residence, so it would be on
top of the regular consultation process.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
All right. Sharon's next are Sharon.
Speaker 7 (15:41):
Oh bye, Sharon. Hi, I'm in a cell In district,
so I'm not voting for you, so totally natural, but
a full full disclosure. I am a candidate in the
cell On district and I was interested to know if
you got in and I major would do this too,
would you be interested in talking to the outlying district
(16:05):
to see if they could from to some arrangements to
have health hubs that are more servicing after ours in
the outlying districts to take the pressure off the Christ
Church Hospital.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
That sounds like a really good idea. So I've spent
nine years on the Greater christ Church Partnership working with
Selwyn Way, Macerdi and e Ken on big issues around
the city, and I think a joint approach to government
though in the last term of Council we met with
ministers as a group, and I think that the Greater
Christ Rich Partnership working together should be inviting ministers or
(16:39):
going to see ministers together as well to talk about
those key issues that affect all of us together.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Are you kind of hunting share on whether Sarah would
be interested in amalgamation as well?
Speaker 7 (16:52):
Well, it's more to take the pressure off the Christ
church hospitals, and I mean it means that people aren't
traveling so far to get to the main emergency services.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 7 (17:04):
If we keep doing the same thing a different result,
we know what that label there is.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Yeah, I mean, you know, Selwyn's growing enormously and really
rapidly at the moment, and you know Rolliston is now
bigger than Timaru and so I think that, you know,
having your own services sounds like it would make a
lot of sense.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
All right, thanks Sharon, thank you, Okay, during it's easy
to say that though, Sarah, when you when you're a candidate,
so that makes sense, that sounds good, But when you're
in the job probably quite different.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
There's only so much influence you can have at a
local government level, you know. You know, local government's overseas
often have a lot more power and than we do
here in New Zealand, and the government has been centralizing
decision making more recently. I'm a big fan of us
having more delegated responsibilities, but that needs to come with
funding as well.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Why should people believe that though? When you look at that,
and I know that the Trust surveys there's been incremental
growth or increases, but there's still a lack of trust
there in in the council and you've been part of
that council for nine years. You've got to comp some
of that, don't you.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Yeah, I think so. I mean there is a there's
an element of that collective responsibility. Trust and confidence in
the council took a dive last term. So that was
partly around COVID and there was a large number of
people protesting about a range of things. Partly because there
was a group of councilors at the time taking an
(18:33):
oppositional approach to council and partly now because central government
are you know, batting local government all the time and
that erodes trust and confidence and it's a lot of
work we have to do to build that back up again.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
You see you talk about that you would be a
champion for christ Church and you'd be all for lobbying.
You know, Wellington on behalf of christ Churche. But even
the language you're using these sounds quite competitive.
Speaker 3 (18:58):
No, I think it's just realistic. And you know it's
clear that the central government currently keen on centralizing some
of that decision making. We have at times pushed back
on that. It's been effective in some ways, but you know,
governments change and I think that we need to influence
(19:19):
where we can and we need to not wait for
Wellington on a range of things and just get on
with stuff that we need to get on with as
Autodaki christ Church for our residents.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
We've got headlines creeping up on us. What's an example
of that though, what's an example of self determination that
you would want christ Church Council to lead?
Speaker 3 (19:39):
So in the transport and climate space. So we know,
for example that when we as we mitigate our emissions,
lower our emissions and as we adapt over time, we
need a transport system that will get people around the
city more easily. So we've got a cater for growth.
So we've got thirty thousand more people living here in
the next ten years. We've already got New Zealand's slowest commute.
(20:02):
If we don't do more public transport, cycling, walking, those
kind of things, we're going to be And great book,
that's the physical reality.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
About listen to that are that Caven there is going
we're not.
Speaker 7 (20:11):
Telling the right story.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Yeah, we're not telling the right story and we're not
giving them convenient option where.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
We paused before the headlines there. You talked about the
transport story and I was saying, look, people are cavern
there is and they're not understood in you know, using
cycle ways, that want to drive in their own cars.
And you're saying, we're not telling the transport story properly.
Was the term the world? I think, what do you
mean by that?
Speaker 3 (20:33):
We're not telling it very well. So what we're not
doing what we tend to do is and I think
the transport plane itself does that. But people don't go
and look at strategies and minds.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Right, let's be realized that most of them don't even somewhere,
most don't even vote.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
They don't, but it's important that they do because you know,
the people that get in around the table make the
decisions that impact people's everyday lives. So with transport, for example,
so I said, you know, thirty thousand more people living
here in ten years time. That's not very long. So
that's twenty thirty five. We've already got his own slowest commute.
We could be in gridlock if we still have eighty
(21:06):
three percent of journeys in a single occupancy car. That's
just the physical reality of the space that we have
but we know that we can move people more efficiently
by public transport, cycling, walking, and we know that people
will do that if it feels safe and it's easy
and it's convenient. So how we tell that story is
really really important.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Well, it's not the story, it's the delivery, isn't it.
Say oh, hey, it would be good just you know
it'll take thirty minutes more. But you take a bus
and when you're trying to park, people hear that and think,
oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
The goal is to get not to take thirty minutes
more though, right, So if you put in really good
public transport infrastructure, you actually get there quicker, and that's
the goal.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
So what are you talking about here? And bearing in
mind too that you want to be one of sixteen
around the table. This is the challenge, isn't it that
convincing everyone around the table that it's your way? Well
maybe not your way of the highway, but this is
the way the city needs to go. I mean, what's
a practical example of what you could see being done
(22:05):
to make transport flow better and to encourage people to
use public transport.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
Yeah, so it is partly the story, So it's the
counter as well. So how you enable people to imagine
what it will be like in ten years time when
they're not moving slow. So people might be moving relatively
quickly now and public transport is slow, but that will
flip in ten years time, so car journeys will be really,
really slow if we don't change. So we can tell
(22:35):
the stories that people have already switched. And we know
that when petrol prices went really high, which they will
do again, a lot of people switched to the bus,
but they went back again to their car when petrol
prices went down because it was more convenient.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Would you lobby the government, for example, to provide greater
subsidization of public transport?
Speaker 3 (22:56):
Absolutely, and not necessarily the fares themselves, But you know,
we need the seventy eight million dollars to provide more
bus lanes so that buses are more convenient, they don't
get stuck in traffic. We need to keep doing the
mess rep of transit, and whether that's light rail or bus,
repid trans that's which you ever mode. We need that
kind of thing to get people in and out of
the city in a much more convenient way.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
And Okay, I've got a question from someone without transport
coming up. I've got a lot of questions. John.
Speaker 5 (23:23):
Yeah, Hi John. Good to have you back. And you
didn't get lost.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
It was a good one, well you, assuming I didn't
get lost.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
No tears. Can I speak to and share a temple?
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Temple right here?
Speaker 7 (23:39):
Ah?
Speaker 5 (23:39):
Good, well done.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
I've got full faith in you. Let's h I hope
the big circle comes for you. Because I transport our
end structure. That's happening around christ Church it needs a
massive wake up call.
Speaker 5 (23:58):
I've just come out of hospital.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
I felt so sad for all the people that are
working in there.
Speaker 5 (24:04):
They are under the pump and I them so much.
But these parking around this hospital, it's pathetic. It needs
it needs to be changed. Sarah. Sarah. My father said
to me many.
Speaker 4 (24:21):
Many years ago that Templeton.
Speaker 5 (24:26):
Was going to go burn. There's nothing there, Sarah. And
look what's happened.
Speaker 4 (24:32):
Wow, what a city it is.
Speaker 5 (24:34):
Now you're saying.
Speaker 4 (24:35):
About how this country is growing, You're dead right. And
we need to get on top of it. Fast food
people in Canterbury because if we don't, we're.
Speaker 5 (24:46):
In major troubles.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
And these poor people that work in the hospitals, working
their hearts out and looking after our sick people walking
for miles to get part getting attacked.
Speaker 5 (25:01):
The system is broken. We've got a dirty, big fat
park there.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Come on, what are you suggesting car parking on Hagley Park?
Speaker 4 (25:10):
Yeah, we need something, We need something there. That is
the pressure or is the pressure in town and the
roading around that area, the fumes that are coming.
Speaker 5 (25:22):
Off that area. John, we're in the two thousands.
Speaker 4 (25:27):
You're up there too, and we need a massive change.
And another thing I'd like to talk about is some
of the staff that work behind there, and a lot
of them are deep hits.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
They talk about well you're talking about you talking the
council now, Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5 (25:45):
There's a lot of them.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
Actually, just stop one this morning that's been well and
truly retired and talking about things around.
Speaker 5 (25:54):
Christ as well. They need to sup their mouse, you
know these people.
Speaker 4 (25:59):
Yeah, these people are doing the best they can and
I trust you.
Speaker 5 (26:03):
Sarah, well done.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
All right, brilliant, Thanks you, John. Just on that Sarah
film major a term which I think has come to
haunt him a little bit over the years. He accused
council staff, council transport staff of running a muck and
that was in relation to the park Terra cycleway. Is
that how you feel?
Speaker 3 (26:21):
No, absolutely not. I mean, on that particular issue, we
had had a report and a council agenda with all
of the information in it. We'd had a memo months beforehand,
and we had a news line story before works began,
and so people shouldn't have been surprised that that work
was happening. I think it was really unfair on the
organization that that went straight to the front page of
(26:44):
the paper.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
All Right, someone says, we've heard a lot about transport
and bikeways and green stuff. Can we hear some more
on how Sarah will keep rates down and will she
cut green projects back to achieve this.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
I think the key thing with rates is that we
need to look at across the long term the unsustainably
high at the moment. One of the reasons for that
is that we keep kicking the can down the road.
Often the green kind of tinged environmental projects save us money.
They cost a little bit to start with. But for example,
the even old Tacato River Corridor where we've got the
(27:17):
the red zone. You know, there's a whole part of
environmental things in there, but they're mixed in with our
storm water. So do we want to stop doing our
stormwater basins and stop banks that would end up, you know,
flighting people's homes.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
What's the answer. What's the answer to that question.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
We don't want to stop doing those. I mean, Phil
has proposed to stop buying land for stormwater basins that
are designed to stop.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
So basically you're saying that you're all for the boring stuff.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
A I'm for the boring stuff. So water infrastructure has
been a key focus this term. I'm the one who's
managed to get money on budget for water meters, for
chlorine free water stations, for a network across the city,
which I want to get done the plan assigned off
in my first six months. I'm the one who's managed
to get our piper and mules.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Do you thinks are wrought though, that there are people
on shared meters who aren't being hit with excess excess
waters chart just because they're on a sheared meter.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
Oh, there are some people without meters at all, about
twelve thousand of them, which is why in the annual
Plan I put forward a proposal to put some money
on budget to make sure that everyone was meeted, and
my colleagues, well, it got approved, so my colleagues. You know,
when they put up the motion to not look at
anything that increased rates, that was them saying, we don't
(28:29):
even want to look at water meters. It wasn't just random.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Stuff, all right, And morning morning, Anne.
Speaker 9 (28:38):
Are you there?
Speaker 3 (28:38):
John?
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Oh, you're loud and clear. Loud and clear.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
Yep, Hi, Anne, you're there, John?
Speaker 9 (28:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Can you hear me?
Speaker 9 (28:48):
Are you there?
Speaker 2 (28:51):
Sarah?
Speaker 9 (28:51):
Very long way away?
Speaker 2 (28:52):
That's all right, Sarah, you're speaking, Savan. Can hear you? Hi? Anne?
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Sarah here? How are you doing?
Speaker 8 (28:58):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (28:58):
Good? Thanks?
Speaker 3 (29:00):
Okay, what can I help you with it?
Speaker 9 (29:02):
But I've got a sedestion for you. Excellent to solve
the transfer bought a problem in christ Church for the future.
My oldest son lives in Sydney part of the year
and the rest of the time in his house in Trance.
But he loved his car until they raised the daily
parking fee to over seventy dollars a day. So then
(29:23):
he was quite willing to walk up the fifteen minute
walk to the train station and forget about his car.
Speaker 8 (29:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
So you're suggesting that we increase parking tags, so.
Speaker 9 (29:34):
Yeah, I have to go that way. Just people are
in love with the cars in New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
You're trying to say, good, that's right. I think it's
trying to sabotage your campaign.
Speaker 5 (29:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
I don't think we need to do that at the point.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
In twenty twenty two, you were one of three councilors
who voted against putting another one hundred and fifty million
to the new stadium, and you said at the time
quote that the stadium was a clear case of privatizing
the profits and socializing the cost and you said it
was hard to justify that.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
What do you mean, Yeah, I mean there's a lot
of narrative around the stadium being on time and on budget,
but you know it's on the current.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Does it not?
Speaker 6 (30:11):
Jet?
Speaker 5 (30:11):
Is it not?
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Well, it's the current budget. It ran over budget by
one hundred and fifty million dollars and we approved a
new budget.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
Are you telling me that this fixed price contract that
everyone beings on about isn't necessarily as fixed prices have
been led to belief?
Speaker 3 (30:23):
No, No, that's fine, because that's because we increased the budget,
though there was a cost blowout before we approved the
extra hundred and fifty million, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Well, what did you mean that it was a case
of privatizing the profits and socializing the costs.
Speaker 3 (30:34):
So stadiums across the world. The stadiums themselves don't make money.
They are a sunk cost for cities when cities built them.
And the people who do well out of the stadiums
are the local hospitality businesses, promoters, people who put on concerts,
those kind of things. I think we need a stadium, absolutely,
(30:58):
I didn't think that we should be spending the extra
one hundred and fifty million dollars. The original size twenty
five thousand was what the experts said would be ideal
for us, so it would be full more often, it
would have a better atmosphere, and it would have been cheaper.
So all for a space for us together and be entertained.
But we are subsidizing it by about six to seven
(31:19):
million dollars a year of rate, so it's one percent
on rates, just the operational cost.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
So how can you be and yourself you're not any stadium,
but I'll kind of, you know, say that you kind.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
Of are anti anti this stadium.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
And you're anti this stadium. How can you be anti
this stadium and pro cathedral.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
I'm pro getting the cathedral done. I'm not pro rate
payer money going into it. So I think the city
needs to play a leadership role in bringing people together
on it. I personally voted against the ten million dollar
original grant. I put forward an amendment to have that
to five million.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
So if you're the mayor, will you be reluctantly advocating
for the cathedrals that what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
No, I will be not reallying. I'll be happy to
advocate for the cathedral.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
And b you're promising that we no money going to it.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
I can't promise that because I'm.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Would you be advocating as.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
As hard as I can for other people to be
funding it. And we don't have really good oversight of
the costs so far of the stadium. So then other
organizations have come for us to us with their own
private organizations that have had cost blowouts. We have been
really clear about saying, right, where did it go wrong?
Let's have a review so that we know that any
(32:31):
money that there's still more of the ten million dollars
that we did agree to to go in, but we
need to make sure that that is all sorted before
we consult with the community.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
All Right, just briefly, are the project people dreaming thinking
they can get counsel money.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
I think it's a tough ask and I know that
they're doing a big sell to the community at the
moment and trying to get more social license for that,
and that will be up to our community to decide.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Are you sold.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
I'm not currently sold.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
No, And what do you mean by that.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
I haven't seen a case for it. I haven't seen
a business case, and I haven't seen the financials behind it,
and so I don't have the confidence in putting extra
funding to it yet.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
And Sarah Templin, why are you putting all the eggs
in one basket and not standing as a councilor as well.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
I've done nine years on council and I have it's
been an enormous privilege to serve the people of the
heathcut Ward. But I know that I can serve the
city better as mayor. And you know, if I went
for counsel as well, people would think I didn't have
the confidence to one, and I do, and so that's
why I'm standing for mayor alone. I would lose probably
(33:46):
two thousand votes if I stood for both, and so
my best shot is all or nothing.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
So if you're not elected mayor. What interest would you
have in national politics?
Speaker 3 (33:55):
Absolutely zero at the point. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Monday, I
won't be standing in the twenty two mus six elections. Yeah,
I just won't be. I will find another way to
serve the city. I have loved being local government. I
really value local government and I will leave central government
to others.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
You don't think being in a like minded caucus would
actually be easier than sitting around a council table.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
Ah, No, I really like the on the ground stuff
at council. I think that you know, when you're in
Parliament you're in opposition half the time, and when you're
around a council table you have influenced the whole time
you're there. All right, all the very best, Thanks so much, John.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
Sarah Templeton mayoral candidate. Remember get votes and add On
Thursday between eleven and midday, Phil Major will be in
for the same sort of grilling.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
For more from Canterbory Mornings with John McDonald, listen live
to news Talks It'd be christ Church from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.