Tauranga's new mayor says his election campaign was built on collaboration.
Champion Olympic rower Mahe Drysdale has an almost 6000 vote lead in the mayoral race, with just the specials left to count.
Drysdale told Mike Hosking voters have seen the success he's had before politics.
“I campaigned on working as a team with government, with the staff, with community to deliver for the city.”
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Mahe Drysdale's answered the question of what you do post
a high level sports Careersdale, He comes up to the
line what a race from her? Yes, he won the
towering a race over the weekend. Looks like he beat
the silver medalist by six thousand votes in Marhi. Drysdale's
with us Mahi morning to you, Good morning Mike, and
(00:20):
congratulations to you. Six thousand votes. Are you proof positive
that if you're a moderately well known New Zealander you
can pretty much be a mayor of any town you want.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
I wouldn't say that. I think they they you know,
the people aren't. Aren't that silly, But you know, I
think they have very much looked at the success that
I've had and and said, you know, let's let's give
him a crack at trying to do the same in
our city.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
What actually did you campaign on?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
It's it's actually very hard to campaign on, you know,
for for local body, because you can't can't really promise
policy because you've you were only one of ten around
the table, so very much I voted. I campaigned on, uh,
you know, working as a team, collaboratively with with you know, government,
with the staff, with community, you know to deliver for
(01:13):
the city, and that's very much. You know, it's a
very positive campaign about how great the city is and
how much better it can be.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
You've got seven I think I'm right in saying seven
of the nine councilors, and you do you have a
sense of who they are, what they're about, and whether
you can do some good stuff with them.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
I've I've met a lot of them and done that
throughout the campaign. I've actually met all of them, but
I've had some you know, one on ones with with
a number of them as well. So I'm very excited
about the team that's been delivered. I think there's a
wide range of skills and uh, you know, I I
absolutely you know, I believe that they will work together,
(01:50):
you know, for the betterment of the city.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
So you you you sense genuine goodwill at least to
start with.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Absolutely, you know. And I think this is the where
politics goes wrong is you know, people bring agendas or
you know, I guess egos to the table and you
know they want to do their little thing, and you know,
that's not what this is about. This is about delivering
for for the citizens of the city. That's who you
(02:17):
work for. And that's how you should be accountable too.
So you know, that's very much. You know what I
believe I can bring to the table and deliver for
the citizens of Dottengham.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
How do you explain the abysmal turnout?
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Yeah, it's it's local body politics. You know, the turnouts
in line with the last kind of three elections. It's
it's pretty poor that you know, under under forty percent
of of the the town or the city you know
elects our members. But you know, we've got to engage
more with them so they understand. You know why it's
(02:57):
important to engage.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Because the funny thing about it is you, of all people,
not you personally, but you as in the tower on
the city. You get democracy taken away from you, and
you get the opportunity to have it back, and still
you can't be bothered getting out of bed and voting.
I mean, it's amazing, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
It is surprising. I thought it would be a very
big voter turnout. But again, we're probably go to look
at the way we're voting. You know, people don't check
their letterboxes anymore, and that's how it comes. You've got
to find a better way that people can vote easily.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Some of the issues. I always fascinated with the way
the media covers these sort of things and all the
issues you face. You're not the government, You're just the council.
Are some of the things they are expecting you to do? Actually,
Wellington's issue, not yours.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah, they are, but we've got to work together to
solve them because ultimately they affect the people that live
in our city. So you know, that's very important that
we work together with all range of groups in order
to solve some of these things.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Good stuff, go well, mate, I wish you all the
very best with it. Mahu Drysdale, The Towering and Mass.
For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to
news Talks it Be from six am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
Mahe Drysdale's answered the question of what you do post
a high level sports Careersdale, He comes up to the
line what a race from her? Yes, he won the
towering a race over the weekend. Looks like he beat
the silver medalist by six thousand votes in Marhi. Drysdale's
with us Mahi morning to you, Good morning Mike, and
(00:20):
congratulations to you. Six thousand votes. Are you proof positive
that if you're a moderately well known New Zealander you
can pretty much be a mayor of any town you want.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
I wouldn't say that. I think they they you know,
the people aren't. Aren't that silly, But you know, I
think they have very much looked at the success that
I've had and and said, you know, let's let's give
him a crack at trying to do the same in
our city.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
What actually did you campaign on?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
It's it's actually very hard to campaign on, you know,
for for local body, because you can't can't really promise
policy because you've you were only one of ten around
the table, so very much I voted. I campaigned on, uh,
you know, working as a team, collaboratively with with you know, government,
with the staff, with community, you know to deliver for
(01:13):
the city, and that's very much. You know, it's a
very positive campaign about how great the city is and
how much better it can be.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
You've got seven I think I'm right in saying seven
of the nine councilors, and you do you have a
sense of who they are, what they're about, and whether
you can do some good stuff with them.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
I've I've met a lot of them and done that
throughout the campaign. I've actually met all of them, but
I've had some you know, one on ones with with
a number of them as well. So I'm very excited
about the team that's been delivered. I think there's a
wide range of skills and uh, you know, I I
absolutely you know, I believe that they will work together,
(01:50):
you know, for the betterment of the city.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
So you you you sense genuine goodwill at least to
start with.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Absolutely, you know. And I think this is the where
politics goes wrong is you know, people bring agendas or
you know, I guess egos to the table and you
know they want to do their little thing, and you know,
that's not what this is about. This is about delivering
for for the citizens of the city. That's who you
(02:17):
work for. And that's how you should be accountable too.
So you know, that's very much. You know what I
believe I can bring to the table and deliver for
the citizens of Dottengham.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
How do you explain the abysmal turnout?
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Yeah, it's it's local body politics. You know, the turnouts
in line with the last kind of three elections. It's
it's pretty poor that you know, under under forty percent
of of the the town or the city you know
elects our members. But you know, we've got to engage
more with them so they understand. You know why it's
(02:57):
important to engage.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Because the funny thing about it is you, of all people,
not you personally, but you as in the tower on
the city. You get democracy taken away from you, and
you get the opportunity to have it back, and still
you can't be bothered getting out of bed and voting.
I mean, it's amazing, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
It is surprising. I thought it would be a very
big voter turnout. But again, we're probably go to look
at the way we're voting. You know, people don't check
their letterboxes anymore, and that's how it comes. You've got
to find a better way that people can vote easily.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Some of the issues. I always fascinated with the way
the media covers these sort of things and all the
issues you face. You're not the government, You're just the council.
Are some of the things they are expecting you to do? Actually,
Wellington's issue, not yours.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah, they are, but we've got to work together to
solve them because ultimately they affect the people that live
in our city. So you know, that's very important that
we work together with all range of groups in order
to solve some of these things.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Good stuff, go well, mate, I wish you all the
very best with it. Mahu Drysdale, The Towering and Mass.
For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to
news Talks it Be from six am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
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