Auckland Council elections in October

The triennial local body elections will be held in October. In the Ponsonby News catchment we will be electing a new mayor, one Waitemata Ward councillor, and seven Waitemata Local Board members.

An increasing trend in local elections is for major political parties to put up slates of candidates. If one party secures a majority of the seats, they can then win every argument and every vote at the council table. This means the group must all tow the party line, when many local issues are neither politically right nor left.

In order to help you vote, Ponsonby News here presents the major policy planks of the two major political parties contesting the election and we comment on a couple of independents.

The centre-right candidates are known as Auckland Future, and are closely affiliated with the National Party. They have endorsed Vic Crone for Mayor and Bill Ralston for council. Their major policy philosophy is “core service delivery.”

Their four major policy planks are:
1. Capping rates increases to 2%
2. Cutting waste ($500 million)
3. Reducing council staff costs and numbers
4. Paying down debt

They also pledge to introduce more user pays.

Isn’t that rates by another name?

This is the problem with political parties, they wrap up their policies so carefully that they often finish up being platitudes which mean very little. So, for Auckland Future we should be asking what "waste" they will cut. Do they mean music in parks, free computers in libraries, free art gallery visits, increased costs to go to the zoo, less footpath maintenance?

Perhaps it comes down to asking the centre-right candidates what they regard as ‘core services’.

Would it be unfair to suggest that Auckland Future will be more helpful to the 1% than the 99%?

The centre-left is City Vision (read Labour and the Greens), and they have endorsed Phil Goff for Mayor, and Mike Lee for Waitemata Councillor.

Their mantra is “a dynamic, democratic, diverse, inclusive and caring region.” They talk a lot about social justice, economic fairness, environmental protection, keeping our assets, public transport, a review of CCOs to ensure maximum accountability and transparency. They promise to be financially prudent, keeping rates low and fair. We might ask if that is specific enough. What is ‘low’ and what is ‘fair’?

Reading between the lines City Vision, using words like democratic, diverse, caring, social justice, places more importance on efforts to bolster a sense of community, and indicates that the council’s job is about more than just money. It is also about ensuring equality.

Would it be unfair to suggest City Vision cares about the 99% as much as the 1%?

And then there are the independents. They face a more difficult job, to get known. They cannot share the cost of pamphlets like the other two, who are advertising their seven candidates on one flyer. And yet, here we often have interesting individuals with important policy ideas to benefit Auckland. One independent already on the Waitemata Local Board is Rob Thomas. Another candidate who wrote to Ponsonby News is Russell Hoban, who said, among other things, “The seeping intrusion of partisan politics into Auckland local boards represents a hijacking of a local democratic process and free and accessible community representation.” He was critical of “safe ‘professional’ petty politicians who say nothing, articulate no vision and repeat tired mantras.” Hoban went on to say “we (independents) are the real foxes in the chicken coop able to ruffle feathers by our constant questions and passionate concern when community is put second.”

Russell Hoban’s policy planks include "less business suits-more overalls," and he is against "throwing the keys of our unique city to developers." He would also seek to place the CCOs directly under council control, and would protect local amenity values - noise, parking, safety, sustainable development.

Another independent candidate for the Board is Allan Matson, a heritage expert and critic of the Unitary Plan’s omission of heritage protection, especially for our stock of wooden villas. He told Ponsonby News that “The local board’s ability to deal with challenges and opportunities is best served by including people based on their skills and sensibilities rather than their political persuasions.”

Allan Matson had a decade of merchant banking which gave him a sense of financial literacy and commercial reality, while his architectural retraining and specialisation in heritage, is reflected in the importance Matson places on our environment. Matson has governance experience. He is currently a member of the Auckland Council’s Heritage Advisory panel. “The Waitemata Local Board has a modest budget,” Matson pointed out, “so it needs to spend that prudently and creatively as an expression of local community aspirations.

So Ponsonby News advice would be check out each candidate's policies, and don’t just vote according to your political persuasion.

Even Phil Goff, a red labour MP for ever, is using blue billboards for his mayoral campaign. Go figure! (JOHN ELLIOTT)