Lakes-Murchison ward in 2025 local election

There are three candidates standing for election all of whom live in this ward: John Gully, Richard Osmaston and Nicola Allan. This is what they say about themselves: https://www.tasman.govt.nz/my-council/about-us/your-mayor-and-councillors/local-elections/nominations-received/lakes-murchison-ward

There were two in-person meetings held, in Tapawera and Murchison. (John Gully made the fair point he did not want to risk an accusation of a conflict of interest for organising a meeting over in St Arnaud because of his involvement with the Rotoiti District Community Council.)

The meetings invited both mayoral and ward candidates. There are a number of events remaining for the mayoral candidates and a separate article on these candidates will follow once those meetings have concluded.

The ward and its current representation

This ward is very particular given the huge geographical area it covers. It was served by Stewart Bryant for decades who even stood unopposed in a number of elections and is now retiring. He was not only a ward councillor but also the Deputy Mayor and on a number of committees, one of which was the CEO Review Subcommittee which only consists of three elected members (Tim King, Stewart Bryant and Christeen MacKenzie). It was only during the confidential session of the last week’s Full Council meeting that the confidential CEO performance report from this confidential committee was provided to Full Council for information only. The three members decided to attest high level achievement of the current CEO Leonie Rae.

For the Lakes-Murchison ward, there are a number of well-established community groups. Those groups are used to their meetings being regularly attended by their elected representative and communicated quite clearly that this is the expectation for the newly elected councillor representing this ward. Long time ago there used to be two councillors but due to the low population compared to the other wards in the district this is no longer the case.

I dare say that even though we are talking about an overall remote rural community throughout the ward, there is still significant variation between communities within that ward. Look at St Arnaud who are in a particular situation with the winter tourism. What most people in the ward share is a significant geographical distance to the Council chambers in Richmond. The ward is serviced by one service centre in Murchison So, in effect, the new ward councillor will be expected to stay up to date with the needs and wants of the communities between Tapawera, Murchison and St Arnaud.

The role of an elected councillor

Councillors are governance not part of management. Logically, their achievements will be measured through the political decisions they make around the council table in Richmond and some of those decisions will be reflected on each ratepayers’ invoice, their fees and charges, speed limits, core and community infrastructure and rules coming from bylaws. As plan changes are currently being put on hold by central government, there may be less on this front for now.

The new councillor will have to have consideration to the needs and wants of the ward he or she will represent whilst at the same time having to fairly balance these against overall priorities of the whole district. This is a huge balancing act each councillor is faced with when tasked with making good political decisions. It is very much pronounced in this ward because it covers a massive geographical area, remote rural communities and a rather small population compared to the rest of the district and because the councillor is only one voice around the table.

It will require not only good observation and listening skills but clearly very good skills around being persuasive, firm and well-spoken as any lack will impact more on those communities compared to let’s say a Richmond Councillor who may not meet the diverse needs of his/her communities. There might be other three councillors in this ward to make up for one person’s lack.

Further, given the realistic workload for each councillor coming to meetings (whether Full Council or the various committee meetings) a huge requirement for each new councillor will be to read a lot - one of the current councillors stated in a meet the candidates event that they have to read approximately 2,500 pages of documents per week.

It does not stop with reading, but understanding matters quickly, making up their minds, preparing relevant questions, taking questions coming from the community in respect of those items on the agenda into account, debating in public and finally voting on those matters whilst at the same time adopting past meetings’ minutes which means attesting that they present an accurate record of those. The required skill extends to understanding the applicable legal framework and whether the proposal sits well within it. To be fair, staff assistance is provided. In CEO Leonie Rae’s words in the pre-election report: “Staff will support all Elected Members with the information and training needed to make sound, informed decisions.” In addition, elected members have the opportunity to seek independent advice from LGNZ or maybe even further afield. Whether or how any additional external support can be financed from an existing budget, we don’t know.

The pre-election report does also state important issues for the upcoming years. Given the recently announced stop on council plan reviews and changes up to 2027, it looks as though this incoming Council will be stuck with current rules for a while without much flexibility and room for making new rules for the district. The upside may be that there might be potential for less packed agendas going forward but there could be a potential for focusing on potential changes in central government when those haven’t been implemented yet and which may not persist after yet another central government election in the next year. So really, a difficult task for all councillors to stay focused on the relevant political decisions in accordance with the current legislative framework.

Summary of the meet the candidates events

For this election, there were a total of three meet the candidates events - two in person and one online. Tapawera was probably the coldest community hall I have been to. The second event was in the Recreation Centre in Murchison which had quite a significantly different feel to it. Warm and bright and up to standard. The third one was held online and organised by a climate group which I did not attend but wanted to watch online. However, I could not find a recording of it.

Both in-person events were attended by around 30 people. The people in Murchison asked more questions than those who attended the Tapawera meeting. There were also people from St Arnaud attending. The Tapawera meeting was early in the meet the candidates events list and therefore the presentations of candidates weren’t quite as practised compared to the later one in Murchison.

People in Murchison wanted to know whether the candidates were aware of the priority issues for people in Murchison. John Gully mentioned the waste collection issue which may deserve consideration in the future.

A Tapawera resident was concerned that ratepayer properties may be serving as collateral for council debt. The incumbent mayor refuted that. In Tapawera the candidates were asked whether they feel confident without confidential workshops going forward and all of them said yes.

The candidates were also asked how they feel about reading lots of documents, as this is what reality looks like when being a councillor. Richard Osmaston was confident in terms of reading as his background required much of that anyways, adding that there are ever changing rules and regulations in aviation. Both John Gully and Nicola Allan acknowledged the amount of reading to be a challenge, but one they would be prepared to face.

Candidates were asked about whether they thought the ever increasing population of those less privileged (meaning those not able to afford home ownership and downwards) would be entitled to their representation and if so, how would they do that? My apologies, but I simply don’t recall Richard Osmaston’s answer but I know he did answer. Nicola definitely yes and added that she was well aware of those views and needs from her work in the Motueka Community House. John Gully said representation yes, but social issues are mainly for central government, not local government matters.

Questions ranged from Maori wards, the dam and its benefits to the ward, flood damage, climate changes, to gravel extraction and people need to feel heard, but were mostly directed to mayoral candidates.

In a nutshell - all candidates live in this ward and are pretty involved in the community, be it through their jobs or their voluntary engagement. John Gully and Richard Osmaston made their networks known. Their aspiration for financial prudence (apart from Richard Osmaston who is leading the money free party) is probably what unites them. It will come down to who the majority of voters think is the person for the job weighing up carefully what can and will realistically be expected of their representative. Farmers and hospitality workers, retailers and anyone in between will have to do that.