LIVING THE DREAM – RETIREMENT LIFTOUT
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A NAME YOU CAN TRUST! Thursday, September 29, 2016
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Vol 2, No 38
LOCAL BODY ELECTIONS
And then there were three ■ OPINION BY NICK KRAUSE
I
t’s hard to trust politicians. There are a load of reasons they are frequently on the list of those people we frown upon. Like real estate sales agents, used car salesmen or journalists. Politicians ask for it right? We cast shade on them all. They don’t have a chance. Before they even open their mouths we have dismissed whatever it is that’s going to spout forth. Much mistrust. It comes with the territory. nd so it was with equal doses of intrigue and cynicism and very little expectation, I took a seat with well over 100 others at a mayoral forum on Monday night. The irony the meeting was being hosted in a house of God - the East City Wesleyan Church (ECWC) in Botany - was not lost. A week before that, St Mark’s Catholic Church held a local body elections meeting. Is politics losing that air of grubbiness, that whiff of compost? ECWC’s Life Growth Community Trust, which has organised political candidates’ meetings for a dozen years, separated the wheat from the chaff. The four invited “heavyweights” of the 18-odd mayoral candidates became three even before the meeting began. David Hay did turn, up but not as a panellist. He appeared briefly to apologise to those who had already cast votes for him. Hay has effectively withdrawn from the
From left, Vic Crone, John Palino and Phil Goff on stage at this week’s mayoral forum at East City Wesleyan Church. Times photo Nick Krause
mayoral race and announced his support for Phil Goff. He left Goff, Victoria Crone and John Palino to it and that wasn’t a bad thing. The pace of the evening’s programme was managed with military efficiency (and a buzzer) which made it a sprightly rather than cumbersome stroll through the political aspirations of the trio. Facilitated by the church’s Lloyd Wong, it was slickly orchestrated. If these three mayoral aspirants
were sick to death of hearing the same questions again about transport, affordable housing, infrastructure, selling off/retaining assets, council largesse, the City Rail Link, Rural Urban Boundary, budget blowouts and the unitary plan, they sure didn’t show it. It was two hours of non-stop questions with bitesize morsels thrown back for the audience to try and digest. And unlike the theatrical and often irritating parliamentary
question time, there was never any of that yelling over one another or the interjections or stupid guffaws. Contrived? Perhaps, but the audience got to hear short, sharp answers to addressing this city’s problems (see above). Given the fact we were about half way through the postal voting period (voting ends at noon on October 8), it was surprising how many at the meeting had still not voted. A show of hands showed
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a clear majority – possibly 80 per cent – had still to vote. They were waiting for this. Fascinating. At the close of the meeting another show of hands was called for, this time for how many had made a decision. Around 60 per cent had. That’s democracy up close and personal. Is there a way to encapsulate the proceedings succinctly? Not really, although one audience member noted it was like being at an accountants’ forum. I’m uncertain whether they were used intentionally either but Goff used the expressions “walk on water” and “religiously” more than once in the chapel. Crone, quick off the draw all night, was trying to keep it real –“Government has to have the balls,” she exclaimed. And then they blurred into one, - “efficiencies”, “transparency”, “accountability”, “planning”. Disparate trains of thought. Not really. Broadly speaking, they were pretty unified in message and about delivery and about the future. Yeah there were stances we’d expect of the candidates, for example on the thorny issue of the Treaty of Waitangi and council. Or the sale of assets like the Auckland Airport shares, Watercare or the Ports of Auckland. After two hours, the facilitator wrapped it up nicely. “It takes a lot to stand up here and think on your feet and give answers sometimes 50 or 60 times.”
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