Good crowd hears election candidates' pitches

September 5th, 2014
[by David Armstrong]

A crowd of about 70 people listened attentively as six election candidates pitched their policies at Motueka's traditional Grey Power election meeting in Memorial Hall yesterday.

The six local electorate candidates followed the rules to perfection, sticking to the issues raised by the questioners, finishing in the allotted times, giving clear and mainly unambiguous answers, and with very little point scoring against opponents.

Under the facilitator Barry Goodman, each candidate began with five minutes outlining their own or their party's policies, and then five questions previously submitted via this website were put in turn to all candidates for two-minute answers.

While the colourful Peter Salter of the Ban 1080 Party had no serious policy on several of the questions (such as ways to tackle tax evasion), he nevertheless entertained the crowd with quick and funny answers that kept the mood light and easy.

Another relative unknown, Steve Wilkinson standing as an independent, also impressed with his clear ideas and sometimes unconventional policies, ensuring that answers along party lines did not fully dominate.

The party representatives led off with sitting MP Damien O'Connor (Labour, see photo above), who used his five minutes to promising that his party would always be honest in putting out its policies for all to see without hedging, pleading for more socio-economic equality across New Zealand, advocating less reliance on a few primary industries (especially dairying), damning the unfairness of charter schools and most of the benefits of the economy going to the wealthy minority.

Kevin Hague of the Green Party, who is seeking mainly the party vote, outlined the Green policy along three clear lines: a cleaner environment, a fairer society, and a smarter economy. For each of these platforms he gave examples of why he sees they are so important to the future of the country.

Steve Wilkinson (Independent) said that MMP has been hijacked by the major parties, so that the laws that parliament makes are strictly along party lines. Although he's happy with using the party vote to indicate preference of party, the electorate vote should go to independents, he said, so that all laws can be decided by actual representatives of each electorate. He then listed a range of policies that he believed in.

Claire Holly, the candidate for the Conservative Party, said her party is very concerned about the direction in which New Zealand is headed. She said there needs to be change in several fundamental aspects for the sake of our youth. She then listed the core policy planks of her party, including binding referenda, less reliance on borrowing, no sales of land to foreign buyers, and tougher sentences for criminals.

Maureen Pugh (National) said she was in a position to take her knowledge of local government (she was mayor of Buller District) to central government. She said New Zealand needs a strong economy in order to provide quality social services, health and education, and asked voters to stay on course, given that another global financial crisis may be coming soon.

Peter Salter (Ban 1080) said that as a bushman on the West Coast for 40 years he had seen the effects of poisons (particularly 1080) in nature on the land, water, wildlife such as kea, and on tourism seeing that tourists keep seeing signs everywhere saying that poison has been laid. He is angry about the laziness behind large aerial drops.

Following these mini-addresses, the candidates answered questions on these five issues:
- binding referenda,
- ways to tackle tax evasion,
- addressing climate change,
- what to do about growing inequality in New Zealand, and
- how to reduce living costs to older people on fixed incomes and make health care more affordable.

Then followed a more interactive period where questions put from the floor were answered, again by all candidates.

Comment by Phil Grimmett:
[Posted 20 September 2014]

Good to see democracy in action at a grassroots level in Motueka. I note that the National candidate showed up as there was no National spokesperson at a recent Oxfam pre election debate on Climate Change, held in Wellington.

>> , to be added to the page. [If this link doesn't work, use this form instead]

[ Return ]
[ Other news articles ]

We wish to thank these local community-minded businesses who generously sponsor our site. They recognise the value of supporting this community asset, and in return Motueka Online is pleased to use and recommend their services whenever appropriate.

Ray White Motueka, Motueka Floral Studio, Nelson Building Society, House of Travel,
, Steph Wills Dental Surgery, Elevation Cafe, Restaurant & Bar