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Four Rotorua mayoral candidates at a debate on Monday night (Photo: Stewart Sowman-Lund / additional design: Tina Tiller)
Four Rotorua mayoral candidates at a debate on Monday night (Photo: Stewart Sowman-Lund / additional design: Tina Tiller)

Local Elections 2022September 9, 2022

Rotorua mayoral hopefuls admit ‘shame’, ‘disappointment’ over homelessness crisis

Four Rotorua mayoral candidates at a debate on Monday night (Photo: Stewart Sowman-Lund / additional design: Tina Tiller)
Four Rotorua mayoral candidates at a debate on Monday night (Photo: Stewart Sowman-Lund / additional design: Tina Tiller)

Against the backdrop of increased scrutiny over emergency housing in Rotorua, four of the city’s mayoral candidates gathered to put forward their case for the top job. Stewart Sowman-Lund was there.

On Sunday night, TVNZ aired The Golden Mile: a 30-minute investigation into Rotorua’s homelessness and emergency housing crisis. More than 50 motels on or around Fenton Street, the stretch of road that welcomes visitors into Rotorua, have been transformed into emergency housing over the past few years. It’s created what one Rotorua mayoral candidate this week referred to as the “homelessness industry”, with motels that once served tourists now being propped up by tenants forced there by social services. 

The Sunday investigation prompted a swift outcry. Many Rotorua locals said they were pleased the issue was getting mainstream attention. On the ground in the city this week, everyone I encountered wanted to talk about it. I overheard the barista at a cafe I visited expressing their shock over the investigation, a “vote for Tania Tapsell” sticker visible on the food cabinet. Later in the day, a volunteer at a nearby op shop was asking customers if they’d tuned in to the show.

The ripples were also felt in Wellington. “An immediate independent inquiry must be launched for the wellbeing of our most vulnerable,” said Rawiri Waititi, co-leader of Te Pāti Māori. “The emergency housing situation in Rotorua is an absolute train wreck.” In a rare moment of unity, the National Party agreed. Its housing spokesperson Chris Bishop said the situation in Rotorua revealed “the government’s utter failure on housing after five years in office”.

Prime minister Jacinda Ardern said she maintained confidence in the housing minister, Megan Woods, and believed that motels were better accommodation than cars. 

But it is not merely a matter for central government. Rotorua’s mayor Steve Chadwick fronted to Sunday, revealing she wouldn’t feel safe walking down Fenton Street at night. She’s written to government about the problem and thinks progress is being made. But from next month, Chadwick will no longer be the mayor. After nine years in the post, she’s stepping down, meaning the city’s next leader will inherit the headache of the Golden Mile – what one hospitality business owner spoken to by The Spinoff described as a “dead weight dragging the city down”. 

Current Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick.(Photo: Ben Fraser LDR / Rotorua Daily Post)

The night after Sunday’s investigation aired, four mayoral candidates gathered in an Irish pub in Rotorua’s city centre to put forward their solution to the problem. Hosted by Hospitality NZ, the debate was always set to cover topics like tourism and accommodation. But with the increased scrutiny and public awareness of the emergency housing crisis, it dominated discussion.

There were five seats set aside in the bar for mayoral hopefuls. Four were filled. There was Tania Tapsell, the most polished speaker, and an incumbent councillor and former National Party candidate. Then there was Raj Kumar, also currently on the council, who said he would be happy to be called by constituents at any moment of the day or night. Dr Reynold Macpherson, a softly spoken councillor and retired researcher, was there too. And, finally, Ben Sandford, the only one of the debate’s line-up not to be a current councillor. He’s a three-time winter Olympian and lawyer. 

Fletcher Tabuteau, the ex-New Zealand First MP and part of the previous coalition government, did not turn up – which the debate’s MC, bar owner Reg Hennessey, described as “disappointing”. 

The debate itself was civil, with candidates seemingly agreeing on most things and happy to listen respectfully to one another. Perhaps this cordial atmosphere was encouraged by the fact the audience, too, was polite. There were about 50 people in attendance, listening quietly and applauding after every candidate’s answers.

In the day after TVNZ’s Sunday episode, the emergency accommodation issue took over Google News (Screengrab)

On the subject of housing, all four candidates believed it was the biggest issue facing the city. Macpherson – responsible for that quote about Rotorua’s new homelessness “industry” – said he felt shame and anger after watching Sunday. “It is displacing tourism and the possibility of recovery in the tourism industry,” he said. “The biggest asset that Rotorua has is he tangata, he tangata, he tangata. Our people have a deep understanding about how a culture grows and develops – and they know how to entertain.” 

Tapsell said that while she once believed Rotorua’s locals were the biggest asset, she now thought housing was number one. “Our people can’t thrive if they don’t have a bloody home,” she said. “I’ve become very defensive about our homes because many people who are struggling with the cost of living crisis are also struggling with the rates that keep increasing.” She pledged to “stop the spend” by bringing rates down and would curb out-of-towners being placed in emergency housing motels. Tapsell called the Sunday investigation “very disappointing”, but said as mayor she would advocate for both Rotorua residents and those forced to live in emergency housing.

‘He mea tautoko nā ngā mema atawhai. Supported by our generous members.’
Liam Rātana
— Ātea editor

Rotorua was at risk of losing its brand image, according to Sandford, and that would mean a loss of income from tourists. “We’re in an international market trying to attract people to come to New Zealand, to holiday here, to work here, to help our economy. We need to be a premier destination and a livable destination.”

A discussion of whether Rotorua should be more like Queenstown prompted a smackdown from Hennessy, the event’s MC. “Listening to some of what I’ve just listened to… some of you haven’t quite got it,” he said. “You must listen to our industry… we’re so busy out there keeping our streets safe that it makes it very difficult to do a lot of what we’d like to do.”

Hennessy later told The Spinoff he was happy to reprimand the candidates because “they deserved it”.

The amount of “red tape” impacting small businesses was also raised during the debate. Sandford said, as mayor, he would like to ensure the council was a “facilitator” for locals to run their businesses. He advocated for growing Rotorua’s “night time economy”, something that candidates generally agreed had been eroded by Covid-19 and the issues around housing. Tapsell added that the message to people should be not just buying local, but encouraging people to stay local. “We want them to stay here overnight, visit our great restaurants, and tell the rest of New Zealand that we are a great place to visit and not all the negative things they’re hearing down that one street with emergency housing.”

If Monday’s debate did anything, it proved that, without a doubt, Rotorua’s famous mile of motels will dominate the campaign ahead. And whoever wins on October 8 will inherit a crisis with no easy solution. 


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Image: Archi Banal
Image: Archi Banal

Local Elections 2022September 8, 2022

2022 elections, scored: how much competition is there for your vote?

Image: Archi Banal
Image: Archi Banal

Analysis by Policy.nz shows how contested council and mayoral elections are around the country.

The dismally low number of people throwing their proverbial hats into the ring for local elections is no new thing. But it has attracted more attention in the leadup to the 2022 vote than in recent elections, in large part owing to the spotlight on individuals with fringe views – who in some cases appear less than frank about their affiliations – seizing on the paltry quantum of candidates to gain a foothold in local democratic assemblies. 

One useful way to look at how contested elections are, and how they compare across different elections – whether mayoralties or the various forms of council – is to look at the candidate-to-seat ratio. So if there were two people running to be mayor, that would be 2:1. If there were eight candidates running for six places on council, that would be 4:3, and so on.

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From there we can assign what we’ll call a “competition score”, or comp score, in the interests of brevity. In the first example, the comp score would be 2. In the second example, it would be 1.25. The higher that score, the more contested the election is, the more options voters have, which – generally speaking – tends to enhance democracy.

Thanks to the collation, crunching and analysis efforts of Policy.nz (newscaster voice: your complete guide to the 2022 local elections), let’s look at some of those comp scores.

2.1 – Aotearoa

That’s the comp score across the country – or 2.117 if you’re hungry for more decimal places. There are 3,409 candidates in total competing for 1,610 seats across 583 elections. To look at it another way, 47.2% of all nominations will end in electoral success.

23 – Auckland mayoralty

The highest profile race, the most powerful role, and so no surprise that it’s the most contested election. With 23 candidates for the one position, the comp score is – let me just grab a calculator – 23. The next highest is a tie between the Christchurch and Dunedin mayoralty races: each is on a score of 11

7 – The most contested council contests

Voters in the Banks Peninsula and Riccarton wards of Christchurch have the richest pickings, with seven contenders for one seat each. In Buller, which fills two seats on the West Coast Regional Council, there are 11 candidates, offering a score of 5.5. As for city councils, the most competitive ward that returns more than one councillor is Paekawakawa/Southern in Welllington, where 10 people are standing for two seats, giving us a comp score (again, this is advanced mathematics) of 5

2.9 – Dunedin City Council

Dunedin’s council contest is notable as the election with the most candidates in total: 40 standing for 14  available seats. With 34 running for a dozen spots in Invercargill, the score is 2.8. The hands are up for the Manurewa local board in Auckland, meanwhile, with 29 people seeking eight seats, a score of 3.6, the highest for a board contest. The most competitive district council race is Whanganui, which scores 2.3.

1 or lower – The uncontested 

The Uncontested is not a new HBO drama, regrettably, but a term to describe those who are nominated for a seat and get it automatically, as the total number of seats is the same or higher than the total number of candidates (as explored here). There are 119 uncontested elections across the country, including 53 with just one candidate (that number includes seven mayoralties). In total, 238 people have won their seat uncontested. 

While there is a relationship between population size and turnout – generally speaking, the larger the population, the lower the turnout – no such obvious pattern is evident when it comes to the candidate-to-seat ratio. 

4.5 – Mayoral races

Mayoralties are the most contested of all local elections in 2022, with a comp score of 4.5, meaning that 22% of all candidates will gorge on the fruits of victory. (Arguably this number inflates the genuine contestability, given that a number of people join the mayoral race in pursuit of name recognition in support of a bid for a council spot.) 

The comp score across the country for city councils is 2.9. Regional councils and district councils: 2.1

1.6 – Community boards

Community boards are the least contested, on 1.6. Across Aotearoa, 864 candidates are running for 551 seats. That means that 64% of all people nominated for a community board will make it to the table. Another way of saying it: only about one in every three candidates won’t win a place on a community board.

For local boards, Auckland’s versions of community boards, it’s 2.5.   

2.1 – South Island

There’s little in it between the islands, with the South Island boasting slightly more contested elections – a comp score of 2.1 with 47% of candidates elected – while the North Island has a score a smidgen over 2, with 49% elected. Urban areas are more contested than rural – with scores of 2.7 and 1.9 respectively.

Nelson (3.2), Northland (3) and Gisborne (3) take the prizes for the most contested geographic areas; at the back end, the least contested parts of the country, are these: Hawke's Bay and Manawatū-Whanganui (both 1.7) and Chatham Islands (1.1).

3.4 – Hamilton

Let us hope it is the city of the future when it comes to electoral candidacy. When Policy.nz crunched the numbers comparing all elections within a city, region or district, Hamilton rocketed to the top, on 3.4 candidates per seat. Close behind: Whangārei (3.3), Nelson (3.2), Invercargill (3.1) and the Far North (3).

The least contested roll call: Central Otago and Manawatū on 1.3, Central Hawke’s Bay and Chatham Islands on 1.1, and the least contested of all, Stratford, at 1.08. If you’re standing in Stratford, and you don’t get elected, well, maybe the political life is not for you.

Read the full Policy.nz report here.


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