Bay of Plenty regional councillor Toi Iti plans to vacate his Kōhi Māori ward seat at this year’s local election to contest the general councillor position currently held by Doug Leeder.
Regional council chairman and East Coast general ward constituency councillor, Leeder, announced his plans to vacate his seat this week.
Iti said he wanted to have a more direct involvement with the wider community to bring Māori and non-Māori communities together to navigate Wellington’s policy churn that’s draining ratepayer resources across the region.
“When I’m in the Māori constituency role, I feel that I can’t have a direct conversation with people who can’t vote for me. So, I’ve got to have some skin in the game.”
He voiced strong concerns around Government reforms, which he described as “policy churn” and felt there was a need for strong advocacy on the council.
He described the largest body of national policy reforms that this country had ever seen as “ideological, political grandstanding,” that had cost councils hugely.
“The pure wastage of resource that I’ve seen due to reform, with the policy pendulum swinging every three years is outrageous. It’s unprecedented, with 16 pieces of national direction at the same time. They are going for broke basically.”
He felt there was a danger that reforms would make regional council little more than a rubber stamp.
“Indications coming from the coalition Government are that they will have a separate nationalised entity that will be looking at monitoring of the regulatory function.
“Those [decisions] need to be made on a localised level. We need to be a part of that conversation.
“It’s a balancing act. Yes, we need to cut down on the expense of overly prescriptive bureaucracy. If we can find better ways to do that, fine, but not at the expense of regulatory functions that keep oversight when industry is coming in using natural resources.
“Having that conversation with a wider constituency, I think, is really important. There needs to be more bipartisanship. In my view, there needs to be reaching across the aisle.
“It’s an advocacy role. Being able to talk directly to both Māori and non-Māori, that these reforms will impact you, and there needs to be on-the-record pushback from representatives with regards to these things.
He said that, as a two-term councillor, he had the experience that was needed.
“I’ve had my feet under the desk long enough and I do know what I’m talking about when it comes to the business of the regional councils. I know it’s going to be a challenge, but I’m up for it.”
With three of the most senior councillors standing down, he said councillors with good institutional knowledge were important.
Alongside Leeder, Tauranga’s Paula Thompson has already resigned and deputy chairwoman, Western Bay’s Jane Nees has also indicated she plans to stand down.
Iti’s planned move to a general ward seat will also vacate the Kōhi Māori constituency seat for new blood.
He is open to talking to anyone wishing to put themselves forward to help them decide whether it is a role that suits them.
“You’ve got to be quite literate to do the job and like to look at the detail. There’s a lot of it to work your way through.”
He feels an understanding of politics is also essential.
“You have to be able to build your argument and get people on board. You can bang the table all you want. It doesn’t mean you’re going to get the outcomes that the people who elected you are expecting from you.
“I would certainly be explaining to them the limitations of the role. I think a lot of people come in thinking that they can change the world. I would be one of those people. You get there, and you understand the policy grind and the reality that you sit within a wider ecosystem.”
He said voters should be wary of politicians coming out promising they were going to keep rates down.
“What’s happening at the moment is that there are reforms that put [costs] upon the councils that are not financially modelled for who’s going to be paying for them. That’s going to be totally out of the hands of your councillors. They’re just going to be told, ‘no, you’re doing that, and you find the money to pay for it’. That’s the reality.”
- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
