'Time to put Tauranga back to local democracy' - Christopher Luxon

Monday, 13 February 2023

A commission was needed but Tauranga should now get councillors back, says National Party leader Christopher Luxon (file photo).

National Party leader Christopher Luxon thinks Tauranga should have held local elections last year but does think the commission was necessary.

During his visit to Tauranga on Thursday, Luxon and Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell stopped by the SunLive office for an exclusive interview.

The commissioners being appointed to Tauranga City Council and issues facing the Western Bay of Plenty were hot topics.

In February 2021, a government-appointed commission was instated at the council to replace the dysfunctional mayor and councillors. It will remain until July 2024 when an election is held.

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The Tauranga City Council Commission is made up of, from left, Shadrach Rolleston, Bill Wasley, chairperson Anne Tolley and Stephen Selwood.

Asked his thoughts on the commission, Luxon said: “We felt it was very much time to put Tauranga back to local franchise and local democracy and restore the council”.

He said the party would have liked to see that happen in 2022 when local government elections were held.

Tauranga people are next due to elect their council in 2024 (file photo).

“We think it's time that the council's restored to Tauranga.

“I fully understand why a commission was appointed, it's a difficult job for them to step into frankly as well.

“I respect the commission and the work that they've done because I think it has been very difficult stepping into a difficult and dysfunctional space, and it's a difficult job.”

Asked if he thought it was necessary given the behaviour of the previous council, Luxon replied: “There is responsibility when you take on the role of public service, you have a responsibility to the people that you're representing”.

“It's important that egos and collaboration and civility, and actually you can disagree strongly without being disagreeable or personal with each other. That behaviour and that character and that leadership really matters.”

The challenge to councillors when they were elected in Tauranga was to get things done, said the party leader.

“You don't just have council because it's a squabble-fest. You've actually got to get things done for people.

“As you've seen even in the last round of elections across the country, people are frustrated with politicians not getting things done.

“That's my call to all politicians is that we have to model out the standards of leadership that we want to see in our fellow citizens. We've got to carry ourselves with civility.”

Roading and port infrastructure for the Bay of Plenty are on National’s priority list, say Christopher Luxon and Sam Uffindell.

Asked if National were to become government would they change the timing of the commission’s exit, Luxon responded: “I haven't worked out the precise timings of all of that. I've got to still become government”.

“But our intention would be to try and move very quickly to make sure that we can restore local democracy here.”

Luxon said the biggest issues facing Tauranga and the Western Bay of Plenty were infrastructure, housing and crime.

“There are major challenges with infrastructure here. Projects that have been on, off on, off. And now a city that's deeply and problematically congested.

“There are major challenges here around crime. The rise of gangs, and we are seeing that across New Zealand, but it's a stronghold here in Tauranga.

“There's also some real challenges around housing, which is linked to the infrastructure,” he said.

“They're not dissimilar issues to [what] we see across New Zealand, but, as local government, as central government, that's what the people care about and that's the things that we need to go to work on and to solve for them.”

If National were to be elected in October, Uffindell said infrastructure priorities were stage two of the Takitimu North Link (TNL) and upgrading State Highway 29 as well as a third berth at the Port of Tauranga.

“During the byelection we did commit to building State Highway 2 all the way up to Ōmokoroa,” said Uffindell.

Stage one of the TNL from Te Puna to Tauranga is underway with completion expected in 2028. The government pulled funding for stage two from Te Puna to Ōmokoroa in 2021.

“We really need to see State Highway 29 built with a grade separated freight corridor, that is absolutely crucial.

“There's going to be near a 70% increase in freight traffic coming in there over the next couple of decades.”

Tauranga has New Zealand’s largest port so it was “absolutely crucial” the roads feeding it were “sorted out”, he said.

“The other key infrastructure piece … is the housing. I think we have an income to house price ratio here of 11 to one.

“We also have the fastest growing city in New Zealand, so we've got some significant challenges.

“We need to make sure that we've got houses for people and affordable ones.”