Nobby Clark’s brother standing for Invercargill and Tasman mayoralties

Friday, 1 August 2025

Andrew Maxwell Clark, Invercargill mayoral candidate.

Andrew Maxwell Clark is looking to follow in his brother Nobby’s footsteps, but he also has a foot in another camp, seeking the Tasman mayoralty as well.

The managing director of the MediMax Ambulance Service is known as Maxwell in the Nelson-Tasman area, where he is making his sixth bid for the top job.

However, his Invercargill candidacy is under his first name Andrew.

Clark said for a long time he had also been using Andrew, both personally and in documents, and that having cleared it with Invercargill’s returning officer he had chosen to use that for his Invercargill candidacy.

His brother is unimpressed by the candidacy.

Nobby Clark said Maxwell, or Max – “nobody in the family knows him as Andrew” – seemed to be using that name as a “a bit of a smokescreen”.

He also believed Maxwell could hardly claim to know Invercargill well.

“I’ve been here 50 years and I can only recall once that he’s been here.”

Nominations closed on Friday with eight mayoral candidates for the vacancy created by Clark’s long-heralded decision not to seek a second term.

The are: sitting councillors Ria Bond, Tom Campbell, Alex Crackett and Ian Pottinger; previous candidates Stevey Chernishov and Tom Morton; and two late-emerging candidacies from Gordon McCrone and Andrew Clark.

Bond, Crackett and Pottinger are also standing for the council, where the field of 27 candidates also includes bids from past councillors Marcus Lush and Terry King. However, deputy mayor Campbell is pinning his campaign solely on the mayoralty.

Nominations have closed with 27 candidates for the Invercargill City Council and seven for the Bluff Community Board.

The Te Rūnanga o Awarua mana whenua representative at the council table, Pania Coote, is standing as a councillor.

The full list

Invercargill mayor: Ria Bond, Tom Campbell, Stevey Chernishov, Andrew Clark, Alex Crackett, Gordon McCrone, Tom Morton and Ian Pottinger.

Invercargill City Council (12 vacancies): Allan Arnold, Ria Bond, Trish Boyle, Steve Broad, Jay Coote, Pania Coote, Alex Crackett, Chris Dawson, Andrea de Vries, Grant Dermody, Carl Heenan, Karl Herman, Carol (CJ) Jasperse, Terry King, Amanda Laurie, Darren Ludlow, Marcus Lush, Lynley McKerrow, David Meades, Tom Morton, Dan O’Connell, Noel Peterson, Ian Pottinger, Ian Reeves, Barry Stewart, Lisa Tou McNaughton and Tony Van Der Lem.

Bluff Community Board (five vacancies): Jo Eruera, Glen Goodall, Ray Fife, Carol (CJ) Jasperse, Frazer Murdoch, Haylee Simeon and Justin Sutherland.

Voting papers will be sent from September 9, and voting closes at 12pm on October 11.