I am not standing for a particular issue, or a particular pet project. I am standing to serve and represent Southland, something that I have been proud to do for the last 15 years locally, with the last 3 as your Mayor. Emphasising keeping it local, keeping costs down and ensuring that Council is efficient and reflective of the communities it serves.
This job is not about me, it is about the people of this great region and empowering them by providing the right platform for success. I am only one vote around the table, and strong leadership enables all 69 elected members to have adequate representation for their communities and for our community voice to be strong.
I am proud of what we have collectively achieved over the last three years. I have built up a strong foundation and have solid momentum to carry on delivering for our people and our place.
I will continue to carry our voice to Wellington, working with my established network of strong relationships to ensure that Southland is not forgotten about, and is recognised for the strong contribution that it makes to NZ's economy.
Starting off as Lumsden Community Board Chair in 2010, I have been serving Southland from the grass roots for 15 years.
I understand the system inside out, and my journey from Community Board Chair to Councillor and then onto Mayor has enabled me to carry out the role with a greater understanding of the communities that I am here to serve and represent.
Experience is vital for this role and only comes with time.
When I first started as Mayor in 2022 I was spending a lot of time on a daily basis responding to complaints.
This is no longer the case and there have been significant improvements to how SDC serves its communities.
I have secured millions of dollars in funding, and within 12 months of bringing Mayors Taskforce for Jobs back to Southland we were top of South Island for outcomes.
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This is the key to success and it takes years to build these up.
I have solid relationships up and down the country. Knowing who is who in the zoo, and being able to pick up the phone and have a genuine and sometimes tough conversation with mutual respect provides a pathway for fast results.
I am the type of person who builds a natural rapport with people quickly and this helps to build up much needed trust and respect.
I am experienced in business, big and small. I have worked in businesses, I have worked on businesses, and I have built two successful businesses from the ground up including Route 6 Cafe in Lumsden.
Council is more complicated than most businesses. Leading an organisation like this requires not just really good governance knowledge and skills, but also business acumen, which in conjunction with community acumen is a recipe for success.
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I'm not afraid to roll up my sleeves for Southland, and you can rest assured I will have your back in good times and in bad.
I don't do things by halves, always stand up for what is right and will always stand up for Southland.
From the big issues like the shortfall in our roading funding and Stewart Island Electricity (where I secured $15.3 million). To equally important things like ensuring that a local contractor can carry on mowing the lawns in their town, I will always have your back.
I have been very involved in the community, volunteering across a wide range of groups including the local Fire Brigade, the Northern Southland Medical Trust and the Lumsden Heritage Trust.
Our communities are our future, and knowing how they work makes it easier to support them.
Council should be a reflection of our communities, and I want our people to be proud of their Council.
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I literally go the distance for Southland every day. Over our wide geographic area I like to make sure I get around it all. Traveling on average around 60,000km each year, my vehicle has become my mobile office.
I have also brought our Council meetings out into our communities making sure I focus on all of our towns, big and small, you are all important.
You cannot make good decisions around a table without having a good understanding of the issue from the coal face.
Although I may appear to be a townie, I also understand farming and the importance of the rural voice and the role it plays in Southland and NZ's success.
There are many aspects of Local Government that impact our rural communities, and I will continue ensure that rural Southland is not overlooked.
It was great to work with all the key stakeholders to support our rural community through the wet spring last year, and on more than one occasion in Wellington it has been assumed I am a farmer.
I have loved every minute of serving Southland, and although I am proud of what I have achieved in the last 3 years, there is still plenty more to do!
I have promised the Transport Minister that I am not going away until our funding is sorted. We are making great progress on Te Anau Airport, I am looking forward to building the solar farm on Rakiura and I can't wait to further strengthen our valued Community Boards as well.
I have proven positive change over the last three years and would love to carry on the momentum.
I believe that LOCAL IS BEST. Nobody knows their towns better than those that live there, and I am a strong believer in keeping things local.
I describe the current system around Community Boards as "being full of untapped potential." There was a representation review done prior to the 2019 election, which didn't quite hit the mark on enabling our Community Boards to thrive.
From my experience on the ground in a Community Board, I know exactly what is required to ensure that Southland can have the blueprint model for really effective community led governance across our wonderful district.
Over the last 3 years I have made a number of changes and driven a strong focus on respecting the important role that our Community Boards play. On top of taking our Council meetings out into our communities, I have ensured that the boards are able to regularly interact with Council as part of our agenda.
Strengthening the connections between the boards with regular Chairs meetings has also been really worthwhile.
Whilst a lot of this sounds like simple changes, and they are, they were missing prior to this term.
Introducing fortnightly Council meetings has also made our boards more efficient as this removes the barrier of time delays between decisions and actions.
Probably the most controversial component of local government, and also the most campaigned on. I have a strong understanding that rates are not a golden tap for Councils to turn on as they see fit.
My view is that every hard earned dollar collected from ratepayers needs to be invested wisely and transparently. It is very easy to spend someone else's money, and Council needs to understand the source of the money and the importance of:
My business experience comes in handy here - prudent financial management is key to a successful business, and the same applies to Council.
Quite simply I am allergic to it! I am a realist who is results driven and I think in solutions rather than barriers. I believe that Council should be enabling for it's communities, whilst still working within the legal frameworks and processes.
There have been some great examples of local contractors carrying out work in their communities this term and I have also enjoyed seeing Council work with organisations like Lions and Menzshed to carry out work in our towns.
I am not afraid to challenge and/or question the system, especially when it results in better outcomes for the community.
Our roads have been the forefront of discussion for as long as we have been a Council. Everyone now knows that we are not getting our fair share of road user charges back to invest in and maintain our extensive network, but how do we get Wellington to listen and to do something about it?
The first thing you need to do is have 100% clear understanding of the problem. From here you could whine about it, but that doesn't help because the chance of being heard is small.
Over the last 3 years I have taken a different approach. I have worked hard to take it beyond identifying the problem. I have analysed the data, developed a deep understanding of the system, found the flaws and then identified pathways to address these flaws for Southland.
This has been packaged up into a tool that I can use, and appropriately adjust (on the fly if needed) depending on the audience.
For example, did you know that a Wellingtonian is responsible for 1.6 metres of road? Wellington receives from govt twice the amount of fuel taxes that it generates to spend on their roads. As a Southlander, you are responsible for 151 metres, and we only get half of what we generate back to spend on our roads. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that this is not fair!
I have good momentum with this advocacy, and am looking forward to solving this long standing issue in the very near future.
I have been a very loud voice on this subject for the last 6 years. It has been handled disastrously by Wellington, with far too much money being spent on pieces of paper. In fact, if that money had instead been distributed out to all of the Councils, Southland District would have had $38 million to spend on our infrastructure.
Because I have spent so much time on this, and coupled with my business acumen, I have been able to lead a pragmatic approach that is in the best interests of our people. I am proud of the work that we have done to get to our Water Services Delivery Plan with 97% of our community agreeing with our approach.
I have had some heated discussions with Wellington officials and stood my ground that this infrastructure is owned by our communities and that they have to be comfortable with the future structure of it.
As soon as the government changed and indicated that they were scrapping the previous 3 Waters Reform, along with the CEO and our Infrastructure GM, I jumped on a plane to Wellington and got in front of the DIA and Taumata Arowai.
This was incredibly valuable and is paying dividends now. We were able to inform the reform and make sure that it is relevant to our unique needs in Southland. We have as many plants as Auckland but just a fraction of the population, and this needs to be understood.
Having the right relationships, knowing who to talk to and being able to get a foot in the door early is the key to getting good results. This is how I roll!
Some might say I threw the cat amongst the pigeons in August 2024 when I brought a paper to Council proposing to rearrange Local Government in Southland.
Four Councils for 100,000 people is crazy, expensive and is not delivering the best outcomes for Southland. It is time to change this, and it is time for our community voice to be strengthened in a way that brings all aspects of Local Government back down to grass roots decision making in our communities.
Our Community Boards are the key to our success. Every layer that your ratepayer dollar goes through from collection to decision to action it gets diluted.
Our locals know their towns the best, and in conjunction with good staff, effective planning and simplified structures, Council can deliver effective long lasting outcomes for our communities at a fraction of the cost.
My proposal of two Unitary Councils would halve the bureaucracy at the same time as strengthening local democracy. Your Council will not only be more efficient, it will also be more relevant and there will be significant cost savings to boot.
This doesn't need to be dreamed up with a blank piece of paper, it has come from years of experience working both inside the Local Government system, and importantly working with it from the outside as a ratepayer and business owner.
A lot of Mayoral candidates campaign on "all the changes that they are going to make," forgetting that they are just one vote at the table alongside 12 other Councillors.
I view the role of Mayor differently to this. To me, the role is about leadership, advocacy and relationships.
It is easy to stand on a podium and say you are going to cut rates, however you need to understand the consequences, the challenges and the reality of what this actually means.
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