By KCNews Reporters
An audience of over 300 packed out Te Raukura ki Kāpiti for the great Kāpiti Mayoral Debate on Monday night.
Former Christchurch City councillor Sue Wells was the moderator and kept all six mayoral aspirants on topic and on time.
Each candidate had three minutes to introduce themselves and most took the well trodden path they have perfected over the last few weeks of campaigning and candidate meetings (for the Mayors this was their 12th meeting).
Rob McCann was first up and he started quite generously, praising several things the current mayor and council had got right. However, it is hard to get elected by praising your opposition so he changed tack and had a crack at council over the Social Investment Fund and how agencies had been left in the lurch, particularly KYS, then finished with his slogan McCann can.
Dean Harris told the assembled masses he was a qualified builder and importer from China. Mr Harris dispensed with the notion of praise and went straight to the reason he was standing – The Jacobs Report (about sea-level rise) and rates got him into politics. He said his team had done their homework and said a 3% rates cap is achievable without cutting services. His slogan response was Dean Does.
Next up, Kim Hobson said he was only standing for Mayor which shows his one hundred percent commitment to the role (perhaps a subtle dig at Koh/McCann who are also standing for a councillor seat). Mr Hobson said his work in the security industry meant he had a low profile, referred to himself as the Invisible Man. He had no political affiliations. His slogan – Transparency builds Trust.
Reigning mayor Janet Holborow played the experience card, pointing out the importance of being fully informed as we enter another difficult time. She said this has been a very collaborative and respectful council and community boards had been empowered and engaged. Ms Holborow said the council had achieved a great deal in the last three years having created; a Housing Trust, MOUs with KYS and Nga Manu, work on the Waikanae Library and the Ōtaki Reservoir, a strong financial position and a plan to reduce debt. Slogan – Keep Kāpiti Moving Forward.
The ever affable Martin Halliday said there is much value in accumulated knowledge gained as a sitting councillor. He said there has been a significant improvement on how the current council operated compared to previous councils. Mr Halliday said rates affordability was a big issue and said they are at their limit. He advocates for rates rises to be limited to 5% of median household income. Slogan – I Get Things Done
Liz Koh said Kāpiti needs stronger leadership and sound financial management. She said rates affordability was the big issue but we also need to bring debt down. Ms Koh said every ratepayer was paying about $450 a year as interest on the current debt and that was unsustainable. Ms Koh’s slogan is Let’s Work Together.
The questions: Here are a couple:
Rates affordability – what would you do as mayor?
Mr Harris said rates are set to increase 7% per year for the next 10 years and his team has a plan to reduce that to 3%.
Mr Hobson said affordability is subjective and rates are not applied equally or fairly across the district.
Ms Holborow said there was an unprecedented rates rise right across the country due to the cancellation of Three Waters. She said Council had done well to reduce costs by $3million and will continue looking at opportunities to make savings.
Mr Halliday wants rates back in line with the 5% median household income. He said Kāpiti is one of the lowest operating expenditure per capita councils in the country.
Ms Koh said we need to agree what affordable is. She said 7% is too high and rates capping doesn’t work, citing examples where rates caps have seen degrading of infrastructure and increased debt.
Mr McCann said rates rises are out of control. He said the LTP is the engine room for these decisions and we need to consult with the community about what they want to prioritise.
Growth and Intensification – what do we need to do to prepare?
Mr McCann said when he was on Council the District Plan was very out of date and they fixed it, allowing for intensification in the right places. He said Labour and National governments threw our community into chaos with Plan Change 2 and the council hasn’t pushed back.
Mr Harris said there will be substantial growth and there needs to be a look at the planning and there is a need to push back at central government.
Mr Hobson said government’s tiered system did not work for Kāpiti. He said we were rated tier 1 for housing but for health and education we were tier 3 which means the government has not met its obligations to our communities.
Ms Holborow said there needs to be adequate infrastructure – primarily stormwater, to cope as lots of our land is low-lying and flood prone. She said PC2 was government imposed and they need to provide social facilities such as schools and medical facilities.
Mr Halliday said because of PC2 we lost key precincts and there is a need for intensification but it needs to be near transport infrastructure.
Ms Koh said you can’t stop people coming here and the real issue is in the supplementary services and we need to advocate to central government for these.
Several Questions were put to all candidates for brief (relatively) answers and the full list and responses can be viewed at the video link below.
The full video is available at: https://www.youtube.com/live/A4QNkxAQnxw
Congratulations to Steffi Haefeli and her crew for putting on this most successful of candidate meetings.
Earlier, local candidates had an opportunity to speed date with members of the public, and this too was well attended.
Council’s Meet the Candidates sessions are being held across the district from 22 September until 1 October. Meet the Candidate session invites have been extended to all Mayoral, Districtwide and Ward Councillors, and Community Board candidates to present their candidacy for their area. Voters can attend at any time during the two-hour slots to ask the candidates questions.
Dates and times for those are here: https://www.kapiticoast.govt.nz/council/about-council/local-elections/local-elections-2025/meet-the-candidates/
