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More than 150 people turned up at Warkworth Town Hall on September 13 to hear from seven candidates standing for the Kaipara ki Mahurangi electorate.
On stage to face the crowd were sitting MP and National candidate Chris Penk, Labour’s Guy Wishart, Green Party candidate Zephyr Brown, Brent Bailey standing for ACT, NZ First’s Jenny Marcroft, Brenton Faithfull for NZ Loyal and Sarah Brewer from Democracy NZ.
Convenor Murray Chapman set the tone for the evening with a polite, but no-nonsense request for the audience to be civil and respectful.
“Tonight’s about policy, not personality,” he said. “And you have to have a question, not a statement. If you start getting into that, I’ll shut you down – it’s not necessary, and these people don’t need it.
“Just bear in mind these people are putting themselves out there like most of us wouldn’t have the courage to do.”
It certainly seemed to do the trick, as the exchanges that followed were good-natured, with no heckling or booing, and all candidates being applauded by at least a section of attendees.
Each candidate was given four minutes to introduce themselves and set out their stall before more than an hour of questions from the audience.
Most introductions were straightforward enough, though Sarah Brewer went a bit left-field by asking everyone to close their eyes while she took them “on a little journey”, reciting a poem called Soul Transformation – How Did We Get Here? This appeared to be written from her perspective as a nurse, with references to the right to choose, Big Pharma, evidence and indoctrination, among other things.
Hot topics with the audience included the state of the roads and whether Marsden Point refinery would be reopened and local bitumen production resumed.
Brenton Faithfull said NZ Loyal would certainly reopen the refinery, or get another one built, while Penk said having good roads was a safety issue, and National wanted to see local government make “good decisions” to achieve that.
Jenny Marcroft said local roads had been neglected for far too long and she wanted to “get back into the Mayor’s office” to make sure that happened. As chair of Rodney Local Board, Brent Bailey said he was more than familiar with the issue of poor roads and potholes, but there was insufficient money and a new way of funding was needed.
Zephyr Brown said more public transport would mean fewer cars on the road, making it easier to maintain them, though he was in favour of sealing metal roads. Guy Wishart said rising costs were another factor, as was bad weather, prompting the issue of how to make roads more resilient, and there were no simple answers.
Other topics included whether the superannuation age would be kept at 65 – Labour, Greens and NZ First said yes, National and ACT would increase the age to 67, while NZ Loyal and Democracy NZ couldn’t guarantee anything, but would try – and whether a wealth tax was needed to stop today’s “crushing inequality”; Zephyr Brown said only the Greens had a concrete policy in place for that.
Candidates were also asked if they would have NZ leave the UN – Penk, Wishart and Brown said no, while expressing the importance of sovereignty, while Faithfull, Marcroft and Brewer said yes.
One question that prompted widespread support was how candidates would look after the Hauraki Gulf, with all parties saying it was important, stressing their sustainability and conservation credentials and the Greens calling for a ban on bottom trawling.
There was also general agreement on the need to look at alternative waste disposal options, with the spectre of a massive new tip in the Dome Valley still looming.
There were some schisms in views on climate change, and what should be done about it, when Roger Williams asked what, if any initiatives would they wind back, such as bans on fossil fuel exploration and the clean car tax.
Faithfull prompted laughter from some when he said there was no evidence whatsoever of climate warming, claiming 98 per cent of scientists “agree with whoever is paying them” and green energy was a complete waste of money.
“And the earth is flat!” one member of the audience commented.
Penk said the ute tax was unfair when farmers didn’t have a realistic alternative, while Wishart said everyone needed to play their part and farmers needed help with that. Marcroft was against any emissions tax, while Bailey said the ute tax should go and he favoured more oil and gas extraction to boost the economy.
Brown said the Greens would roll nothing back, and using more clean energy was the only way to get lower power bills and cope with power blackouts.
There was general consensus as the evening drew to a close that it had been a congenial meeting with an audience that was interested and engaged – whether it changed anyone’s mind about who they vote for remains to be seen.
No shortage of candidates
There are a total of 17 registered parties seeking the party vote in this year’s election, the same number as in 2020.
A total of 567 candidates (electorate and list) are standing. This compares with 677 candidates three years ago, but is similar to the number of candidates in previous elections.
There are 72 candidates on the party lists only, and 46 candidates for registered parties are standing as electorate candidates only.
The gender breakdown is as follows: 329 male, 229 female, four another gender and five not specified.
In 2020, there were 413 male and 263 female candidates and one gender diverse/not specified.
In the Kaipara ki Mahurangi electorate, candidates have been ranked as follows:
Chris Penk is 18th on the National Party list, Guy Wishart is 71st on Labour’s list, Jenny Marcroft 5th for NZ First, Sarah Brewer 10th for Democracy NZ, Brent Bailey 58th for ACT and Zephyr Brown is unranked.
Will youth vote keep climbing?
How well political parties are engaging young voters this year will only be known once turnout statistics are available, but recent elections have shown a promising trend.
Younger voters traditionally turn out in smaller numbers than their older counterparts, but in 2020, 78 per cent of enrolled 18-24 year-olds voted, up from 69.3 per cent in 2017 and 62.7 per cent in 2014.
The 25-29 age group also recorded a sizeable jump between 2017 and 2020, from 67.6 per cent to 74.4 per cent. Older age brackets saw minimal increases, although from a higher starting point – for example, 89.1 per cent of enrolled voters aged 65-69 cast a ballot in 2020, up from 88.2 per cent in 2017.
Young New Zealanders are affected by many of the same issues as older ones – the cost of living consistently comes up in polls as the highest-priority issue, regardless of age.
Elsewhere priorities differ. Climate is seen as a more pressing issue for younger voters, and the latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor found 18 to 34-year-olds more likely to mention housing affordability and less likely to cite healthcare / hospitals, than older voters.
While the major parties grapple over policies on youth offenders, those most obviously reaching out to young voters are the Greens and Te Pāti Māori.
The Greens are promoting affordable and healthy homes for youth, boosted mental health and social services, a liveable allowance for young people, and a voting age of 16.
Māori Party policies include reforming Oranga Tamariki and putting an end to state care for Māori children.
The co-governance question
‘Co-governance’ refers to joint management in decision-making between the two Treaty of Waitangi partners, the Crown and Māori, both having equal seats around the decision-making table.
Rather than shared ownership, it is about partnership in management and the process requires consensus between the parties.
• Co-governance has been in practice for more than a decade, in the form of Treaty settlements that created partnerships between iwi, local and central government to manage natural resources. For example, five iwi and the Crown manage the Waikato River Authority and Ngāi Tūhoe and the Department of Conservation share guardianship over Te Uruwera’s forests and lakes.
• Māori wards in local councils are another example of co-governance and are becoming the norm – at last year’s local government elections, six of the 11 regional councils had Māori constituencies and 29 of the 67 territorial authorities had Māori wards.
• Co-governance is also a key part of the Three Waters reforms – the plan is for mana whenua to have equal representation with local councils in a governance group. This group would have high level oversight over a board charged with operational management, but no operational authority.
• Supporters see co-governance as part of the Crown meeting its Treaty obligations and/or as a way to interpret Treaty principles of partnership, participation and protection, acknowledging the nation’s colonial history.
• Opponents, however, say it is divisive and anti-democratic.
Enrolment update
When electoral rolls closed on September 10, there were 3,480,699 people enrolled nationally, which is 90 per cent of the estimated eligible voters. If people haven’t enrolled already, it is not too late.
The easiest way is online at vote.nz using a New Zealand driver licence, New Zealand passport or RealMe verified identity.
From Monday,October 2 when voting starts, people can enrol and vote at the same time at any voting place, including on election day, October 14. Enrolment is compulsory.
You’re eligible to enrol and vote if you are 18 years or older, a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident, and you’ve lived in New Zealand continuously for 12 months or more at some time
in your life.
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