Deputy Mayor Tom Campbell kicks off our Mayoralty election Q+A and next week we'll hear from councillor Alex Crackett.
Will you be standing again?
I will be standing for the Mayoralty but not to be a councillor.
Why or why not?
There is a longstanding tradition of standing for one or the other which I believe is right. It gives the public a clean choice.
I’m standing for Mayor because all my career experience has prepared me for the key challenge of the next term, which is to maintain progress momentum in our city while constraining rate increases. I don’t consider myself to be a politician, and my natural leadership style has always been to build consensus through compromise. A council which works together constructively rather than divisively will focus on the right things and get better results. I bring senior leadership experience and a track record of achievement both in business and in governance, but my proven ability to pull people of diverse backgrounds and beliefs together to work as a team is my strongest qualification for the job.
How long have you already been involved exactly?
I was elected to Council in 2022 and have been Deputy Mayor since then. However I was Chair of Electricity Invercargill before then, and lead the SoRDS initiative to develop the Region’s Strategic Plan in 2016, so my involvement with Council goes back much further.
What are you most proud of/achievements in the time you have been on council?
The city has seen a renaissance in recent years. Major developments like the Mall and the Museum, alongside commercial developments like the two new hotels, needed courageous decisions by Council, but the City is now a more attractive and vibrant place to live than it was even five years ago.
I don’t think any individual councillor should claim credit. Council is a team game.
What advice do you have for any new candidates standing?
God gave you two ears and only one mouth. Use them in at least that ratio, but contribute from the first day as the term passes quickly.
What do you see are the pressing issues in your city that you are particularly passionate about?
The overarching challenge will be to keep progressing and improving the city while keeping rate increases to a minimum. We need to be a lot more efficient in our service delivery, and be more self reliant to avoid consultant costs. We need to learn to do more with less.
Open the museum on time and on budget, of course.
Other challenges I am personally passionate about are tackling youth unemployment, and also enabling the building of affordable homes. Especially to revitalise the inner city and ease what is an emerging housing crisis. No-one should be left behind.
We need a central city art gallery but must take the opportunity to repurpose an existing building . We must not commit any new building projects using rates to fund.
Invercargill is on the brink of a step change up in economic development with major investments in aquaculture especially, but the upgrade of the road to Bluff and our port, is an essential enabler. A key challenge for me would be to advocate for that with central government.