Clayton Mitchell farewells Tauranga council

New Zealand First candidate Clayton Mitchell farewelled Tauranga City Council. Photo/file

Tauranga's newest MP Clayton Mitchell said that being a councillor was like a Sunday roast discussion over the family dinner table, compared with Parliament.

The differences between his old job as a councillor and new job as a Parliamentarian was made during his farewell speech to the Tauranga City Council today.

Mr Mitchell, who has forced a council by-election next February after he became a New Zealand First list MP, said that compared with the council's debating chamber, Parliament was a lot more daunting.

He said he wanted to acknowledge all the help he had received during his 12 months as a councillor and the positive direction the council was taking the city under the leadership of Stuart Crosby.

Mr Mitchell liked the way differences between councillors stayed in meetings and did not carry through to the next meeting. He enjoyed being a councillor more than he thought, and although there had been positives and negatives, the negatives were not that bad. However he did want to spell out the positives and negatives, saying the media would dwell on the negatives.

Mr Mitchell said he was passionate about Tauranga's issues and particularly wanted to become the voice in Parliament for the Turret Rd/15th Ave portion of the Hairini Link roading project.

He was referring to the broken promise that the Government would pay for the whole project, and not just the underpass from Welcome Bay Rd to the Hairini causeway.

Mr Mitchell is New Zealand First's spokesman for conservation, sport and recreation, Internal Affairs and industrial relations.

Mr Crosby said Mr Mitchell had brought a lot of energy to the chamber and he looked forward to hearing Mr Mitchell's explanation of "the good, the bad and the ugly" of being a councillor.