Talking Point: Martin Williams: Get rid of vested interest politics

Regional council issues should be decided in the interests of the region as a whole, writes Martin Williams. Photo / File

In his Talking Point "Vested interests hold sway" published on February 4, Barrie Ridler raised an issue of particular significance for Hawke's Bay this local body election year, which I have been reflecting on since.

He spoke of local body decisions being made by small, powerful minorities on projects "rejected by all but the vested interests".

Strictly speaking, a vested interest is one where there is a personal reason, or something to gain, from involvement in a situation.

Translated to local government, the use of this phrase implies a scenario whereby the elected members themselves stand to benefit financially through the decisions they make.

I would not personally suggest local government in our region is corrupt in that way, and I don't think that was Mr Ridler's intended point either.

But I would agree that powerful minority interests within Hawke's Bay of the kind Mr Ridler spoke of have combined with Politics (note the capital P), making perilous bedfellows.

This is indeed a real problem.

In my view, Politics of the Wellington or Westminster style should be kept firmly out of local government.

My dream for this year's local body elections is instead to see a field of candidates putting themselves forward to stand on principle, not for specific interests - vested or otherwise.

The point of principle I am advancing is that in local government, every decision should be made on merit. Not because whoever the given councillor thinks they were put there to represent 'says so', or based on how they might personally prefer the issue to be determined.

This may sound naïve, but to be principled in local government is to put such interests to one side.

It is to govern in the interests of the region or district, all ratepayers and voters, not just those of your mates or fellow ideologues.

It is to respect the advice of the dedicated council staff with expertise on scientific and policy matters, rather than simply assuming that you know better, or rearranging the facts in public messaging to suit your chosen cause.

As I see it, there is no place for the self-named cabal of 'Romans', or any other form of empire building around the council table.

At least at regional level, councillors doing their job well would be more the invisible hand than the front-page news, motivated by an ethic of service rather than public profile.

You might not even know who they were, unless they happened to mess something up.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for active and effective governance robustly testing the expert advice of the officers and ensuring the chief executive delivers what should be a shared collective vision.

That shared vision should itself be set through engagement with all stakeholders in the regional community, and without the 'die cast' from the outset to suit a given faction of interests, or a predetermined outcome.

This is a far cry from the highly Political governance we have often seen from our regional council in more recent years.

Instead, we have seen a number of decisions made which could be described as populist, or even 'political stunts', but which if challenged would not withstand legal scrutiny.

These examples aside, and at even grander scale, if we had witnessed a more principled approach in Hawke's Bay in the last 10 years, we would not have seen the council effectively deposed for trying to safeguard minimum flows in the Ngaruroro River in 2013.

We would not have seen the cartel of councillors who were swept into power by this rebellion then wage a Politically motivated campaign against the Ruataniwha Dam proposal for the Tukituki catchment, intended as a solution to sustain minimum flows in the river, for which we are yet to see an alternative.

As the pendulum now swings to a rate and borrowing fuelled 'environmental focus', we might not now be facing imminent sale of a major stake in the port, before a single tree under the council's new reforestation scheme is planted.

These issues would instead have been decided in the interests of the region as a whole, on merit and on a principled and enduring basis.

To be enduring, and for the solutions to the many issues facing our region to work effectively, they need to be backed by the full council, and the wider regional community needs to be on board.

I am afraid this is not the legacy any aspiring candidates to the regional council would inherit.

But I defy that this is naïve, or even old fashioned. As a matter of basic principle, it is instead truly vital. "Kua takoto te manuka"- the challenge has been set.

* Martin Williams is a barrister specialising in local government and resource management law, based in Napier.