Candidate's departure stuns right leaning ticket

Hinu te Hau. Photo / Supplied

The National Party's de facto ticket at the Super City elections has suffered another setback after one of its candidates, Hinu te Hau, quit to stand as an independent.

Ms te Hau said she had broken away from Citizens & Ratepayers after the ticket decided to endorse independent candidate Alex Swney in the flagship Waitemata and Gulf ward.

She supported businessman Tenby Powell, who missed out to Mr Swney for the C&R endorsement.

Ms te Hau, a C&R member on the Hobson Community Board and candidate for the Waitemata Local Board, said her ethos as a Maori woman was in conflict with the C&R brand and the way it was being delivered.

"Auckland is changing and we have an opportunity to move this great city forward and bring our communities on board. Political tickets cannot be allowed to trap Auckland in the past.

"My vote is with Tenby Powell. I like his vision for Auckland," she said.

C&R president and former National Party president John Slater said the ticket was surprised and disappointed with Ms te Hau, whose decision had come out of the blue.

"The only thing I can say is that as the tempo and pressure of the campaign build up, some people handle it in different ways," he said.

With the election campaign in full swing, C&R was reviewing what to do about Ms te Hau, Mr Slater said.

The withdrawal is the latest setback for C&R, which has high hopes for extending its control of Auckland City politics across the region at the first Super City elections next month.

The right-leaning ticket has only managed to find 14 candidates for the 20 seats on the Auckland Council, several of whom fit critics' "crusty and rusty" description of C&R. It is running the campaign without a leader.

The backroom selection process that saw 67-year-old Doug Armstrong selected in the blue-ribbon Orakei ward has resulted in a bold challenge from Cameron Brewer, the 37-year-old former Newmarket Business Association chief executive and National Party member.

Feelings on the right boiled over when Mr Slater's son, Cameron, said on his Whaleoil blog that Mr Brewer was "nothing short of a back-stabbing, carpet-bagging prick from Pt Chev".

C&R also faced a fight within its own ranks when C&R candidate and former North Shore Mayor George Wood spoke out against user-pays for wastewater that would result in about 34,000 residents on the Shore facing higher water bills.

At the time, Mr Slater said the general policy was for user-pays, although this has since been softened by Mr Armstrong, who has indicated support for having two charging systems - user-pays and/or a fixed charge - being promoted by Super City mayoral contender John Banks.

A C&R candidate for the Maungakiekie-Tamaki Local Board, Roshni Devi Golian, has been ordered to pay more than $70,000 to a finance company after a judge ruled that she failed to reveal a debt on a loan application.

C&R WOES

* Maori candidate Hinu te Hau (pictured) quits.
* Judge rules C&R candidate misled finance company.
* National Party "Prick from Pt Chev" challenges C&R stalwart.
* Internal ructions over water prices.
* Struggle to find candidates for Auckland Council.
* No leader.