Dialogue: Time for fresh look at way we run our cities

Standing in local body elections can be a soul-destroying experience. And a pointer to improving how Auckland is run, writes GORDON DUNCAN.

There has to be a better way of running greater Auckland.

I thought that I might be part of that better way, so I stood for the Auckland Regional Council. I am grateful for the 5300 people who threw their tick my way, but it was not enough votes to get me elected.

So what was it like being a local body candidate?

I have previously participated in general elections as an activist and candidate, but I discovered that a local body election campaign is quite different.

In ancient Rome, the crowds would gather at the Colosseum, shouting and screaming for blood as they watched the gladiators fight to the death. This is exactly like local body elections ... except there is no Colosseum, no gladiators, no shouting, no screaming for blood. And no crowds for that matter.

At public meetings more candidates usually attended than voters, and it was hard to get engagement when so few people seemed interested in what the regional council did, how members performed, what they supported, or what potential new candidates offered as an alternative.

In fact, the only vaguely gladiatorial similarity was the imperial thumbs-down that I got from the voters.

I lost. I hope that I lost because I did not provide people with enough reasons to vote for me. I hope that people voted on the basis of reason and not just vague emotions. But with the strong showing from sportspeople, broadcasters and teenagers posing in their underwear, I have my doubts.

Of course I still think the reasons that I had for standing were good reasons: North Shore City needed better representation, the Shore's transport problems need more creative solutions, and there has to be a larger regional park at Long Bay-Okura for the benefit of greater Auckland.

But having now seen the local body political process at such close hand, I see that there are even greater, systemic issues. Basically, there has to be a better way of running our city.

There has to be a better way of politicians communicating with the electorate. Rather than waiting for a box to be ticked every three years, councillors should find different ways of building informed engagement in local politics. For example, instead of relying on the meagre feedback provided through local newspapers, they could spend more of our rates on surveying samples of the population about key issues. That would establish more effective two-way communication with their constituencies.

They could also hold well-publicised local meetings at which key issues are addressed.

Further, there should be a law change to prevent city councillors taking up space on community boards. Community boards provide fertile soil for budding politicians. Those with name recognition as councillors will beat out unknown aspirants every time.

It is a power they should use to encourage participation, rather than block the process through plugging the opportunities.

There needs to be further refinement of the electoral processes. Whichever way you look at it, the low voter turnout at local body elections is disappointing. It threatens to undermine the mandate of those elected.

And if that is not bad enough, the pressure to increase voter participation will become even more crucial, given the trend of local government reform to grant greater power to local and regional authorities.

We should heighten the sense of drama by opening polling booths on election day to reinforce rather than replace the postal voting system.

Short, punchy television advertisements attacking voter apathy could support this campaign in the week leading up to election day.

The information booklet supplied with voting papers was a welcome innovation but a useful addition would be a brief paragraph outlining the functions of each board or council for which the candidates were standing.

There is also a peculiarity of Shore City elections that should be changed. Manukau, Auckland and Waitakere Cities all welcome and support teams and tickets, such as Citizens and Ratepayers or City Vision, but Shore City shuns such political behaviour.

Is it philosophically driven from an underlying commitment to the importance of the individual over the collective? Beats me. But it helps to bury policy debate and heightens the importance of individual name recognition as the recipe for success.

There has to be a better way of running greater Auckland. The plethora of councils leads to confusion and lack of direction. The informal mayoral forum helps but lacks teeth.

It is time for a fresh look at how we manage the cities of Auckland to ensure we have structures that allow growth that is friendly to entrepreneurs, ratepayers and the environment.

* Gordon Duncan stood on the ANT (A New Team) ticket for the Auckland Regional Council.

Election winners

Local Government New Zealand