A man called Rabbit: Fourth-term Ruapehu district councillor David Nottage on how he got involved in his community

Ruapehu district councillor David "Rabbit" Nottage can be found driving a Mack truck and running his contracting business when he's not at the council table. Photo / Bevan Conley

Whether driving a Mack truck, a digger or sitting at the Ruapehu District Council table, David “Rabbit” Nottage is a hard man to miss.

His colourful apparel and short-sided, business-on-top haircut might give the impression he is prone to frivolity, but Nottage is deadly serious when it comes to serving his community.

He was first elected to serve on the Ruapehu District Council in 2013, and was re-elected for a fourth term last year.

Nottage has kept the same concise campaign message for every election.

“I always use the same four words,” he said.

“Cleaner, healthier, prosperous Ruapehu.

“Those aspirations don’t change and my commitment is to always work towards those goals.”

Born in Whanganui, Nottage grew up in Ikitara Rd and dreamed of building a house on the hill above his home.

“I wanted to build a house with a flying fox running down to Mum and Dad’s house,” he said.

Instead, he built a distinctive log house on a hill in Ōhakune where he has lived for 33 years.

Nottage joined the army after completing his studies at St Augustine’s College (now Cullinane).

“I always admired the army vehicles I saw driving around the region when we would go on family trips,” he said.

“My Catholic education prepared me well for army discipline and I really enjoyed my time at Waiōuru.”

After three years, Nottage left with all his heavy traffic licences and worked for Whanganui cartage contractor Jack Dodd, then Child Freighters after it bought the business.

It was while working for Child that his co-workers nicknamed him “Rabbit” and he has owned the epithet ever since. He even has a rabbit silhouette appliqued to the front of his high-vis work shirt.

Nottage then moved to Ōhakune to work for McCarthy Transport driving logging trucks, and he is now the owner-operator of his contracting business Rabbit Xpress, fitting his contracts around his obligations as a councillor.

It was a heart attack that indirectly led to Nottage’s first bid for a seat on the council.

“I didn’t feel good at all and I called my neighbour who is a doctor, and as soon as she saw me she said I was having a heart attack.

“I was fitted with two stents and stood down from driving heavy machinery for two months so I started walking.

“While I was walking around I ran into Dave Scott and Derek Brown, who both urged me to stand for community board election.”

On discovering that Ōhakune and Raetihi each had two good candidates for the community board, Nottage decided to stand for a seat on the council but found he was not on the electoral roll.

“The registrar accepted my candidacy once I was enrolled and I was elected.

“It was something I would never have imagined in my wildest dreams, but here I am now serving my 10th year.”

Rabbit Nottage (left) recently joined Mayor Weston Kirton and Ruapehu College students at the Rail Conference in Wellington.

There have been some challenging times for Nottage and his fellow councillors during the years he’s been in office.

“It can feel a bit like you’re trying to pull off a loaves-and-fishes miracle when the budget won’t stretch to meet the needs of all the communities within this electorate,” he said.

“And there have been some really difficult situations, like the Makotuku Stream diesel spill in 2013. That was my first year as a councillor and it was hugely stressful.”

Nottage said the representation review and the introduction of Māori wards in Ruapehu made the last election quite different for him.

“I had always represented the Waimarino-Waiōuru ward, but the changes meant that I needed to connect with other parts of the electorate,” he said.

“We had some great experiences during the campaign. A group of us candidates were invited to the Matiere Cosmopolitan Club. We were each given three to five minutes to speak during a live music event and the band resumed as soon as we had spoken. It was a bit different, but I really enjoyed working the tables and meeting the locals.”

Nottage said his uppermost concerns at the moment are improved public transport for the district and the council’s partnership with government agency Kāinga Ora and iwi Ngāti Rangi to build houses on residential-zoned vacant land in Teitei Drive, Ōhakune.

“I’m not opposing it outright, I just wanted it to sit on the table until we get assurances that it will meet the needs of the community, and I would like the parties to agree that local contractors will be considered first when the work gets underway,” he said.

On the other hand, Nottage was unimpressed with community members who threatened to vote out councillors who supported the plan at a recent public meeting.

“I asked if any of those in attendance were planning on standing for council at the next election, and no one put their hand up.”

Liz Wylie is a multimedia journalist for the Whanganui Chronicle. She joined the editorial team in 2014 and regularly covers stories from Whanganui and the wider region. She also writes features and profile stories.