Local election 2022: Hamilton mayoral candidate Paula Southgate shares views on city's key issues

Hamilton City Council mayoral candidate Paula Southgate. Photo / Mark Hamilton Photography

Waikato Herald invited Hamilton's mayoral candidates to answer questions on key issues for local body voters.

Name: Paula Southgate

Age (optional): (no answer)

I live in: Hamilton

What skills and experiences would you bring to the role of mayor?
Over 25 years of governance and experience in the community, educational and local government sector. I have held many portfolios from transport, environment to policy and strategy and positions of responsibility at a local, regional and national level. I am a strong communicator and have developed good relationships across the business and community sector. I am collaborative and work with, and empower, others to create strong partnerships and teams. In this way, I support and bring the talents and knowledge of others to the table. Most of all I am a positive and determined advocate for Hamilton.

What approach should Hamilton take on the Three Waters Reform?
I have often been misrepresented on this issue, so I want to be clear. The Three Waters Bill is not the right solution for Hamilton. Many of our ideas and views were ignored over the past year leading to an unanimous vote to oppose the bill. However, it is not good enough to just oppose something, you need to talk about what the potential solution is. The problem does not go away with a NO. And NZ does have a problem; across many parts drinking water is not safe along with many lakes, rivers, and beaches. We are a big city and must work with others to develop credible water management for a strong future. This means working with leaders in Wellington no matter who the Government is now or in the future.

Would you like to see Hamilton become a Super City, absorbing surrounding districts into one unified local body? Why?
No, I don't see the need. The issues we face as a fast-growing city are quite different to those of our neighbours, but we have proven that we can work well across boundaries. The Future Proof Strategy and Mayoral Forum are examples.

What else – if anything – should Hamilton do to encourage more use of public transport, walking and cycling?
To be attractive, transport choices must be safe, easy to use and affordable. This means a focus on making passenger transport more regular, reliable and rolling out more demand-responsive services. For cycling, the gold star projects in my view are those that are in separate lanes (such as Wairere and Ruakura) but it also means making safety improvements across key routes that enable more commuters to cycle while not causing undue congestion for other traffic. As we build and design our city, we should focus on the concept of 10-minute walkable neighbourhoods to reduce short trips by car.

Does Hamilton need community boards with delegated authority and budgets? Why?
We are trialling those by request of the community, so I remain open-minded. What we must do is support and strengthen existing support and advocacy groups (such as the Age Friendly Panel and Seed (youth and young adult support) and our Community Houses. This means enabling a better connection of them to our decision-making.

What new projects you would like to see the new council support?
We have done a lot of work in the past three years and I look forward to progressing this next term. This includes the Safest City work and Fairfield/Enderley Revitalisation Project. We did a lot of work to establish the Long Term (10-year) Plan and there are so many great projects in it that need to be completed. One project that I love is the Zoo/Waiwhakareke upgrades, which will create a strong visitor destination and local experience incorporating Waiwhakareke Natural Heritage Park, The Observatory and the vital upgrades to our ageing but much-loved zoo. We also have huge core infrastructure projects under way that need completion such as the $42 million wastewater upgrades, and transportation safety improvements.

Why should people vote for you to become mayor?
Hamilton needs a positive and experienced leader who works with others to get things done, now more than ever. I have successfully led council, and supported the community, through extraordinary and tough times. Under my leadership, we have had a largely unified, positive and professional council team. I have enabled and empowered my colleagues to work with their strengths and passions and get things done. I am proud of this and proud of them. Not everyone will like every decision the council makes. Personally, I have made some tough calls, but I am open-minded and collaborative. I am also known to be very approachable and am often alongside the community to support and listen.