Former Gisborne Herald editor Jeremy Muir running for district council

Former editor of the Gisborne Herald, Jeremy Muir, is standing for election as a general ward councillor.

After 14 years “following the council closely”, former Gisborne Herald editor Jeremy Muir is standing for election as a general ward councillor.

Muir’s campaign emphasises “strong communities” and “real change”.

It was not entirely the council’s remit, he said. However, local government played a vital role in fostering “collective community leadership”.

Speaking for the first time “on the other side of an interview”, Muir told Local Democracy Reporting the region had great leaders, but the council needed to improve its relationship-building.

“Council has good relationships at the higher level, but it’s just getting to know the people who are doing good things at the grassroots level.”

The council could have more strategic focus on the factors that influenced wellbeing and this would not need much resourcing, he said.

“The council just needs to be an enabler of good things happening in that space ... but they are often seen as a roadblock and really frustrating for people.

“It’s the classic case of organisations that are delivering good things and their biggest challenge is the council.”

Muir was recently elected president of Gisborne’s Neighbourhood Support.

He said the organisation aimed to benefit the community not only through crime prevention, but also social connections ... “knowing people around you and looking out for each other”.

“If there’s a vulnerable person in that community, if there’s a disaster or something, everyone knows what that person might need.”

For each of the neighbourhood support groups, there will be a co-ordinator who is contacted in emergencies and who feeds out communications to the community.

This could make it easier for the council to communicate and potentially consult, he said.

Muir has spent 20 years as an executive member of the Gisborne Chamber of Commerce.

He has been following the region’s “community development, economic growth and business success ... closely for a long time now” and believes the council is too hierarchical.

More delegations for managers to make decisions and for communications were needed, he said.

“I want to shift thinking around the governance table to have more direction over operations.”

From his experience in the newsroom, Muir believes the council needs to be “more responsive, more communicative, more collaborative and more transparent”.

“That’s a real driver for me and where I can add value.”

This includes ensuring workshops remain transparent and no decisions are made behind closed doors.

Alongside his work in the newsroom, Muir was chairman of Tauawhi Charitable Trust – which delivers support around addiction and family violence, and peer support for male survivors of sexual abuse – from 2015 to 2025.

In May, he resigned to join affiliated primary prevention team Hikitia! Tāne Ora Tairāwhiti as a community strategist.

Muir said other key points of focus for his campaign included the revitalisation of the city centre, economic development and the council’s need for improved engagement and opportunities for rangatahi.

“Each report that comes before council, there’s a line at the bottom about ‘what are the climate change implications of this?’ How about a rangatahi section on ‘what’s the impact [and opportunities] for rangatahi?’”

Maybe it was not for every report, but there were many things the council did that need to be viewed through this lens, he said.