One day to go for nominations . . .

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

Still considering a shot at standing for the council or health board? With just one day to go before nominations close at midday tomorrow, there appears to be a lack of competition for some roles.

That certainly is not the case for the two western rural wards, with Federated Farmers provincial president Sandra Faulkner challenging Malcolm MacLean for the Taruheru-Patutahi seat, and former Fed president Charlie Reynolds today announcing his candidacy for the Waipaoa ward, where he will be up against Fed vice-president Kerry Worsnop along with Frank Murphy and Ben Brown.

The East Coast wards are looking distinctly status quo, as per the decision of the Local Government Commission released earlier this year, with sitting councillors Bill Burdett and Pat Seymour the only nominations up to 5pm yesterday.

The nine city ward seats seem to be fair game at this late stage, with just nine nominations so far: Ross Chatterton, Debbie Gregory, Larry Foster, Alice Kibble, Alistar McKellow, Terry Sheldrake, Andrew Cranston, David Sly and Rachel Lodewyk. However, sitting councillors Josh Wharehinga, Amber Dunn, Meredith Akuhata-Brown and Shannon Dowsing have all said they are running again.

Confirmation from Ross Meurant today that he is standing for the mayoralty heats that race up, no doubt making it more combative. His experience in national politics will partly overcome limited local connections.

Two-term deputy mayor Rehette Stoltz will still be seen as the front-runner, but Meurant’s candidacy adds uncertainty to how the campaign will unfold; one possible outcome is a boost to the chances of success for Meredith Akuhata-Brown. Johnathan Pere is also standing.

With a day-and-a-half to go there were eight nominations for the seven vacancies on the Tairawhiti District Health Board: Alistar McKellow, Heather Robertson, Rose Gould-Lardelli, Andrew Cranston, Sandra Faulkner, Malcolm MacLean, Hiki Pihema and Josh Wharehinga.

It’s a little strange that Mr Wharehinga has just the health board nomination in so far ?. . . could he be a late additional challenger for the mayoralty?