Hamish Bidwell: If you want to complain, you need to vote

You can't complain about the state of Napier if you don't vote, says Hamish Bidwell.

OPINION:
If you don't vote, you can't complain.

Those words rattle round in my head whenever elections of any sort roll around.

Now, I love a moan. I love to point out halfwits and impostors and to grizzle about the daft things those people say and do.

But do I love those things enough to actually vote in, say, our upcoming local body elections?

I can only thank the Lord, for instance, that I don't live in Napier.

I mean that council has been accused by a challenger to Kirsten Wise's mayoralty of being a shambles, with bureaucrats leaving by the seeming bucketload.

But Wise tells reporters there's nothing to see here. No, there's no correlation between any of the departures.

And the suggestion these mass resignations reflect poorly on the culture of the council is "pure electioneering", she says. Give me strength.

I'm afraid it's not for those presiding over a mess to tell us it's no big deal. That's for us to decide.

And that's why, despite having no confidence in candidates at any level of politics, I vote. Because it is our only true avenue to express dissatisfaction and disgust.

And then moan with a clear conscience, of course.

So while I'm moaning, I hate seeing candidates' billboards. Artificial and urging us to tick "so and so" for ward X or community board Y.

Hawke's Bay Today columnist Hamish Bidwell. Photo/ Warren Buckland

As for the ones that MPs have advertising street meetings, don't get me started.

Jeez, I bet those little chit-chats are well attended and incredibly worthwhile.

How magnanimous of our elected officials to come down from their ivory tower and mix with the man and woman in the street.

I heard some Act Party list MP talking the other day about all the wonderful people she met at street meetings in Ponsonby and St Heliers. I know that's a world away from Hawke's Bay, but I just wanted to exemplify the absurdity of the idea that street meetings keep MPs in touch with real people and real issues.

I see a local authority wanted a roadside STOP THREE WATERS sign in Wairarapa removed because motorists might mistake it for an actual stop sign and cause an accident.

I'd have thought the MPs' street meeting signs would be more of an issue, given the thousands of us who almost come to a complete stop to read which corner and at what time we can catch up with our elected member.

These meetings are such a vital cog in the wheel of democracy, after all.

Look, I know local body politics is uninspiring. And I know that it's easy to feel as if voting is a waste of time.

But, at the end of the day, these people work for you. They're spending from the public purse, not their own, and you're entitled to have your say on how that's being done.

And, if nothing else, it'll give you something to complain about, and who doesn't enjoy that?