Newbies 'need more training'

Aaron Edwards cycled into a seat on the Whangarei District Council last election. Photo / File

Giving new councillors more training at the start of their term will help them get up to speed on the complex issues they will have to deal with, one-term Whangarei District Council member Aaron Edwards says.

Mr Edwards is not standing for re-election in next month's local body elections for personal reasons after serving his first three-year term.

However, he says the job of a councillor involves a lot more than many people may suspect, especially if they have never been involved in council affairs previously.

At 25 Mr Edwards is believed to be the youngest person elected into public office in Whangarei when he was voted into the Okara Ward with 3068 votes. He admitted at the time to being green in terms of political service as well as green in political leaning.

However, what made his election even more remarkable was that the under-45s did not vote in the last election in anywhere like the numbers of those over 45.

Mr Edwards, a civil engineer, hadn't ruled out standing for council in the future, but said the job could be made easier if more effort was put into getting new councillors up to speed with the task when they first started.

"There's a lot of demand for your time, in terms of people wanting you to get involved in things so you have to choose what's important and what's going to do most for your community," Mr Edwards said.

"When I decided to stand it was because of one or two issues - promoting alternative transport, cycling and walking, and to do more for youth, which are where I had spent a lot of my time."

The job had involved plenty of procedure that had to be done before the real decision making could be done, such as public consultation and ensuring all policies were being adhered to, which was something new councillors could take a while to get their heads around.

"It's a big machine, but you can work within it to make a difference if you work with those processes effectively.

"You are bound by legislation in terms of the way you do things, and that dictates a lot of your work really," he said.

Politics, of course, were involved.

However, Mr Edwards said he stayed away from any horse trading, even if it meant he couldn't get some things done as quickly as he would have liked.

The biggest challenge facing first-term councillors was likely to be getting to understand the organisation as quickly as possible so they could be effective as quickly as possible.

Mr Edwards also had some advice on how to run an election campaign, seeing as he got elected by spending virtually nothing last time.

"Keep your campaign clean and positive and focus on what you want to do for Whangarei ... and bring your ideas to the table."