Robert Lee wants better oversight, transparency and accountability on council. Photo / NZME
Local body elections are under way and five hopefuls are vying for Rotorua’s top job. Local Democracy Reporting quizzed the mayoral candidates about key issues before the October 11 election. We are publishing those stories over the coming days.
Seeing the Lakeland Queen return to Rotorua waters last month had extra significance for mayoral candidate Robert Lee.
It was the Rotorua landmark’s battle to launch again, marked by the council’s initial rejection of a petition in 2024, that sparked his decision to challenge incumbent Tania Tapsell for the top job.
“That was a turning point for me,” he said, recalling the moment he shifted from “Team Tania” to a more critical outlook on the current council.
The councillor believed the Lakeland Queen’s difficulties symbolised wider concerns.
“It shouldn’t be this difficult to get a treasure like that back up and running,” he said.
Lee was already frustrated at what he saw as a lack of transparency and accountability at the council.
It was plans to put sports grounds and housing on Lee’s beloved Springfield Golf Course that got him “off the couch” and into politics in 2022 – when he was elected to the general ward.
Now he is seeking a step up in office as he believes Rotorua’s direction has been undermined by poor oversight and decisions made without adequate public scrutiny.
He argued too much emphasis had been placed on partnerships and co-governance arrangements, adding costs for ratepayers and reduced accountability.
Lee described a council where too many decisions were made behind closed doors or delegated to committees without full public or media scrutiny. That included Lakeland Queen, wastewater spending and partnership agreements, which he said have “gotten out of control”.
“Too much is happening that isn’t scrutinised by media, public or elected members,” Lee said.
“[The] council needs to ensure that when we set up these structures, they are transparent and legally robust.”
Lee aligned with poll results released this week which suggested 75% of New Zealanders back rates caps.
“We’ve got to cap rates. Ratepayers cannot keep paying more every year while council writes off millions,” he claimed.
“Council needs to show it can live within its means, the way households have to.”
He promised to “restore financial discipline”, highlighting central government’s Local Water Done Well programme as “heavy-handed”.
The proposal, to establish multi-council council-controlled organisations (CCO), is opposed by Lee.
He cited the financial savings since another CCO, Infracore, was reintegrated back into the council organisation as an example of the benefits of keeping services in-house.
As for wastewater, Lee doubled down on a plan to drain treated wastewater into Puarenga Stream. He said the water would be purified by this point and posed no environmental risk.
“Alternative options cost millions annually,” he said, while he also criticised a potential Recovered Water Working Group to oversee the final recommendation in early 2027 yet “another secret unelected committee”.
Away from his gripes with council transparency and spending, Lee wants to see Rotorua “get its mojo” back.
Where once Queenstown would claim to be the Rotorua of the south, the opposite is now true, according to Lee.
“Make Rotorua a place people want to visit,” he said.
“We must create demand for flights. If people want to come, airlines will put flights on. Make Rotorua a place people want to visit,” he said.
That goes beyond direct tourism advocacy, but Lee also believed decisions to adopt medium-density housing standards and social housing has hampered Rotorua’s visitor reputation.
Rotorua has become “a social housing destination”, he said, and he revealed plans to revisit those rules. He believed this links to perceptions over safety in the city, another tourism barrier.
“If housing policy is fixed, safety pressures reduce,” Lee said.
“Rotorua’s identity is tourism, lakes, mountain biking, culture. We can’t kill that.”
Voting remains open until October 11.
Mathew Nash is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. He has previously written for SunLive, been a regular contributor to RNZ and was a football reporter in the UK for eight years.
- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
Correction
Infracore’s team and operations are being reintegrated into the council organisation, rather than amalgamated with a works department as previously reported.