Tauranga gets its first council elections in five years next week. It’s a chance to set the Bay of Plenty’s biggest city on the right track.
It’s shaping up to be a choice between two courses: making Tauranga a property developer’s dream with endless sprawl or actually building community and infrastructure to improve people’s lives.
I am Bay of Plenty born and bred and very proud of that fact. Having said that, I’ve always had an uneasy relationship with Tauranga.
Growing up in Kawerau, I remember travelling to Tauranga as a little boy. My family would describe it as the “Pākehā city”. My elders would tell us stories of Gate Pa and the treatment of local iwi. Bad stuff happened there, we were told.
We always had a bad feeling when travelling to Tauranga. The first time I ever got called a “black bastard” was in a pub in Tauranga.
That’s probably hard for a lot of Tauranga residents to hear, but that’s the way we felt – that Tauranga wasn’t a welcoming place and didn’t embrace diversity. Even today, it’s the least diverse of the major cities in terms of population.
Rapid population growth has brought upheaval. In the past couple of decades, I’ve seen a battle in the city between the reactionaries who want to cling to the “Pākehā city”, property developers who just want to pave paradise, and people who want to develop a modern, multicultural community.
Those divisions, and the fights between big egos on council, many of whom wanted the mayoralty, undermined good city governance. Nobody could agree on a vision for Tauranga’s future. Stagnation and gridlock on issues like the redevelopment of the civic precinct were the result.
The previous time this was done – Nick Smith’s sacking of the Ecan board – it was nakedly political and partisan. The National Government got rid of elected councillors to protect the water interests of certain deep-pocketed agricultural interests, and the people of Canterbury didn’t get to vote for all members again until the Labour Government brought full democracy back in 2019.
I think the commissioners actually did a decent job on a hard wicket, with big increases in investment in roads, water infrastructure, and amenities. With smart investments like these, Tauranga will begin to feel less like an overgrown town and more like a proper city.
But even this “model intervention” has been unpopular, with a 2023 poll showing 67% of Tauranga residents wanted an election and only 22% were satisfied with the job they were doing.
Let that be a warning to National Party ministers thinking they can push out any left-leaning councils that they find vexing and slot commissioners in their place: people resent having their democratic rights taken away, even more than they resent a dysfunctional council.
The looming election is a choice about what kind of a city Tauranga wants to be.
The question is where to now for Tauranga? The elections give locals the chance to choose, and there seem to be three frontrunners for mayor:
Greg Brownless: The former mayor has experience, but you would have to worry it would be more of the same given the in-fighting last time he was running the show in 2016-2019.
Ria Hall: Well-known in Tauranga and beyond and is currently studying towards her master’s degree in regional development, and is focused on creating the infrastructure for a connected, invigorating community.
It’s a choice about what kind of a city Tauranga wants to be.
For me, Hall represents the chance for Tauranga to become a place focused on families, culture, and community. Somewhere to really live.
Whereas the other alternatives seem to be about people who just want to make a buck. A council that is mainly working on enabling endless sprawl, or one that is driven by wanting to make the city a place for everyone to enjoy.
It’s not for me to tell anyone how to vote but what better way for Tauranga to shed the trappings of the “Pakeha City” than to elect a wāhine Māori mayor who wants to shake things up.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that former Tauranga mayor Greg Brownless was among those calling for an independent commission in the city. The day that decision was announced in 2020 he described it as a loss of democracy.
Tauranga mayoral candidate Greg Brownless responds to this column:
“Mr Te Pou’s claims that I actively called for a commission to be put in place are both wrong and have damaged my reputation.
“Not only did I describe the appointment of the commission as a loss of democracy in 2020, but I also criticised its reappointment in 2022 and further attempts to stay on this year.
“This false claim couldn’t have come at a worse time. In the final week of voting this has detrimentally affected my opportunity to be elected.
“Furthermore, Mr Brownless challenges Mr Te Pou’s additional statement about in-fighting in the council he led.
“It was quite obvious that Mr Te Pou was advancing one of my opponents for mayor, but in doing so he should ensure he puts the facts correctly.
“To be clear, I was never in favour of the appointment of a commission.”
