He voiced strong concerns around Government reforms and felt there was a need for strong advocacy on the council.
“The pure wastage of resource that I’ve seen due to reform, with the policy pendulum swinging every three years, is outrageous. It’s unprecedented, with 16 pieces of national direction at the same time. They are going for broke, basically.”
He said he felt there was a danger that reforms would make the regional council little more than a “rubber stamp”.
“Indications coming from the coalition Government are that they will have a separate nationalised entity that will be looking at monitoring of the regulatory function.
“Those [decisions] need to be made on a localised level. We need to be a part of that conversation.”
Iti described it as “a balancing act”.
“Yes, we need to cut down on the expense of overly prescriptive bureaucracy. If we can find better ways to do that, fine, but not at the expense of regulatory functions that keep oversight when industry is coming in using natural resources.
“Having that conversation with a wider constituency, I think, is really important. There needs to be more bipartisanship. In my view, there needs to be reaching across the aisle.
“It’s an advocacy role. Being able to talk directly to both Māori and non-Māori, that these reforms will impact you, and there needs to be on-the-record pushback from representatives with regards to these things.”
He said as a two-term councillor, he had the necessary experience and knew the business of regional councils.
“I know it’s going to be a challenge, but I’m up for it.”
Tauranga’s Paula Thompson has also resigned from the regional council and the deputy chairwoman, Western Bay’s Jane Nees, has also indicated she plans to stand down.
Iti said the loss of three experienced councillors meant councillors with good institutional knowledge would be important next term.
Moving to a general ward seat would also vacate the Kōhi Māori constituency seat for new blood.
Iti said he was open to talking to anyone wishing to put themselves forward.
“You’ve got to be quite literate to do the job and like to look at the detail. There’s a lot of it to work your way through.”
He said an understanding of politics was essential to the role.
“You have to be able to build your argument and get people on board. You can bang the table all you want. It doesn’t mean you’re going to get the outcomes that the people who elected you are expecting from you.
“I would certainly be explaining to them the limitations of the role. I think a lot of people come in thinking that they can change the world.
“I would be one of those people. You get there, and you understand the policy grind and the reality that you sit within a wider ecosystem.”
He said voters should be wary of politicians coming out promising they would keep rates down.
“What’s happening at the moment is that there are reforms that put [costs] upon the councils that are not financially modelled for who’s going to be paying for them.
“That’s going to be totally out of the hands of your councillors. They’re just going to be told, ‘no, you’re doing that, and you find the money to pay for it’.
“That’s the reality.”
- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
