Robert Lee has been re-elected to Rotorua's council. Photo / Andrew Warner
Rotorua’s final local election results have been declared, with Robert Lee and Merepeka Raukawa-Tait holding on to the slim advantages they had at the preliminary results stage.
Tania Tapsell’s huge margin of victory is now confirmed as 9428, and she will lead Deputy Mayor Sandra Kai Fong, Fisher Wang, Ben Sandford, Gregg Brown, Don Paterson, Lee, Te Rika Temara-Benfell, Trevor Maxwell, Raukawa-Tait and Karen Barker for the next three years.
Conan O’Brien loses his place at the council table after one term. O’Brien was the highest polling candidate not to be elected based on preliminary results. After all special votes were counted, local personality Philly Angus leapfrogged O’Brien in the final count, and she missed out on election by 257 votes.
Rawiri Waru has lost his seat on the Māori ward, with former councillor Raukawa-Tait’s return confirmed.
Lee is one of five re-elected general ward councillors, along with Wang, Kai Fong, Brown and Paterson, with Sandford newly elected.
Temara-Benfell is now the council’s youngest councillor, but is joined in the Māori ward by the experience of Raukawa-Tait and New Zealand’s longest-serving councillor, Maxwell.
Barker was re-elected to the rural ward unopposed and rounds out the list of councillors for the next three years.
Lee said: “I’m delighted to have been entrusted by the Rotorua voters to continue the job.”
It was a “very competitive” race for council.
“There were some very good candidates who ran for council, a real contest,” he said, before congratulating the new electees.
“I look forward to working with them all. It will be a nice little refresh.”
Lee’s campaign courted controversy, with Tapsell admitting she wanted him out and the council having his campaign video pulled from YouTube on a copyright claim.
He has already held meetings with Tapsell, Kai Fong and chief executive Andrew Moraes and said they intended to “work constructively” for the people of Rotorua.
Raukawa-Tait returns to the council table having lost her seat after 11 years in 2022.
She said she’d had to “sit tight” this week, to see if her close lead over Waru held, but she was now “very pleased to be back”.
She hoped for a “cohesive council” with a “clear vision” that was evident to the general public.
She also praised her fellow Māori ward electees, the “very keen” Temara-Benfell and “truly beloved” Maxwell.
O’Brien wished the new council “every success”.
“It’s really important we support them, because if they succeed, Rotorua succeeds,” he said.
He recognised the previous council had, in his view, “walked into quite a bit of a mess” but believed they had left it in a “better position” after three years.
Waru also missed out after one term. He wished the new councillors luck and backed them to get through “challenging times” ahead.
He said he would “miss it”, but the referendum on Māori wards was his big ticket from the election. Rotorua voted to retain Māori wards by a margin of 2856 votes.
“I’m just happy the ward’s still in place and that people get a chance to stand,” he said.
Campaign newcomer Angus admitted she was “gutted” to miss out but was “really proud” of her campaign.
“I really wanted to be around the table, for our people and for our beautiful city, but it wasn’t to be.”
She believed her skill set was “exactly what the city needs” and said “never say never” to potentially running again in 2028.
Colin Guyton, Tina Marshall, Karen Forlong and Tina Rose were elected to the Rotorua Rural Community Board.
Peter MacMillan and Jennifer Rothwell were elected unopposed to the Rotorua Lakes Community Board. A by-election will be held to fill final two vacancies, one left absent following the death of candidate Phill Thomass.
Voter turnout was 43.27%, down on 2022’s total of 46.46%.
Tania Tapsell
Fisher Wang
Sandra Kai Fong
Ben Sandford
Gregg Brown
Don Paterson
Robert Lee
Te Rika Temara-Benfell
Trevor Maxwell
Merepeka Raukawa-Tait
Karen Barker
Rotorua Rural Community Board
Colin Guyton
Tina Marshall
Karen Forlong
Tina Rose
Rotorua Lakes Community Board*
Peter MacMillan
Jennifer Rothwell
*Final two members to be decided at by-election.
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.