19 Sept2014 2017 27ththSept Jan - 25 3rdthFeb
FIRST ON THE STREET
No No 434 618
LAKES WEEKLY BULLETIN
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I’m always disappointed at how bad we are at elections. Not the Electoral Commission, nor even our politicians. No, I mean “we” - you and me - the people in this district. We’re really bad at elections. We constantly and correctly, bang on about the need for central government to support the $2.5 billion economic engine that Queenstown provides the nation. We simply cannot carry an engine that size on the backs of a handful of local ratepayers. We know that government should return the GST we send them from international visitors. Or failing that, should at least let us implement a tourism levy, a tiny increase compared to the GST Wellington is already making us collect. And above all we know we need to give Mayor Jim Boult all the leverage we can when he’s trying to get central government to respond to our obvious needs. Yet every election we throw away our one chance to make any of that happen, we pull the rug out from under the advocates we send to Wellington, lock in our political impotence, and deliver the message, “it’s ok to treat us like a doormat, we enjoy being walked all over.” We do this because we’re bad at elections. We live under an MMP system now, and while we might know that, we don’t act like we do. MMP gives us two votes. The party vote lets us support the party we want in government, it gives us our voice in choosing our preferred Prime Minister. We seem comfortable with that, we have our preferences and we vote for them.
Lakes Weekly Bulletin directors Andy Brinsley, Scott Stevens and Ferg Spary host the Chamber of Commerce BA5 at the Good Group private bar last Wednesday.
(Photo: Jodi Walters)
But how do we use our electorate votes? Northland knows, ask them. The 2015 Northland by-election was a close run thing. The outcome was not a foregone conclusion so, amongst other things, they were instantly promised ten new bridges. Contrast that with here, where we’ve been a foregone conclusion in every election since 1936. You might like to think that century of loyalty would get rewarded, but that’s not how Wellington politics works. In Wellington, a marginal seat has power, a safe seat is impotent. Despite huge growth in traffic it’s taken us decades, working successive governments, to get just one new bridge over the Kawarau. Northland learned that their electorate vote gave them power. Power gained by sending the message that no government of any party gets to take them for granted. If we had that kind of power, we could for instance, use it to support our Mayor and give Jim the ammunition he needs to fight back whenever a government Minister tries to tells him that they know best, and won’t allow either GST return or tourism levy. We need to let every politician know that we are not a foregone conclusion to be taken for granted, and instead send them all the same message: They can win us, but only if they’ll work for us. Happy voting Queenstown.
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AJ Mason Erstwhile astrophysicist, geek-in-residence, usual suspect
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RENTAL PROPERTIES
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TUES
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Chance light morning rain
Cloud increasing. Rain at times
Remaining rain clearing
Fine with increasing cloud
Rain. Light winds
Partly cloudy with light winds
Rain. Not much wind