Mayoral profile: Malcolm Macpherson

With several major projects on the horizon for the Central Otago district, now is not the time for a change of leadership, incumbent Mayor Malcolm Macpherson says.

The "steady hand of experience" is needed to guide the district through challenges which could include more hydro development on the Clutha, more wind-farm projects and gold-mining operations planned for environmentally sensitive sites, he says.

Dr Macpherson is hoping to be re-elected for his fourth term as mayor and says there is no "mood for change" in the community, as evidenced by Central Otago district councillors being re-elected unopposed.

Why are you standing?

There's still a job to be done. In fact, there's at least as big a job to be done as there ever has been. The district's facing some really interesting times and in those times I think the steady hand of experience will be really useful.

What's your assessment of how the council has operated for the past three years?

Well, we don't get into trouble . . . that's not because we're not doing anything, that's because, I'd argue, we do a good job. It's a solid council, with lots of experience and very competent staff.

If you could go back three years and start again, is there anything you'd change about the last term or do differently?

I would personally take a different approach to Project Hayes. I argued strongly that our panel should hear the Project Hayes application. There were good reasons for that but in retrospect, that was a mistake. It should have gone straight to the Environment Court as the minister [David Benson-Pope] wanted.

A number of us, me included, argued strongly that it should stay, that the decision should be made here, because we thought the conditions of consent would be very important. That turned out to be true, but it took much longer than it should have, cost all of us much more than it should have. The other big projects coming up on the horizon, I don't think we'll hear them locally.

Is that a bad thing, that loss of local control?

It's good and bad. You do lose the ability to add local flavour and local knowledge to the decisions and especially to the conditions that go around decisions. Any major energy project these days is going to go to the Environment Court, regardless. There's a national agency, the Environmental Protection Authority, that's going to deal with these projects in the future.

Because these things inevitably go to a higher court, it's much more efficient and in a sense, fairer to all submitters, if those projects go there straight away in the future.

What have been your strengths?

I make a lot of the multiple jobs I do, [and recognise] how being involved in those as the mayor adds value to those other organisations and how working with those other jobs brings value back to Central Otago. So I guess if there's one thing I think that I'm able to do that other mayors in the South haven't done as effectively, it's to tie those various jobs together to the benefit of the district.

How does your leadership style differ to that of the other two mayoral candidates?

I've always been a strong advocate for consultation. In the time that I've been mayor, we've done a lot of listening in this district, with what I think has been pretty effective consultation. I also think I'm a pretty good negotiator, and when you've done the sort of things I've been involved in, you know how to get things done.