Dunedin's political aspirants are starting to show their true colours two months into local body election year, and two surprise announcements are potential game changers when it comes to the make-up of the Dunedin City Council.
The Greater Dunedin grouping - which formed for the 2010 election and currently has six councillors under the ticket plus Mayor Dave Cull - has been sidelined.
If its current members stand again in October, they will do so as individual candidates.
Debates about the "success'' or otherwise of the group and accusations of group influence aside, in reality it has done its time and served its purpose.
That was to bring new blood and direction to the council.
The group said candidates always had the ability to vote on issues as individuals, and the newer faces are certainly well known enough now to be judged on their own merits if they should stand again.
Perhaps more of a surprise is the revelation the Labour Party is considering standing a block of candidates in the DCC election - including possibly contesting the mayoralty - under a "Local Labour'' banner.
Dunedin North MP David Clark and Dunedin South MP Clare Curran say the aim would be to promote the city's interests nationally and support local candidates with Labour values who have a contribution to make, not to impose candidates on the city or as a platform to attack the National-led Government.
There will be doubters of course, and perception is everything.
Some will automatically assume an agenda - particularly given Labour's loss of the Dunedin South party vote to National in the past two general elections.
Others may feel an open acknowledgment of political alignment is at least honest and transparent.
While the city council was more party-aligned in the past, there is of course an element of that still - and in many local councils.
It is obvious - if not always openly stated - where many of the country's mayoral leanings lie, and the same goes of councillors and councils in general.
It is certainly not difficult to guess where on the political divide most of Dunedin's councillors sit.
Then there are the known affiliations: Cr David Benson-Pope was a Labour cabinet minister, Cr Hilary Calvert a former Act New Zealand MP and Aaron Hawkins stood as a Green Party candidate in 2013.
The concern about aligning with national political parties means councillors could be beholden to Wellington, not Dunedin.
Of course the reverse could be argued, too.
Could a foot in the national corridors of power - of any political persuasion - help strengthen the city's case?
In reality, there is already a considerable national influence in local body politics.
There will be no local health board elections this year, as the Southern District Health Board's members were sacked by the Government and a commissioner appointed. Environment Canterbury is still being managed by commissioners.
The hand of central government has been heavy in post-quake Christchurch and is increasingly so in Auckland, too.
Whatever the make-up of our elected representatives, there are some fundamentals.
They should be people who advocate for the city, its residents and its ratepayers, who put those concerns front and centre.
They should be diligent, open and honest, able to make independent and robust decisions, be financially astute, careful and conscientious, but ambitious and forward-thinking, too.
Above all, they should be trustworthy.
All arguments aside, the reality is voters will decide the makeup - of the local and regional councils at least.
Incumbents will be judged on their individual merits or failings, new candidates on their perceived offerings.
That is how it should be.
