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A long-serving Invercargill councillor has clashed with a meeting chairperson for a third time, calling the mayor’s answer to his question a “soliloquy”.
The incident occurred during a full Invercargill City Council meeting on Tuesday, when six-term councillor Ian Pottinger asked council manager Rhiannon Suter a series of questions relating to amalgamation.
Mayor Tom Campbell’s response to one of those questions, as meeting chairman, was not well received by Cr Pottinger.
“You jumped in and gave a soliloquy, sorry,” Cr Pottinger said of the mayor’s actions.
Mr Campbell was visibly frustrated by the councillor’s comment and told him he could “sit there and be rude, or . . . take part in this meeting in an appropriate manner”.
“When you start talking about soliloquies, there was no soliloquy. I expressed about two sentences. So why don’t you just ask a question, but ask it politely?” Mr Campbell said.
Cr Pottinger was provided further opportunities to ask his question, which was ultimately answered by Ms Suter, though she was not sure she fully understood it.
The councillor’s run-in with Mr Campbell was not the first time he had butted heads with colleagues.
In February, Cr Pottinger refused to apologise to Cr Alex Crackett after asking if she was listening during a meeting.
At a May 2025 meeting, he had a tense exchange with Cr Darren Ludlow after suggesting he had not received an email that “democracy was not in place today”.
Both Cr Crackett and Cr Ludlow were chairpersons during those meetings.
On Wednesday, Cr Pottinger said he was trying to get an answer from Ms Suter but was interrupted.
Regarding the ongoing incidents with members, he said he was a passionate person who did a lot of research and was not the kind to back down.
Mr Campbell said Tuesday’s incident was relatively minor and dealt with at the time.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.