PHOTO
Another week, another sign the Invercargill City Council’s progress towards becoming a smooth-sailing local body has not passed the glacial stage.
New Zealand’s most effortlessly enigmatic council gave its ratepayers another head-scratcher last week when embattled Mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt, whose various failings have been well documented but whose unusual brain clearly still retains some handy tidbits, reached for Shakespeare to highlight the rift between himself and his deputy.
"Beware the Ides of May or as in my case — councillors who whisper to the press," Sir Tim posted on social media.
This was apparently in relation to a Stuff story that included speculation about the mayor’s driving status. Has he lost his licence? Is he incapable of being behind the wheel?
Sir Tim referred to the article as his "Et tu Brute moment", referencing the scene in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar where the Roman emperor reflects on the duplicitousness of his right-hand man, Brutus.
"The closer they get to power, the more the quest for it overcomes them," Sir Tim wrote, the jab clearly aimed at his deputy, Nobby Clark, quoted in the story as calling for Sir Tim to be transparent about his driving situation.
Mr Clark, who has found himself in an invidious position as he copes with the challenge (and extra duties) of being the deputy to a man struggling with the demands of the top job, has clearly had enough.
He would, he said on Friday, quit local politics at the next election, and he expressed concern that "sideshows" revolving around Sir Tim were undermining the council’s work. It is hard to argue the negative case for that assertion.
The latest Nobby-Tim contretemps came just weeks after Sir Tim was back in the headlines for suggesting he might take the council back to court — yes, he has been there before — following a dispute, seemingly petty but suggesting a schism remains between the mayor and the council, over whether he had been offered IT training or not.
All this "old man rants at cloud" nonsense, of course, plays out while, in the background, the ICC keeps trying to return to the status of "adequately functional".
The council’s propensity to be dragged down by internal conflict was highlighted by the Department of Internal Affairs last year, and an independent review found most of the simmering tension could be traced to a leadership void, specifically the inability of Sir Tim to carry out all his duties.
We are still wondering exactly how the appointment of two independent observers, tasked to work with the council for six to 18 months, will get the council’s governance back on track.
We are at the point where nothing could surprise us. The Sir Tim show rolls on, and we can but wonder what the next episode will bring.
AND ANOTHER THING
Looks like it is official — Australian rugby really needs New Zealand rugby more than we need it.
The opening two rounds of Super Rugby Trans-Tasman have exposed the gap in class between the rival nations’ five franchises (no, they are not clubs).
The scoreboard makes for ugly reading. New Zealand teams have won 10 from 10. They average six tries a game and a winning margin of 20 points.
A couple of the games have been very close. But it seems certain to be an all-Kiwi final on June 19, and every rugby fan should be worried about what has happened to the Australians.