As one of the world’s closest cities to the South Pole, Invercargill doesn’t always enjoy the best weather. It has among the lowest annual hours of sunshine in the country.
But when Sir Tim Shadbolt was in town, there was plenty of sunshine around. With his death on Thursday morning, aged 78, things are going to seem a lot duller to many in the South.
Where to start with a local-body politician like Sir Tim? Most New Zealanders can conjure up a mental image of him and his cheesy grin at mention of his name. Few student agitators with a talent for pouring concrete have the patience to take on the system from the inside across almost an entire lifetime and end up so ensconced as a mayor that they become part of the problem of the "establishment".
Nobody could claim Sir Tim didn’t love Invercargill and wasn’t enthusiastic about doing the best he could for the city and its people. But there was more than a degree of improbability that his move south ever happened.
It’s a long way from Auckland to Invercargill, about 1200km by plane or 1600km by road, and to say the two places could be different countries is hardly an exaggeration.
Sir Tim had two terms as mayor of Waitematā City, but was voted out in 1989. Three years later he stood again as mayor for Waitematā but also for Auckland and Dunedin, coming third in all three.
If the South was a growing interest for Sir Tim, the death of Invercargill mayor Eve Poole late in 1992 gave him the opportunity to move and galvanise things. He was elected her successor in a high-profile by-election the next year. "I don’t care where, as long as I’m mayor" he said in a well-known cheese advertisement.
Three years later, it was over. Thrashed by Invercargill city councillor Nobby Clark, Sir Tim won just 958 votes and was in fifth place. Neither did he secure a seat on the council.
During his pomp, Sir Tim did an enormous amount of good for the city and wider Southland. His confidence, optimism, ever-ready smile and genius for publicity made him a force to be reckoned with. His easy-going charisma ensured plenty of followers.
As well as promoting local businesses and helping them compete on the national scene, his advocacy of the Southern Institute of Technology’s zero-fees scheme was a masterstroke, ensuring Southland was seen as a serious education destination and keeping plenty of young people on the streets of Invercargill.
Unfortunately, as United States founding father Benjamin Franklin famously said, "guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days". Ultimately it’s the same with politicians.
After all the achievements and accolades through most of his tenure, his last mayoral term was dreadful.
Struggling with health issues and his work, he refused calls to step down, choosing not to leave with dignity and to keep undermining his remarkable long-term legacy.
A report launched by the Department of Internal Affairs in August 2021 concluded Sir Tim was failing to do his job and, as a consequence, there was a "leadership void" at the Invercargill City Council.
He rejected the report and, with an appalling lack of self-awareness, toyed with councillors at a meeting as to what might happen if he resigned, before saying he did it to "break the tedium and watch the look of unadulterated joy on certain faces".
Sir Tim is the second former southern mayor to die this week.
Unlike Jules Radich in Dunedin, Sir Tim had a formidably long record of council service under his belt.
His highs were much higher, but his lows were lower, a lesson for all mayors in knowing when it is time to hand over the chains.
