Mayoral hopefuls face public session questions

Queenstown Lakes mayoral candidates (from left) Glyn Lewers, Neeta Shetty, Daniel Shand, Olivia...
Queenstown Lakes mayoral candidates (from left) Glyn Lewers, Neeta Shetty, Daniel Shand, Olivia Wensley and Jon Mitchell pictured with Queenstown Chamber of Commerce chairwoman Angela Spackman at a "meet the mayoral candidates" event in Queenstown yesterday. Photo: Tracey Roxburgh
Topics from tourism to economic diversification, leadership and the proposed Tarras airport were covered in the first formal "meet the mayoral candidates" event in Queenstown yesterday.

About 55 people attended the Queenstown Business Chamber of Commerce’s event, held at St Moritz, where Glyn Lewers, Jon Mitchell, Daniel Shand, Neeta Shetty and Olivia Wensley were asked a variety of questions by chamber chairwoman Angela Spackman.

When asked what the mayor’s role was in leading and supporting economic development, Mr Mitchell said it was about "being an enabler".

The tech sector economy in the district was growing rapidly, with businesses attracted by the environment and lifestyle on offer, he said.

Provided the environment was protected, "they will come".

"We make sure the infrastructure is in place — which is the role of council and mayor — to make sure the environment is there to bring them in, enable them to stay here and their staff, and those who support them, to be able to afford to stay here."

Mr Mitchell said the "last thing we need" given the council’s financial position within the next few years, was up to $5million to establish and run an economic development agency.

"When it’s already happening, we don’t need to create that.

"What we need to create is networks and partnerships of those who are already involved in doing that here, and those who want to bring more in."

However, Mrs Wensley argued for an independent economic development unit to capitalise on "big opportunities" in both the tech and film sectors.

She believed the district was missing opportunities for Government funding, and connecting potential investors with deals.

While she was facilitating some of that, it needed to be done more formally, she said.

"I’m getting inundated with people who want to move here.

"I see the big opportunities as being in tech and film ... and having an independent EDU would really make the most of those opportunities."

Mrs Shetty said the district needed to look at education, films and business hubs as ways to better diversify the economy, using SIT’s impact on Invercargill as an example.

"We don’t need to have flash offices in the middle of Queenstown to get the financial outcomes ... What we need is good business sense, a strong business ethic to build [our] communities.

"Any of our philosophies need to be coming from the philosophy that we need to build stronger communities."

On the subject of the proposed Tarras airport, Mr Lewers described it as an "ecological disaster".

Building the airport would be "quite substantive" in embodied carbon, along with enabled carbon for all the transport links required, and the economic and business demand to make it economically viable.

In relation to Queenstown Airport, Mr Lewers said he would like to see it develop more "non-air service commercial reality" within the property to lessen the reliance on "clipping a ticket for landing fees".

"I think within itself [the airport] has to diversify its income stream."

Mr Shand was asked how he would contribute to a sense of community within and across the district.

He said he would like to involve the public more in the decision-making process and be directed by their feedback on pressing issues, such as the Three Waters reforms.

tracey.roxburgh@odt.co.nz

 

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