Of the six men standing for the job, including incumbent Glyn Lewers, only Al Angus did not attend the "Battle for the Mayor’s Chair" event before about 250 people at the Queenstown Memorial Centre.
Organised by the Queenstown Business Chamber of Commerce and hosted by former TVNZ political reporter Katie Bradford, it was the first of four mayoral debates scheduled before October’s local body elections.
However, the topic of leadership kept returning to the fore, Mr Lewers emphasising his six years’ local government experience, while the other candidates promoted the need for change at the top.
Nik Kiddle said he had 23 years’ experience as a public servant, and knew how to "get stuff done in Wellington".
The council needed a "total break from from the current leadership", and stronger representation to a government giving a district a "raw deal" on many issues.
Darren Rewi said the saying "a fish rots from the head" applied to the council’s leadership, and claimed residents had been lied to about the council CEO’s decision to discharge "25 Olympic swimming pools of crap" into the Shotover and Kawarau Rivers.
If he became mayor he would instigate a review of that decision and other contentious issues over the past term, so the public knew who was responsible, he said.
John Glover said he would have given the community a "huge apology" for discharging wastewater into the rivers if he had been mayor.
He was concerned about council transparency, claiming councillors were being "routinely denied access" to information they needed to perform their governance role.
Daniel Shand got the biggest laugh at the end of the debate when he was asked which one problem in the district he would solve if he had a magic wand.
"I’d fix the traffic, because I’ve got to go home now."
