Quentin Smith. Photos: ODT files It was a set-to which descended into accusations of talking nonsense and disingenuity as a southern MP and district deputy mayor went toe-to-toe over fast-track legislation. Queenstown Lakes Deputy Mayor Quentin Smith and Southland MP Joseph Mooney had a jousting match on social media which started over a controversial new development at Bowen Peak. Initially Mr Mooney criticised an RNZ report on a public meeting about the development, saying facts needed to be checked and the story needed to be balanced. Mr Mooney said feedback on the Bowen Peak proposal had been very low despite it being easy to do. Mr Smith then replied the development had not exactly advertised how to get in touch. Mr Mooney then fired back asking why Mr Smith, as deputy mayor, had not been sharing the information with the community given his role. From there, the gloves were off and each had a decent nudge at the other. Mr Mooney said the deputy mayor had better information than anyone about the development. "He’s sitting in a glasshouse throwing stones," Mr Mooney said. He praised the developer for having the public meeting. That was labelled "nonsense" by Mr Smith. He said Mr Mooney’s government had deliberately cut out local government’s role in significant planning decisions and he was now suggesting Mr Smith should be facilitating feedback. "That is completely disingenuous. The damage the fast track is and will do to our district is 100% on your head." Mr Mooney replied — "great to see your solution-orientated thinking at work again." Mr Mooney then pointed to $180 million of healthcare funding for the area and accused Mr Smith of not attending the announcement of the funding. Mr Smith came off the ropes to say he he was not invited, had asked for a heads-up about it, but never received one from Mr Mooney. Joseph Mooney. Mr Smith was now the one being disingenuous, Mr Mooney said. "Mr Smith’s only contribution to the council were posts on social media to attack and blame, never to propose solutions or help inform the community. "Do better man. We need people who acknowledge challenges, and work on solving them — not just throw stones on social media." Mr Smith ended the debate with a final dart. "In 25 years in or adjacent to local government I have never seen anything like the chaos imposed on us and own communities by the current government," Mr Smith said. Mr Smith was contacted yesterday and said the wider Queenstown area was facing the consequences of another 12,500 houses approved through the fast-track process. He was not upset about what Mr Mooney wrote. "I'm not offended or worried about his comments online. I think we need to really continue to fight to get central government to understand the issues that we face and work productively with them towards solutions," he said. "I’m well documented for being passionate on this topic and making sure that infrastructure and also local democracy is protected and we have funding for it." He had talked to Mr Mooney since the online debate and wanted to get on the same page around infrastructure. Mr Mooney said he would prefer to sit down with people and discuss issues. "We've had these frank exchange of views many times. He's got a particular political lens to the world, which is fine, and we just have a bit of a debate about that," Mr Mooney said. He would debate on any platform people chose. He backed the regional deal for the area and had done a lot of work on it. He found it hard to swallow any criticism of the Bowen Peak meeting. "Just to see one of the leaders of the community, our deputy mayor, instead of embracing that and saying, ‘well, this is good, and this is a great start’. Instead he's throwing stones on social media. It's not good leadership."
