With about six months to the local body elections and the debate about the future of local government, Rebecca Amundsen believes it has never been so important to talk about representation in local bodies.
She acknowledged representation issues were slowly getting better at council level, however, there was still a long way to go.
In her first term as a councillor nine years ago, Mrs Amundsen was one of two women on the Invercargill City Council and one of two people aged under 40.
"There was a councillor who had been in council for longer than I’d been alive and two councillors who were twice as old as me, so we can say it was very old school."
In 2016, the diversity improved with the election of five women and four people aged under 40, she said.
In the 2019 election, at the Southland District Council four of the elected members were female, while the Invercargill City Council had three and Environment Southland just two. Each council has 12 councillors.
"Talking about how we can be more diverse is vitally important — especially with the changes happening in local government.
"It is really important to try our best to ensure our council reflects our community in terms of the diversity that we have.’’
Wearing her hat as Southland branch president of the National Council of Women of New Zealand, Mrs Amundsen has invited all the elected women from the region’s councils and ILT to debate the issue of representation, while encouraging new candidates to come forward.
She had organised an event today to highlight the issue.
The National Council of Women usually held a debate with female candidates each election, but had decided to run today’s event to help potential candidates to understand the council’s role.
One of the biggest challenges facing candidates in the region was the remuneration.
"The remuneration is population-based so that means you are not remunerated as a full-time job so unfortunately you can’t rely on this as your sole income,’’ Mrs Amundsen said.
"For people who have their own business or are retired, it’s much more straightforward than a schoolteacher who has set times of working.’’
All women elected to the Gore and Southland District Councils, Invercargill City Council and ILT were invited to be part of the discussion panel, she said.
"We are hoping existing elected members can provide ongoing support for those who are thinking to run for council.’’
The event, "What’s the deal with getting elected?’’, will be held at the Invercargill City Library tonight at 7pm.
