What do the candidates in the 2019 local body election stand for? The Otago Daily Times gave nominees for the Southland mayoralty the opportunity to answer some questions.
1 What is the main task facing the council in the next three years?
2 What are your goals and what should the other priorities be for your council?
DON BYARS
No response received by publication deadline.
Tim Hanna
TIM HANNA
Ward: Mararoa Waimea.
Age: 66.
Occupation: Author and publican.
Question 1:
The biggest challenge confronting Southland right now is the future of our agricultural sector, the mainstay of our economy and the backbone of the rural communities that make up the Southland electorate. There is an urgent need to add value to the goods we produce and to ensure that the sector is financially and environmentally sustainable. One way to advance both of these objectives is to transition to organic farming methods to increase profitability, reduce toxic run off, build soil and eliminate water pollution.
Question 2:
My primary goals will be to assist the above process, to change the rules around housing to allow truly affordable medium density housing on small holdings, to encourage solar power for home heating, to reinstate the CDAs so that local opinion is again a powerful driver of policy, to advocate for the Lumsden Maternity Clinic and home visits to the elderly, to plant trees on floodplains, to lobby for the resumption of passenger rail services from Invercargill to Christchurch and to encourage those with great ideas for our region.
GARY TONG
No response received by publication deadline.
