Barbs fly at council summit on impending government reform

Missing mayors and a lack of iwi input were among the criticisms aired at an at-times fiery Southland council summit yesterday.

The Environment Southland event provided an opportunity for regional leaders to discuss impending local government reform.

But regional councillor Paul Evans took the chance to highlight the absence of Gore Mayor Ben Bell and Southland District Mayor Rob Scott as he thanked Invercargill Mayor Tom Campbell for making it along.

Cr Evans said he was disappointed Mr Scott could not be there considering he had travelled ‘‘halfway around the world’’ for local democracy.

In May, Mr Scott joined a six-day Infrastructure New Zealand delegation to Scandinavia, which cost ratepayers $13,124, excluding GST.

Southland district councillor Julie Keast jumped to Mr Scott’s defence, saying he would have been there had he been consulted about the date.

Independent facilitator Bruce Robertson encouraged the attendees to ‘‘calm the farm’’ and said Mr Scott had sent his apologies.

Mr Scott was travelling yesterday afternoon.

More than 40 Southland representatives attended the summit and media were allowed to join the final session.

Te Ao Mārama chairwoman and former Invercargill City Council mana whenua representative the Rev Evelyn Cook raised some concerns of her own as she closed proceedings.

‘‘The iwi perspective was a little bit lacking but, however, we’re still here and will continue to be here,’’ she said.

She said she hoped those gathered could land on solutions which would be beneficial for future generations.

‘‘And if you can hold that thought and your egos in check, then we may be able to come to a solution that actually benefits everybody,’’ Mrs Cook said.

Earlier, Labour candidate for Invercargill and Southern Kai founder Janice Lee appeared to take a shot at councillors’ workloads.

‘‘The thing that I really like about Southland is that from what I have observed are the mayors and the councillors — not necessarily the councillors, they don’t have that much to do — but the mayors have a joint view and purpose for the wellbeing of Southland, as a whole,’’ Ms Lee said.

Environment Southland chairman Jeremy McPhail said the event had gone well.

Key themes raised during discussion included collaboration, the importance of community and the value of knowledge and evidence.

• LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.