Danny Bright
The turnout for local body elections continues to diminish election after election, and it seems we’re powerless to stop the downward spiral, which has been gathering momentum for more than thirty years.
Nowhere is it more important or significant than in the country’s largest city. The centre of New Zealand’s universe in population, industry, commerce and pretty much everything else. The city most affected on a daily basis by a long history of local body ineptitude, and lack of planning and anticipation of future infrastructure needs. A city buried deep in never-ending bureaucracy, rising rates, a fuel tax, wasteful and useless projects that will not resolve any of the issues – like the city train loop, the proposed light rail to the airport. A city where the council has taken the liberty of deciding its employees and contractors are to be paid “the living wage” at a time when they can’t even begin to balance their books. A city where local body politics appears to be driven by and held to ransom by Auckland Transport, a council controlled organization that seems to run its own agenda and often looks to be completely out of control and accountable to nobody. A city which has been appallingly let down by its council year after year after year.
Against that background of inaction, ineptitude and constant waste of ratepayers’ money, the council considered it more important to vote unanimously to declare a climate emergency:
“By unanimously voting to declare a climate emergency we are signalling the council’s intention to put climate change at the front and centre of our decision making,” says Mayor Phil Goff
(11 June, 2019).
Yet of 1,065,383 eligible voters, only 370,368 took the time and trouble to cast a vote. 695,015 chose not to participate. A voter turnout of 34.76%.
It’s way too glib to say: “If you didn’t vote – you have no right to complain” or “you got what you deserve”.
I’m sure most of us get, at least in broad terms, what the mayor and councilors are supposed to do. But for the rest of it, in Auckland at least, voting has become an overwhelming and complex task with too many choices to make, for a whole raft of jobs most of us know little if anything about. I mean really, what exactly are we voting for these people on Licensing Trusts to do? What about Community Boards? And the District Health Board, what’s that all about? Huge lists of people who we don’t know from a bar of soap and we’re supposed to choose those we want without knowing what they’re supposed to do. No wonder people throw their hands in the air in despair and don’t bother.
The next three years will hurt many in Auckland. Its been an expensive place to live for many years but some of the actions taken in the last two years will start to bite about now and bite harder as the months go by. Council rates rises, the fuel levy, the relentless interference of the current government with landlords. Prices are already spiraling upwards. The impact is only just starting to be felt. Will it mean a bigger turnout at the next local body election? I somehow doubt it. People feel disenfranchised and disinterested. There’s no magic bullet or simple answer. It will largely depend on how many people are hurting and how much after the next three years.