WEBVTT - Local elections: Hundreds of races being won by default 0:00:05.240 --> 0:00:05.640 Kilda. 0:00:05.720 --> 0:00:08.880 I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page, a 0:00:09.000 --> 0:00:17.080 daily podcast presented by the New Zealand Herald. Local government 0:00:17.320 --> 0:00:20.680 is how communities democratically decide what. 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:22.880 Happens in their backyards. 0:00:23.040 --> 0:00:25.480 It could be the park on the corner, what day 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:29.120 our bins go out, your neighbor's making too much noise, 0:00:29.600 --> 0:00:32.560 how much you pay in rates, or whether your dog 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:36.760 can enjoy the beach off lead. Every day we encounter 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:38.680 a council decision. 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:39.559 Whether we know it or not. 0:00:40.120 --> 0:00:44.760 So why is voter turnout always so low? There are 0:00:44.800 --> 0:00:49.280 seventy eight local authorities in New Zealand, eleven regional councils, 0:00:49.479 --> 0:00:54.040 twelve city councils, fifty four district councils and Auckland Council 0:00:54.200 --> 0:00:57.920 which combined eight former councils in the Big Super City 0:00:57.960 --> 0:00:59.800 amalgamation of twenty ten. 0:01:00.480 --> 0:01:03.480 That means there are a lot of roles up for 0:01:03.600 --> 0:01:04.440 grabs to. 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:07.320 Dive into what you need to know about this year's 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:08.399 local elections. 0:01:08.640 --> 0:01:09.720 Today on the front. 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:12.840 Page we have news Talks ZB News director and Local 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:20.000 government reporter Michael Sergel. Michael, do we know anything about 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:22.440 what voter turnout might be like this year? 0:01:22.480 --> 0:01:24.959 And how it compares perhaps to previous years. 0:01:25.160 --> 0:01:27.920 Yes, we've already got some numbers as of last week 0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:30.600 about eighteen percent turnout, which was compared to about ten 0:01:30.600 --> 0:01:33.080 point five percent at the same time last time, which 0:01:33.080 --> 0:01:35.920 is a positive sign. Voting is quite a bit higher 0:01:35.920 --> 0:01:39.200 in rural and provincial areas than Muori wards than it 0:01:39.280 --> 0:01:42.039 is in general metro areas. That's normal, that happens every 0:01:42.080 --> 0:01:45.720 time as well. We've got much lower turn out and 0:01:45.760 --> 0:01:48.200 Carterton and much higher turn out and wide Hoer. But 0:01:48.280 --> 0:01:50.760 that's also just because small population centers tend to buck 0:01:50.800 --> 0:01:53.880 the overall national trends. And looking at the latest metro 0:01:53.880 --> 0:01:57.560 and numbers from this week, some cities with lower voter 0:01:57.640 --> 0:02:00.640 turnout last time, like Hamilton and Wellington are seeing a 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:03.840 really huge improvement this time. But there's no real change 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:06.040 in those two big cities, Auckland and christ Church. 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:08.680 And so what are the percentages? What are we looking at? 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:11.919 So we're looking at it varies between city and city 0:02:11.960 --> 0:02:13.480 that christ Church has sort of tends to have the 0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:17.960 highest turnout about twenty five percent so far, but the 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:19.480 others it's in the teens. 0:02:20.000 --> 0:02:23.560 I did hear an interview on z B recently and 0:02:23.600 --> 0:02:26.800 they were like, oh, we're hoping for forty percent, and everyone. 0:02:26.520 --> 0:02:28.119 Was like, that is abysmal. 0:02:28.200 --> 0:02:30.440 But forty percent if we're looking at like twenty twenty five, 0:02:30.480 --> 0:02:32.640 and that's one of the highest, forty percent is. 0:02:33.080 --> 0:02:35.480 A good bench right, Yes, a forty percent it would 0:02:35.520 --> 0:02:39.800 be a pretty good sort of turnout for most centers, 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:42.679 particularly given it's a postal vote. You don't get the 0:02:42.680 --> 0:02:45.680 same engagement that you get at a central election, particularly because 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:49.680 we don't have the polling day and as many polling 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:51.360 places as we would for a general election. 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:54.240 How many votes have been cast this far. 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:57.840 So we don't have sort of complete official numbers for 0:02:57.840 --> 0:03:00.840 the whole country. But yet, as I say, as of 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:05.280 last week, about eighteen percent of people had returned their 0:03:05.360 --> 0:03:08.280 voting papers, which is a really positive sign compared to 0:03:08.639 --> 0:03:10.880 that very low turnout we saw in twenty twenty two. 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:14.000 I read your article where you delve into the more 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:19.359 than two hundred people who will be elected unopposed this weekend. 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:21.480 Tell me about these numbers, yes. 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:23.800 Well, I mean may sing like a lot. I've been 0:03:23.840 --> 0:03:28.040 analyzing about seven thousand council races over five consecutive local 0:03:28.040 --> 0:03:31.640 elections that specifically me as councilors, local board members, community 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:34.120 board members, anyone who sits around a council table and 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:37.480 makes those decisions about what the council should be doing. 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:42.160 And consistently across every single election, one in seven, more 0:03:42.240 --> 0:03:44.680 than one in seven people are being one just by 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:47.640 just winning that race, just by standing in the race. 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:50.560 Which may seem like a lot, but it's actually been 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:54.600 trending downwards. It's trended down by about a third since 0:03:54.680 --> 0:03:57.640 two thousand and one, and every election it generally tends 0:03:57.640 --> 0:04:01.600 to be lower than the last election. We've got three 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:04.760 of christ Church's councilors, two of Auckland's already elected, and 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:08.000 more than half of councilors on some councils have already 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:11.000 won their seats just by filling in the application form. 0:04:11.200 --> 0:04:12.000 Isn't that crazy? 0:04:12.080 --> 0:04:14.480 I mean, is it because people don't understand what local 0:04:14.520 --> 0:04:15.520 government does? 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:18.960 But yeah, there's a range of factors potentially at play. Certainly, 0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:21.279 abuse and harassment does put a lot of people off 0:04:21.520 --> 0:04:25.000 low pay because some of these positions might only get 0:04:25.040 --> 0:04:29.240 paid ten thousand dollars and it may be thirty to 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:32.680 forty hours a week of work for some people. So 0:04:32.720 --> 0:04:36.359 that definitely puts some people off as well. But then 0:04:36.640 --> 0:04:39.000 you know we're talking to the Gisbon mayra Het Stalks. 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:41.800 She's saying that often that's also a sign that people 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:44.280 are happy with their current mayor or their current counselors, 0:04:44.440 --> 0:04:47.440 and so no one stands against those people because everyone 0:04:47.520 --> 0:04:50.200 quite likes them. We've got the case in Auckland with 0:04:50.279 --> 0:04:54.159 Desley Simpson, who's very popular in her ward, so no 0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:56.919 one has sort against her. We've got two of the 0:04:57.040 --> 0:05:00.000 major meal candidates both committing that they would like to 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:04.040 a point heard their deputy. So in many cases it's 0:05:04.040 --> 0:05:08.279 also a sign that people are popular. And I mean 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:12.560 it's much lower than say the United States. We've got 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:16.480 much more unopposed races than the UK or Australia, but 0:05:16.920 --> 0:05:20.160 fewer than the United States. Have actually looked at what's 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:23.640 happened in the US, and I mean it's more than 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:26.719 more than it's almost two thirds of me is and 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:30.040 more than half of councilors in the US are unopposed, 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:32.320 so they will pay de fault. So we're certainly not 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:34.839 in that kind of situation. But then there's also the 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:37.880 counter argument from some people that perhaps we have too 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:41.239 many roles. If all these positions are going unopposed. Maybe 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:43.480 we need to reduce the number of local government roles 0:05:43.600 --> 0:05:46.000 and have a bit more competition for those roles. 0:05:46.320 --> 0:05:48.520 Do you think there are any councils around the country 0:05:48.600 --> 0:05:52.039 that can perhaps be amalgamated, like the you know, the 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:53.279 super city situation. 0:05:55.240 --> 0:05:58.040 We've had two examples, two really good examples in recent 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:01.800 years with christ Church and Banks Peninsula amalgamating and then 0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:05.839 Auckland's bigg amalgamation. And people have divided opinions on those. 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:08.880 But they are also calls in Hawk's Bay and Wided 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:13.600 Upper in Southland from algamating local government. And there's also 0:06:13.680 --> 0:06:15.760 places where you might look at a map and you 0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:19.039 wouldn't know where the boundary line was between Wellington City 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:22.480 and Pottydoa for example, or between Nelson and Tasman. You 0:06:22.520 --> 0:06:25.000 could look at a map and not know where those 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:28.279 council boundaries are, so peraps you know, there may be 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:30.080 a case for algamation there as well. 0:06:30.160 --> 0:06:32.200 Are there any roles around the country where there are 0:06:32.240 --> 0:06:33.800 actually no candidates? 0:06:33.920 --> 0:06:37.000 Yes? Actually, and this is something that happens every single election. 0:06:37.920 --> 0:06:41.040 Many roles have no candidates. This election alone, we've got 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:46.080 positions on community boards and for Katane Wellington, Do Lakes, 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:51.839 New Plymouth, Rural Hastings, Hamna Springs, McKenzie Gore. These are 0:06:51.920 --> 0:06:53.640 jobs that absolutely no one stood for. 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:55.600 That no one so what happens? 0:06:56.200 --> 0:06:59.880 So they have to be filled because you know, they're 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:02.640 roles that have to be filled, So they're subject to 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:05.760 buy elections, most likely next year. The local ratepayers will 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:07.760 then have to pay for those by elections, which will 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:11.120 cost tens of thousands or potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars. 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:14.840 And ironically, these by elections tend to be far more 0:07:14.880 --> 0:07:19.320 competitive than the main local elections because people suddenly realize, oh, 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:23.080 there's these jobs up for grabs, and so ironically you 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:25.400 often have multiple people standing for a role that no 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:28.880 one wanted in the first place, which is ironic, and 0:07:28.960 --> 0:07:32.040 that there's hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of salaries 0:07:32.120 --> 0:07:36.160 that no one has applied for, which is unheard of 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:37.160 in any other industry. 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:39.320 Right now, I mean, do you do you need any 0:07:39.320 --> 0:07:40.600 prerequisites to put No? 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:45.360 I mean there's there's basically no, there's no sort of 0:07:45.840 --> 0:07:48.800 standards you need to meet. Really if if I mean 0:07:48.840 --> 0:07:53.480 if you're not in prison and you know you win, well, 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:55.280 I mean if you apply. If you pay the money, 0:07:55.320 --> 0:07:58.000 then you know you can. You can take these roles 0:07:58.040 --> 0:08:06.320 and I suppose represent your local community. The qualities that 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:08.560 I'd love to see from our elected members. 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:14.400 Vision, passion, I can do, attitude and pragmatism. 0:08:13.920 --> 0:08:16.400 And they absolutely need to be able to build consensus 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:19.560 to get decisions made. Elected members are essential for Auckland 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:22.400 because a wide range of perspectives is needed to guide 0:08:22.440 --> 0:08:23.000 our government. 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:26.840 They represent the people of that community. They know the communities, 0:08:27.240 --> 0:08:29.600 they know the issues, and I think it's a very 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:33.200 very good model, very important model to encourage local people 0:08:33.200 --> 0:08:35.240 to stand for their local body. 0:08:36.880 --> 0:08:39.800 So at the moment, looking at the local elections twenty 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:43.480 twenty five, I mean I'm sitting there on Saturday. What 0:08:43.840 --> 0:08:47.679 elections are heating up the most? Where do I watch? 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:49.760 Yeah, there's a number that I think you should look 0:08:49.760 --> 0:08:52.559 out for. I mean, obviously we've got Wayne Brown in Auckland, 0:08:52.559 --> 0:08:56.920 film Major in Christchurch, George Reddicks Redick in Dunedin and 0:08:57.080 --> 0:08:59.960 Nick Smith and Nelson all seeking a second term elect 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:03.640 did on that blue wave last time. In Wellington, We've 0:09:03.640 --> 0:09:07.000 got and little most likely according to the latest polling, 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:11.200 winning the Wellington Maror Race, but lots of interesting candidates 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:14.120 in that race. Some sitting councilors, an ice cream chain owner, 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:17.640 a silly hatter and even a clown standing in that race, 0:09:17.720 --> 0:09:21.440 all hoping to be mayor. And in Hamilton we're getting 0:09:21.520 --> 0:09:24.440 a new mayor. A bit of a generational battleground happening 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:27.679 there as well. You may remember Ben Bell, themir of 0:09:27.720 --> 0:09:31.560 Gore who considered resignation after surviving a no confidence motion 0:09:31.679 --> 0:09:33.000 after that rift with the CEO. 0:09:33.240 --> 0:09:34.920 That's right, and he was the youngest life. 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:36.520 And he was the youngest last time as well, and 0:09:36.559 --> 0:09:39.280 he is seeking a second term, so it'll be interesting 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:41.640 to see what happens there. Nearby an in for Cargo, 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:45.080 we've got Nobby Clark, who obviously came under a bit 0:09:45.120 --> 0:09:47.280 of fire for some comments at a public event and 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:50.840 also some comments in an interview with Guy Williams. So 0:09:50.880 --> 0:09:55.319 he is now retiring. His brother, Andrew Maxwell Clark is 0:09:55.400 --> 0:09:58.079 standing for mayor of Invercargol, and he's also standing for 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:00.880 mayor of Tasman. Then we've got another Tasman mayor who's 0:10:00.920 --> 0:10:05.240 standing for five mayoralties in five different parts of the country. 0:10:05.520 --> 0:10:06.319 How can you do that? 0:10:06.360 --> 0:10:09.199 You can? Both of them are well within the rights 0:10:09.240 --> 0:10:12.600 to stand for multiple different mayalties. So we've got one 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:15.040 guy standing for two, one guy standing for five, and 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:16.680 I suppose they picked the one that they want the 0:10:16.679 --> 0:10:21.120 most if they if they were to win multiple races. 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:24.679 Is that because they are in different property around the country, 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:25.559 or that you. 0:10:25.520 --> 0:10:28.720 Can just stand in multiple elections and some people do. 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:33.000 This guy in Tasman has stood for those five mayorties 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:36.880 last time as well, so he's a repeat, repeat candidate. 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:41.080 In Clipita, we've got Craig Jepson, the self described Trump 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:43.640 of the North. He's the guy that sort of enforced 0:10:43.640 --> 0:10:47.360 a ban on kadokey in council meetings. He also stopped 0:10:47.360 --> 0:10:50.520 climate change work, so he is he's actually stepping aside, 0:10:50.520 --> 0:10:53.600 but he's endorsing his deputy, who has sort of a 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:56.640 similar vision. It sort of interesting to see what happens there. 0:10:57.640 --> 0:11:01.280 We've got some long standing maya's stand down. We've got 0:11:01.480 --> 0:11:05.680 some well known names standing. Oscar Kitely, Real Housewives star 0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:08.840 Anne Bartley Burton is standing as well in local boards. 0:11:09.559 --> 0:11:13.319 And we've got a comedian, Jermaine Ross, who's asking people 0:11:13.360 --> 0:11:15.199 not to vote for him, but he's obviously a well 0:11:15.200 --> 0:11:18.040 in recognized name in the community. Too, and you may 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:20.720 member Michael Organ, who was the subject of David ferry 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:24.240 As twenty twenty two documentary Mister Organ, he is standing 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:28.680 for a council seat in Wanganui and inn Waidoa. We 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:31.920 have one counselor who is hoping to get elected. He's 0:11:32.400 --> 0:11:35.520 campaigning for the councilor to get involved in the cannabis trade. 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:37.760 So be interesting to see if he gets any support 0:11:37.760 --> 0:11:40.040 around the council table if he is elected on Saturday. 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:42.160 Yeah, I mean, why does that comedian not want anyone 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:42.679 to vote for it? 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:47.040 So he says he's told Ryan Bridge on Hill Now 0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:50.000 a few weeks ago that basically it was a bit 0:11:50.040 --> 0:11:53.400 of a deer and so he lost the deer. He's standing, 0:11:53.520 --> 0:11:56.040 but he's asking people not to vote for him. He's 0:11:56.080 --> 0:12:00.640 just hoping that his campaign, I suppose, sort of attracts 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:02.680 a bit of interest in the local board races, which 0:12:02.720 --> 0:12:05.640 are really important around Auckland and often get you know, 0:12:06.000 --> 0:12:09.120 as we say, have really low voter turnout, but they 0:12:09.120 --> 0:12:09.680 matter a lot. 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:13.439 O Zelenski was a comedian. He got put into a 0:12:14.320 --> 0:12:14.840 big role. 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:19.520 I've read a piece in newsroom from Mark Dolder examining 0:12:19.559 --> 0:12:22.600 He examined one thousand council candidates. You've got a hand 0:12:22.640 --> 0:12:25.520 and done seven thousand, but they did a thousand, and 0:12:25.600 --> 0:12:30.320 it shows candidates for local and unitary councils are overwhelmingly older, 0:12:30.800 --> 0:12:32.480 they're men, and they're white. 0:12:32.720 --> 0:12:34.200 Does this come as a surprise. 0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:36.280 To you, Absolutely not. If we look through the candidate 0:12:36.280 --> 0:12:40.360 list for the last two decades, consistently, there has been 0:12:40.360 --> 0:12:44.160 an over representation of European New Zealanders, of men, of 0:12:44.240 --> 0:12:47.840 older people, and that's been across almost every part of 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:51.120 the country. There's a new demographic survey of those standing 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:55.000 in Auckland this year and that shows a decline in 0:12:55.040 --> 0:12:59.360 pacifica a decline in news on European but still overrepresented. 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:04.160 There is an increase in Asian candidates standing, but they 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:08.800 are still vastly underrepresented at the local level. And we've 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:11.280 also seen a trend the number of women standing has 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:14.439 actually started to drop again. So we saw that rise, 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:15.240 you know over. 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:17.800 Deck Bak, I remember that that was rising at one point. 0:13:17.880 --> 0:13:19.760 And we've seen a lot of obviously a lot of 0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:23.000 women mayors, a lot of women counselors, but the number 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:26.160 of women standing for those roles is starting to drop again. 0:13:26.480 --> 0:13:28.360 And a key factor of that talking to a lot 0:13:28.400 --> 0:13:31.680 of women in local government is the abuse and harassment 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:34.200 they receive, which tends to be higher for women than 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:34.840 it is for men. 0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:37.319 What have they told you, Well. 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:38.840 We certainly know that there's a lot of sort of 0:13:38.880 --> 0:13:43.120 gender based sort of harassment and abuse and that can 0:13:43.160 --> 0:13:47.840 be very intimidating. And yeah, it's kind of worrying if 0:13:47.880 --> 0:13:51.240 we're seeing things sort of trend in the opposite direction 0:13:51.280 --> 0:13:55.559 and we're seeing women vastly underrepresented at the local government level. 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:58.559 Yeah, I remember that survey that came out of former 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:02.640 female members of parliament saying about all of the abuse 0:14:02.840 --> 0:14:05.560 that they got on a daily basis, and it certainly 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:09.560 does beg a question on whether you know, the public 0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:11.920 needs to calm down a bit against women. 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:14.280 And local government. Usually on surveys have actually found a 0:14:14.280 --> 0:14:16.080 similar thing at the local level, and we've had a 0:14:16.120 --> 0:14:20.520 number of councilors actually resign or retire from local government 0:14:20.640 --> 0:14:23.080 in recent years because as women they received a lot 0:14:23.120 --> 0:14:23.560 of abuse. 0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:27.520 Has anyone kind of backed out of the race because 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:27.960 of that. 0:14:29.200 --> 0:14:31.520 This year, I'm not sure aware of any examples, but 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:34.640 certainly in twenty nineteen and twenty twenty two, and even 0:14:34.640 --> 0:14:37.520 back in twenty sixteen, we had we had counselors saying 0:14:38.200 --> 0:14:41.120 I've had enough of the abuse, and that you know, 0:14:41.200 --> 0:14:44.000 women counselors saying, you know that they were being targeted 0:14:44.040 --> 0:14:45.880 so often and they just had enough and it wasn't 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:48.720 worth it for the amount of money they're receiving, for 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:52.160 the amount of I suppose positive you know, feedback they get. 0:14:52.200 --> 0:14:55.160 There was just so much sort of overwhelming negative sort 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:58.880 of abuse and harassment. And also people forget that a 0:14:58.880 --> 0:15:01.360 lot of these elected members, they are only one vote 0:15:01.400 --> 0:15:04.680 around the council table, and there's only so much they 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:06.720 can do. A lot of these issues, a lot of 0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:09.320 things in the hands of central government, and even as 0:15:09.400 --> 0:15:11.720 ME is, a lot of the power is diffuse. So 0:15:11.760 --> 0:15:14.000 that they can set the media agenda, they can set 0:15:14.400 --> 0:15:18.200 the council agenda. With their budgets, they can I suppose, 0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:20.920 lead a lot of the council meetings. But even still, 0:15:20.960 --> 0:15:22.640 even as ME is the only one vote around the 0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:26.840 council table and the council can only do so much itself. 0:15:26.560 --> 0:15:28.840 As well, what does the council do? 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:34.840 So councils do lots of things. I mean, most significantly, 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:40.160 I suppose that the roads, the three waters, so you know, 0:15:40.480 --> 0:15:45.640 the sewerage and the water supplies, the parks, the libraries, 0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:48.720 most of the things that we use on an everyday basis, 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:51.840 like everything that we need to leave the house, if 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:54.120 we do leave the house on a day to day basis, 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:58.280 we need the councils to be running those things. And 0:15:58.320 --> 0:16:02.400 whether you're a ratepayer or a renter, which is an 0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:05.119 indirect form of rate payer, you're paying for those services. 0:16:05.680 --> 0:16:08.040 And in recent years as well, we've seen rates go 0:16:08.160 --> 0:16:10.840 up quite significantly in some parts of the country, you know, 0:16:10.880 --> 0:16:13.040 by up to twenty percent a year in some places, 0:16:13.440 --> 0:16:16.600 and that definitely sort of affects households that definitely haven't 0:16:16.640 --> 0:16:18.960 seen their incomes increase by that much. 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:21.400 And tell me about what happens this Saturday. 0:16:22.720 --> 0:16:27.040 So basically, if you haven't already sent off your vote 0:16:27.040 --> 0:16:29.040 in the post, you're going to need to send it, 0:16:29.720 --> 0:16:32.760 take it to a voting place. That's supermarkets, that's libraries, 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:36.360 and also council offices. You can also cast a special 0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:38.840 vote at some of those places as well. Then at 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:42.960 midday Saturday, those ballot boxes will be closed strictly at midday, 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:47.000 the vote counting of those ballot boxes will begin. We 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:50.400 will start to get some preliminary results. They're indicative, they 0:16:50.480 --> 0:16:53.400 tend to be, you know, sort of follow through to 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:56.360 what the final results are, but they're not official. Those 0:16:56.400 --> 0:16:59.160 results will start coming through from one o'clock one thirty 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:02.360 and through the afternoon and evening, and they will tell 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:05.480 us most likely who has won those key races, the 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:08.960 meilt races, the councilor races, and to some extent the 0:17:08.960 --> 0:17:12.240 local board community board races as well. Some of those 0:17:12.320 --> 0:17:15.280 results may change if there's some really close races, and 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:18.480 we saw that last election with some of those sort 0:17:18.520 --> 0:17:21.960 of councilor races, ward races in some of the big cities. 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:24.879 But we will know most likely the mayors of our 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:27.720 largest cities on Saturday afternoon, and we will have all 0:17:27.720 --> 0:17:30.040 of those results throughout the afternoon on news talk SeeDB 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:32.600 and at INSIDHERL dot cod at INZID as well. 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:35.320 Looking forward to it. Thanks so much for joining us, Michael. 0:17:35.840 --> 0:17:36.199 Thank you. 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:42.679 That's it for this episode of the Front Page. You 0:17:42.720 --> 0:17:46.600 can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage 0:17:46.640 --> 0:17:50.720 at nzadherld dot co dot nz. The Front Page is 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:53.240 produced by Jane Ye and Richard. 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:57.040 Martin, who is also our editor. I'm Chelsea Daniels. 0:17:57.440 --> 0:18:00.639 Subscribe to the front page on iHeartRadio or wherever you 0:18:00.680 --> 0:18:04.360 get your podcasts, and tune in tomorrow for another look 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:05.600 behind the headlines.