Sir Hamish: ‘Too soon to step to one side’

Press, 3 October 1983, Page 9

Sir Hamish: ‘Too soon to step to one side’

Sir Hamish Hay is noncommittal about how long he wants to be Mayor of Christchurch. At his age of 55 it was too soon to step to one side, he said. There were still things he wanted to see done for the city, and he wanted to be there when they happened.

“I would rather chose my own time to retire gracefully from this particular office, rather than being thrown out by the electors,” he said.

Sir Hamish is standing for a fourth term as Mayor. If elected, he could achieve a record as the city’s longestserving Mayor.

Some people think he faces his strongest challenge in nine years, with Labour putting up Cr Rex Lester, who has been a prominent Deputy Mayor for three years.

Sir Hamish does not see it that way. He said that Cr Lester was “a strong and able candidate,” but he faced a more aggressive campaign from Cr Mollie Clark three years ago. Cr Lester may have demonstrated his lack of “complete confidence” in victory by standing for his South Ward council seat as well, Sir Hamish said.

His strongest challenge had been the successful attempt to unseat a sitting Labour Mayor, Mr Neville Pickering, in 1974.

Sir Hamish faces the usual problem of an apparent lack of interest in the City Council election. There is no “road through the park” controversy to get the voters stirred up. This quiet time could be an advantage for him. If there is litte controversy, there is little reason to change Mayors.

“I don’t think there are any really clear issues,” said Sir Hamish. He regretted that the lack of postal voting in the city might keep voter participation lower than it might have been.

“If it were not for the (news)media, the possibility of getting any great interest in public meetings would be really minimal,” he said. He thought it was strange and “quite reprehensible” for the Labour Party to open its Mayoral campaign with a champagne breakfast instead of a public meeting. “That' doesn’t seem to be Labour Party style,” he said.

The low-key election did indicate no major disquiet in the way the council was functioning, he said, but he was firm in his stand that a more balanced council would be better.

For one thing, it would lead to better debates.

Why the lack of controversy surrounding him?

.“Perhaps I have been more astute at keeping out of trouble,” Sir Hamish said. “Being more provocative just does not happen to be

my style. I have got a few results, in my way. I am not going to apologise for that. The people prefer their Mayor to give a proper lead, but not to get into too much strife.”

He had been prepared to “have a go” at the Government on a range of issues, including local body reform, power charges, housing policies, and rates rebates. He regretted the Government move to stop the Community Housing Improvement Programme, and said the City Council would be hard-pressed to find money to do the job itself. The Government’s decision had been made without any proper discussion with local government. Christchurch had a good track record of achievement in urban renewal and housing improvement, said Sir Hamish, but it was only possible with Government finance. Local government had proved it could do the job well.

In housing, “maybe there is a greater social responsi-. bility to give priority to those with the greatest needs, not necessarily those longest on the waiting lists,” he said.

Sir Hamish said he was particularly keen to boost tourism promotion in the

next term, partly through airport development and construction of a new international class hotel in the city. He would consider the formation and leadership of a special task force on tourism. He would like to see the hotel project well under way while he was Mayor, he said, “but you should not

judge a Mayoralty by simply the bricks and mortar achievements.”

Christchurch City had a fine range of top-class amenities now, including the Town Hall, Queen Elizabeth II Park, and the Canterbury Public Library, and it was perhaps time to concentrate more on traditional city services.

Sir Hamish said the Labour council had been fortunate in governing during years when there have been ‘‘somewhat more lib-

eral” National Roads Board subsidy guidelines, and that had allowed it to progress with street maintenance work and footpath repairs.

“There is just a feeling I am aware of out in the community that people do want to see a better standard of reading,” he said. That did not mean motorways, but it did mean streets that could take heavy traffic out of many residential areas.

Major arterials were needed to improve road safety and check the spread of vehicle pollution.

Labour’s claim that Citizens councils had neglected a water mains renewal crisis were “a convenient argument,” he said. Councils had consistently faced up to the problem. It might have climbed higher in the council’s priorities, but that would have happened under any council.

He believed that a Citizens council would have done as much to promote job-creation and business expansion. The Government provided the work schemes, and it was up to local government to see that they worked.

“The present council has done a realistic job,” he said, “and probably better than most local authorities

in New Zealand. But I think that is our responsibility. We should be constantly reviewing what we have done, and where we can do it better.”

Citizens councillors, with their business experience, might be better able to persuade their colleagues in the private sector to start businesses and expand in Christchurch, “but I am not trying to belittle what the present council is doing. I have been pleased to be involved in it.”

Sir Hamish said he was “here to give whatever backing the Mayoral office can give to policies. It does count for something in representations to the Government. Politicians take notice of Mayors of the main cities.”

He had received co-opera-tion from senior Labour councillors, possibly because he was not a strident political figure. There were times when he could have been used more effectively in the interests of the city.

“Of course, I would like to see more of my friends around,” Sir Hamish said. The Mayoralty was “slightly lonelier” with so few Citizens councillors.

“We need more vigorous debates on the issues,” said Sir Hamish, “not just the old hardy annuals like recycling.” That had been a costly experiment, and the “million dollars down the drain” would have been better used to promote Christchurch as a tourist attraction.

“We have to spend more in promotion of the city,” he said. “We are well off the beaten track in New Zealand. We have to do better at fighting hard to get groups and conferences coming to our city.” Christchurch also had to be promoted as a place where investments could be made.

“We have to sell Christchurch, market it,” said Sir Hamish. Perhaps about $lOO,OOO could be included in the city budget, with some of that money coming from the airport account. With the fragmented promotion effort now, “it means that nothing is really done well,” he said. He had enjoyed his past work, here and overseas, in selling the city. If a Citizens council were elected this time, Sir Hamish wanted a Ward system change to allow at-large councillors, “say half and half,” he said. “That might give us the best of both worlds.” There was a “narrowness of thought” by some councillors who concentrated on their own Wards. “Some councillors cannot think much beyond their own area. That is unfortunate for the city as a whole,” Sir Hamish said.

‘We need some more vigorous debates on the issues, not just the old hardy annuals like recycling.”