Murray in fight for mayoralty

Press, 11 July 1989, Page 1

Murray in fight for mayoralty

By

KAY FORRESTER

The chairman of the Waimairi District Council, Mrs Margaret Murray, will stand for the Christchurch mayoralty.

Mrs Murray ended last evening the speculation that has threatened to split the United Citizens Association almost since it was formed in March, when she announced she would stand against, instead of behind, the Mayor, Sir Hamish Hay. The two will contend with the Independent, Ms Vicki Buck, in the October local body elections. , Mrs Murray said Christchurch needed strong, innovative leadership and the United Citizens Association had reneged on its agreement about backing her for the deputy mayoralty. Mrs Murray and her supporters believe the original merger agreement between the former Citizens’ Association and her Waimairi Independence Team included a guarantee of support for her as deputy mayor from all United Citizens candidates. The association was reluctant, however, to put such an agreement in writing. Its chairman, Mr Dennis Rich, said the only promise was that Sir Hamish, if reelected Mayor, would nominate Mrs Murray, if elected to the council, for the deputy mayoralty. Sir Hamish said last evening, after hearing of Mrs Murray’s decision, that he would have stuck to the bargain. For Mrs Murray the arrangement did not give a sufficient guarantee of her being number two. That — and calls she says

she is getting from the people of Christchurch — made up her mind to try for the top job. She will take her team of Waimairi people from the alliance and intends to get more candidates to contest all seats on the new enlarged Christchurch City Council. “Certainly we will have a team of candidates. People have volunteered and I am happy to talk to people who want to be part of a team for Christchurch,” she said. She believed people would understand that in March when she backed off from the mayoral

race in favour of Sir Hamish she did so in the best interests of the city. She was sure they would now understand she was offering herself for the mayoralty in the best interests of the city. “People have been surprised that I did not decide to stand, back in March. I have been urged to stand by the people of the city and people of other cities. They say this is my time, don’t wait.” Mrs Murray said pressure for the last few months, and last week in particular, had been hard for her. There were decisions still to make: what her team would be named, whether she would stand for the Canterbury Regional Council as well as the mayoralty, and where she stood as president of the United Citizens Association. One decision she was committed to was that Christchurch needed leadership and direction. The United Citizens were not offering whatever it would take to lead Christchurch into the 19905, she said. “My leadership is unequalled in the South Island.” Mrs Murray said her campaign platform would focus on leadership. She would campaign for a safe city, a close relationship between the council and the police, and the kind of city "where our kids can make progress without going to Australia.”