Listening for key messages

By Dene Mackenzie

Candidates seeking election to the Dunedin City Council next month should deliver a clear message on how they will support economic growth if they want business community support.

Otago Chamber of Commerce chief executive Dougal McGowan said the business community would be listening for messages from mayoral and council candidates on how they were going to support business.

The candidates should also say how they would support economic development and drive growth in both GDP and employment.

"The council has a role in economic development but others drive business development. There is some muddying of the waters at times about who does what. We have to have clear roles."

The message from chamber members came through strongly that being financially prudent was essential, he said.

Members would support a rates increase of 3% or more if the extra amount was tied directly to economic development and specific outcomes.

About 70% of members supported the higher rates proposition — more than expected, Mr McGowan said.

Chamber members were familiar with the Dunedin Economic Strategy document and it was time to see how the goals contained in the strategy compared with actual GDP growth.

They wanted to understand how far the city had come.

"The key to that is which of the statistics have come about through the strategy as opposed to growth despite what we have done. Our population growth has been slow and sure. Is that because of the strategy or the Auckland effect of people moving out?"

Although such issues were difficult to quantify, Mr McGowan said it was important to understand the differences, otherwise the city would not be making progress.

The city did not have endless resources and the policies which gave the biggest returns should be the target.

Asked what chamber members would be looking for specifically from candidates, Mr McGowan said they should demonstrate a good knowledge of economic development and have strong views about the future.

Members also wanted to know what experience candidates had in a role of governance as the successful ones would be overseeing a large and important organisation which had a "huge" effect on the city.

"The job needs to be done well by people with experience. Without a good understanding about business and employing people, they will be sitting around a table and not make progress. We are looking for proactive councillors."

Mr McGowan would be not drawn on the quantity and quality of the people standing for mayor, 11 in all.

However, he hoped each of them had the best interests of the region at heart and were committed and passionate about taking on the role.

He realised some were being tactical by standing for both mayor and council to lift their profiles.

The chamber intended collecting and collating statements from the candidates but would not declare support for anyone because the organisation was apolitical.

"We want our members to make an informed decision and we will be encouraging people to ask questions at forums."

Mayoral forums would be held by the chamber with dates to be announced soon, he said.

One message the chamber wanted to get across to prospective councillors was the need for the new council to take more calculated risks.

The perception was that Dunedin was risk-averse and people in business wanted to see a rise in the risk profile and the city taking a chance when opportunities presented themselves.

If Dunedin was a KiwiSaver fund, it would be the default conservative option and Queenstown would be the growth portfolio.

Both settings had good and bad points, but Dunedin needed to lift its game, Mr McGowan said.

He anticipated council debt would be a subject of debate.

The debate should be about the choice between reducing debt and maintaining essential services.

Often, council infrastructure was below ground and could be "ignored" when work should always be carried out on maintenance and improvement.

The lower interest rates should help councils reduce their debt faster, he said.