Somewhat unusually, Maggie Lawton and her daughter Ella are standing in the local elections; Dr Lawton for the ORC and her daughter for her Wanaka seat on the Queenstown Lakes District Council.
Cr Lawton (34), who has a PhD in architecture from Victoria University, is the youngest district councillor in the Queenstown Lakes, elected for the first time in 2013.She and her mother have worked closely on various projects before — including collaborating on the New Zealand Footprint Project, of which Cr Lawton was project manager for the south and Dr Lawton was project manager for the north.
However, this is the first time the pair have hit the campaign trail together.
"I’m really enjoying it," Dr Lawton said.
"Ella and I worked together a lot in the past, we both have a research background — Ella’s got degrees in ecology and law and sustainable development, so we’ve worked on community projects together. We just really enjoy the debates that we have."
Cr Lawton said while she was inspired by her mother’s work, particularly in science, she had forged her own path in terms of sustainability which was "a very new and upcoming thing" when she chose to study it.
She decided to seek re-election largely because she wanted to see through projects, particularly in Upper Clutha, which she had initiated, but also because "I do just love the job".
She was enjoying campaigning with her mother and believed Dr Lawton may have been partly inspired by her, but the decision to stand for the ORC really came down to her mother’s drive and passion.
Dr Lawton (66), who has a PhD in chemistry and a bachelor of science in biochemistry, works as a contractor for Environment Southland on water quality but said the time was right for her to stand for one of the three seats in the Dunstan constituency, which includes Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes.
Environmental management and sustainability had been her work and "personal passion" for about 25 years, she said.
She believed the ORC and district councils could "work better together" but should remain separate.
"The problem is the way that the Resource Management Act has been set up and the councils are separate ... they’re set up almost [for] one to police the other and it ... almost leads to not particularly good working relationships.
"They could just work on a more collaborative basis, I think, and they’d have a much better outcome."
If both women were successful in their election bids, Dr Lawton hoped there wouldn’t be too many awkward dinner table discussions.
"We’re both only one person in our particular council so there may be times where it happens ... you hope to win as many as you can but you’ve also got to be pragmatic about it — sometimes you don’t always get what you want in politics."
Regardless of the outcome, the pair were planning to have a joint celebration on October 8.
"I think we need to just go ahead and have a wee bit of a party ... hopefully it will be a happy one," Dr Lawton said.
