My modest political career came to a close on October 14, when I got an underwhelming number of 268 votes, standing as an independent candidate in the Taieri electorate.
My three-part platform had: a reversal of cuts for the new hospital; a reinstatement of the Mosgiel suburban train service, electrified; and an extension of assisted dying to include advanced dementia. I always knew my chances were "mathematical", and I understood the quixotic nature of my campaign; but I might have hoped for a few more votes.
I did have an early dose of reality at the outset, when I hired the Coronation Hall at Mosgiel to launch my campaign, and it turned out that loyal family members attending almost outnumbered those of the general public, and a thousand flyers delivered around Mosgiel netted a ratio of 500 flyers per person attending.
In my naivety, I had imagined the power of the internet would carry me along but my website was never in danger of crashing due to heavy traffic, and I do not know if my inexpert use of Facebook achieved much. Things looked up when invitations arrived asking me to speak at "meet-the-candidates" evenings, and I am very grateful to the organisations that set these up.
Attendances at meetings did not test the capacities of venues, and I wonder of there should not be a role for the Electoral Commission, in its brief of supporting democracy, in more widely advertising these.
Kind friends (and a grandchild) helped deliver flyers, and I guess about 5% of the Taieri electorate would have received them. Erecting signs became a family activity, and I presume many motorists would have seen me.
So, did my doomed endeavour achieve anything? The diminished hospital plan of Labour should now, given National’s promise, give way to a restoration of the original, and with PET scanner in situ. All I can say is that the three (yes, three) Taieri candidates now in Parliament will have been well aware of my advocacy apropos, and from their different positions in power may now be very well attuned in keeping National to their promise.
National, having disadvantaged Dunedin by undermining its only sitting candidate in the city — and I rather presume that their hospital promise would have been due to Michael Woodhouse’s work in the first place — might now wish to make amends with a full-throated reaffirmation of that promise.
My hope of bringing back the Mosgiel suburban train a la Wellington-Johnsonville service seems forlorn, given that the Auckland light rail plan will be scrapped by National. Tootle and Thomas were clearly not on their reading lists as children.
But we should, at least, keep the rail corridor unencumbered, in case the future is different.
I was a little surprised that my advocacy for assisted dying in the case of advanced dementia did not raise discussion at the public meetings. Too controversial? Or have people simply decided that it made sense, and there is no need to go on about it?
Of course, the referendum back in 2020 gave overwhelming support to the principle of assisted dying, and it is now well established in practice. Parliament is due to review the legislation next year, and it may be relatively straightforward, then, for an extension being made to include dementia. I certainly hope so.
Another local independent candidate, in the Dunedin electorate, did rather better than me, although Jim O’Malley did have an advantage of real political experience. One point he made, with which I was entirely in agreement, was that Dunedin falls short in getting its fair share of the national kitty, and he had the numbers to show.
In my speeches, I referenced an excellent Australian expression: a fair suck of the sav. (Or, as the inimitable Marilyn Monroe would have said, we get the fuzzy end of the lollipop.)
A rebalancing is due; building the new hospital as it should be would be a good start. And of course with a PET scanner, so that the disgraceful post code mismatch whereby Aucklanders are not charged for scans, but Dunediners pay thousands, can be corrected.
Finally, one thing worth saying: an unanticipated pleasure of the campaign was to have met the other Taieri candidates, as we spoke at platforms around the traps. Although there was robust argument and often disagreement, there was never anything other than cordiality and, as I judged, a warm fellow-feeling among us.
The fact that three will be in Parliament I see as cause for satisfaction down here in the South. Mind you, I will be on their tails.
■ Dr Mac Gardner is a retired medical geneticist.
