The pseudo-soap opera that is the Dunedin City Council has been making news. If you’ve been reading headlines, you’ll have seen the antics that have been going on amongst our electorate. From racist remarks to climate hesitation, you might be left wondering: who the hell is running the Council? Stay tuned for the dish.
A quick recap: earlier this month, Strath Taieri Community Board chairperson Barry Williams came under fire for using a racial slur directed towards a staff member of Strath Taieri Hotel. After a problem with a food order, Williams called the employee “a stupid black bitch”. This sparked outrage among the public and other councillors and set off a chain of events within the Dunedin City Council.
In response to calls for his resignation, Williams defiantly asked, “Why the fuck should I?” Mayor Jules Radich then added fuel to the fire, telling RNZ, “It happened in a pub, and he didn’t even remember that it had happened, so it was just a relatively minor thing’.’
This reaction disappointed several members of the Council and also involved a breach of confidentiality in disclosing the incident's location, resulting in the identification of the staff member involved. Big yikes.
That then led to Deputy Mayor Sophie Barker and Councillor Jim O’Malley lodging a code of conduct complaint about the Mayor’s comments and this breach of confidentiality. And just for good measure, Barker tossed in her resignation, deciding she could no longer work with the Mayor.
It seems that the Mayor’s comments were the straw that broke the camel’s back, with local sources saying Barker has been frustrated for a long time. First-term Councillor Cherry Lewis has stepped into her shoes.
But it’s not over yet. Enter stage left: Councillor Carmen Houlahan, who has declared Barker’s decision to resign to be a campaigning strategy for the next mayoral election, despite the fact the local elections are another two years down the line. Houlahan apparently sent Barker 17 “awful” text messages and called her eight times. This resulted in Barker lodging a second code of conduct complaint against her.
And then there's Jim O'Malley again who, despite the fact that he already has a job as an elected Councillor, has decided to look for a side hustle and put his hat in the ring as an independent candidate standing for Parliament in the upcoming elections.
O’Malley cites his reasons for wanting to become an MP as a “response to a very frustrated voice out there in the electorate right now.” He makes no mention of any potentially frustrated ratepayers who thought that when they elected him to Councillor it would be his full-time job. Instead, he plans to juggle both the Councillor and MP roles at once.
In between the racist remarks and resignations, the DCC’s climate pledge has been brought into question. Back in 2019, Dunedin pledged to be carbon neutral by 2030, a full two decades ahead of the nation’s goal. However, there is growing concern both from the public and the Council of whether they can pull it off.
The Council has pushed out the vote on the draft Zero Carbon plan, which was originally set for August 29. The delay extends it to September 25 because council members have requested the staff prepare complete cost estimates. Money is a concern, and some people are saying we no longer have enough time to strive for 2030. There is now talk of pushing back the goal to 2050 like the rest of New Zealand. We really are just like the other girls.
The Forest and Bird organisation is rallying to have the plan implemented right away with a petition asking for 500 signatures. “We are calling on Dunedin City Councillors to adopt the draft Zero Carbon Plan 2030 immediately, without amendments, and provide funding options to match its ambition as part of the Long Term Plan.” Public apprehension about the uncertainty of the objective has arisen as a result of various actions taken by the council. This includes Mayor Radich’s rather bold assertion that Dunedin doesn't need to be concerned about sea level rise because our ocean is “quite cold”.
Hats off to the DCC for proving that no matter how educated, experienced or “adult” you are, people never really grow up.