Election hoardings have started to sprout up around the Upper Clutha and five Waitaki electorate candidates have begun campaigning in earnest for the general election on October 14.

Those candidates are (in alphabetical order) the National Party’s Miles Anderson, ACT’s Sean Beamish, the Greens Party’s Pleasance Hansen, Labour’s Ethan Reille, and Roger Small of Democracy NZ.

The Wānaka App asked each candidate to send us a paragraph on the following issues, with an Upper Clutha focus: Housing and the cost of renting; cost of living; the future of tourism; Christchurch International Airport's plans to develop an international airport at Tarras; and any other issue.

Housing and renting

Miles (National) believes people in Wānaka and Central Otago are paying the price for poorly thought-out housing policies. 

“The government was warned that removing interest deductibility on rental properties and extending the bright-line test would raise rents, and that’s exactly what’s happened.

“National will reverse Labour’s interest deductibility and bright-line changes, which have done nothing but pile costs onto renters.

“National will unlock more land for housing, drive infrastructure investment to create more housing, increase long-term rental options with Build-to-Rent housing, and boost social and affordable housing by backing community housing.”

Sean (ACT) said tourism destinations have to resolve the balance between high end accommodation and providing affordable accommodation for the workforce. 

“Normally this demand attracts investment in both additional residential housing and specific worker accommodation facilities. Unfortunately, the current government has shown hostility toward anyone who offers accommodation to others, removing landlords’ rights and making people more hesitant to offer their properties for rent. These changes coupled with ring fencing of lending expenses only discourages investment in rental accommodation.

“ACT have committed to removing the short-sighted policies targeting landlords and have proposed several initiatives to enable housing construction. Introducing an equivalent materials register provides additional design options and could mitigate some project supply issues, while tax sharing with councils creates a strong incentive to approve new builds with half the GST on those buildings going to the consenting body to assist with infrastructure development.”

Ethan (Labour) said cost of living and accommodation hurts affluent communities like the Upper Clutha the most.

“With a growing workforce, which is largely made up of our wonderful overseas workers, we must ensure we have short-term options for them, with the opportunity to stay if they wish, in order to truly support our business community.

He reiterated his support of the work of the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust, and the government’s Progressive Home Ownership Fund.

“My focus will be on ensuring there is sustainable investment into the Upper Clutha to continue to roll out developments that reflect the affordability needs and options of our community.” 

Ethan advocated for Resource Management Act Reforms to “allow for more housing developments to progress, with a proper focus on sustaining and conserving our local environment, which we haven't had for the past 30 years. These reforms will do good for the Upper Clutha, and I am incredibly proud to see the cross-party collaboration on such”. 

Ethan said Labour inherited the beginning of a housing crisis in 2017 following a net loss of 1,500 homes under National. “In just five years we have added over 14,000 new public and transitional homes. While there is a long way to go, I'd like to think this proves who can be trusted with housing, and I will continue to be a strong advocate in the space. While I support our people having options to home ownership, the initial priority must be to ensure everyone has a dry, warm, safe and affordable home. That is my bottom line.”

Roger Small (Democracy NZ) said there is a housing and rental crisis because of “tough and costly tenancy laws”.

“The tenancy laws are more unworkable regulation from central government that encourages property owners to go down the AirBnB path instead. It is very concerning that under the RMA reforms currently before parliament… regional planning committees will take away the democratic right of individual communities to make their own planning decisions.”

Cost of living

Sean (ACT) blames the rise in the cost of living and inflation on “wasteful government spending on non-productive and ideologically motivated projects”.

“The fact they are doing all this with our money only makes the situation more intolerable. Unnecessary red tape also drives up the price of doing business and the person who ultimately pays is the consumer.

“ACT are focussed on reducing red tape by better scrutiny of legislation and are committed to stopping the wasteful spend and returning those savings to kiwis through lower taxes allowing you to retain more of your own income to assist with the increased costs.”

Miles (National) said inflation has been allowed to get out of control because “the Reserve Bank has been distracted by additional functions the government has placed on it; the government indulges in wasteful spending, and excessive regulation has made the cost of business far more expensive than it should be and the consumer has paid for it through higher product prices”.

“National is committed to refocusing the Reserve Bank on inflation, reduce wasteful spending and cutting red tape,” he said.

Roger (Democracy NZ) said the cost of living crisis can be avoided if central government reduces its “ideology driven climate change agenda plus its over regulation on businesses and local territorial authorities that is inflationary to the economy”.

“New Zealand needs to be focused on being resilient and adaptable to weather events and changes to climate but not at the expense of putting food on the table.”

The future of tourism

Miles (National) said tourism is of “incredible importance to NZ and to the Wānaka/Queenstown area in particular.” 

“The major constraint the industry has faced post Covid has been the difficulty in securing and housing staff. We will introduce changes to allow a streamlined process for foreign workers to be employed. We will also change the employment laws which were recently introduced and have added unreasonable burdens on employers.”

Sean (ACT) said tourism will continue to be a key contributor to New Zealand’s economy, “hopefully increasingly supported by other productive sectors in a growing NZ economy”.

“However, we only remain an attractive destination if we maintain a reputation for being a safe and friendly place to visit. Generating international press for divisive politics and regular episodes of violent crime is not the way to attract discerning international tourists with options on where they spend their leisure time. ACT are committed to policies which will help us ensure all people are treated fairly, prioritise control of criminal activity and maintain our name as a safe and harmonious society where visitors can enjoy a holiday.”

Ethan (Labour) said “the future of tourism sits with places like Wānaka”.

“The 2020 lockdowns allowed us to re-group, re-think and plan. It gave us an opportunity to envision how we'd like to welcome our visitors back.”

Last year he was among the group welcoming the first international flight into Queenstown since the pandemic, and asked local community members what their hopes were for tourism in their community. 

“Like myself, they look forward to seeing more visitors taking up the opportunity to be caretakers of our environment, that understand and share our values, and that contribute to a more sustainable future for all. I will continue to advocate for more regenerative tourism, like the QLDC has been rolling out, with the intent that we're allowing our visitors to be part of the community effort.”

Roger (Democracy NZ) said tourism growth needs to be at a sustainable level so local infrastructure can cope.

“This is why it is important local communities have control of their resources and planning functions. It is important that large corporations don't walk all over communities' wishes and so self determination is important I believe for the Upper Clutha communities.”

Christchurch Airport’s plans for Tarras

Miles (National) said there is “a process to be worked through with the merits of the proposal to be assessed under the provisions of the RMA which is where decisions will ultimately lie”.

“I encourage residents, businesses, and community groups to take every opportunity to discuss the proposal directly with airport officials, so they have a clear understanding of what is being planned and when.”

Sean (ACT) said all change has pros and cons, adding “perhaps tourist dollars being airmailed to our door and having a nearby gateway to the world are positives we would get used to given time”.

“The world is a big place, and our region is a very picturesque and desirable place to visit. However, not much of the region is flat and the mountains offer some natural constraints to where big planes can come and go from. Positioned close to the confluence of roads that link Christchurch via the Lindis, Dunedin via the Pigroot, Queenstown and Southland via the Kawarau and west to the Coast via Haast a neutral observer can appreciate the thinking behind their investment in land at Tarras (whether the project proceeds in the near-term or not).”

Pleasance (Green Party) said the proposal would take us in the opposite direction from reducing greenhouse gas emission targets.

“The Tarras Airport proposal [will] … increase emissions, rather than reduce them and add to more climate pollution, exactly when we need to be bringing emissions down.”

Ethan (Labour) said he “stands strongly” on the need for more information around the proposal.

“I will continue to push to ensure there is appropriate community consultation and awareness, as well as ensuring the facts are laid out. We need honest conversations, not continued green-washing. The Upper Clutha is a community which holds immense potential, we must find a balance between meeting our tourism demands, but also fronting our obligation to be Carbon Net Zero by 2050. I believe there are more sustainable and capable ways of opening accessibility for visitors to Central Otago, but I'm always open to hearing different opinions and proposals - so I'm interested to investigate further details of this proposal.”

Roger (Democracy NZ) said it is “very important” the local community is listened to and action taken over concerns.

Workers, co-governance greenhouse gas emissions, and healthcare

Miles (National) raised worker shortages as his final issue.

“Business owners have struggled to get the staff they need. Over summer some had to shut their doors for a day or two each week because they were short of staff. 

“The government [was] … too slow to act. It’s arrogant to think that people will make do with inferior immigration settings here when greater certainty and flexibility is being offered elsewhere. We’ve experienced the most acute shortages for both skilled and unskilled labour in a generation. We need to fix the economy. Ensuring businesses have the staff they need is part of that.”

Sean (ACT) raised the issue of co-governance, saying it presents a threat to New Zealand’s systems of democracy “that allow us to vote out any official who is not representing what we want to see from them”.

“These provisions were not something kiwis were consulted on and represent a major constitutional change to how NZ is organised. ACT will repeal the anti-democratic laws and open the forum for a transparent discussion on how we wish to proceed as a country where the government has the right to govern, the government protects the property rights of citizens, and all citizens have the same rights and duties.

“To get ourselves through the tough economic times will take all of NZ working together and probably a bunch of new kiwis who haven’t even decided to join us yet. For this to work effectively we need an egalitarian outlook, not one that divides us based on our ancestry.”

Pleasance (Green Party) raised the issue of meeting greenhouse gas emission targets, including halving emissions by 2030. 

“If we don’t, we are in danger of being penalised by our international trading partners and having our agricultural exports rejected.

“The urgency to act is even greater now, as we’ve seen with recent extreme weather events in Aotearoa, as well as unprecedented wildfires in the northern hemisphere, and soaring temperatures. We’re at a crossroads in a climate-critical decade. No other party has done as much to protect the climate system as the Green Party, and no other party has the courage and integrity to implement the policies required to protect both our society and environment.”

Ethan (Labour) raised the issue of healthcare in the Upper Clutha.

“There is a clear need to begin discussing the long-term future of healthcare in Upper Clutha.

“Due to the rural, and community-owned position Dunstan Hospital holds, we must envision the possibility of relocation and/or restructure of Dunstan Hospital as well as future funding security to ensure all residents have affordable, timely and accessible health services. I would like this to be up to the community, and I look forward to continuing this conversation. For now, I am proud of the strong working relationship Central Otago Health Services holds with Te Whatu Ora and their ability to retain doctors and other health professionals locally, which has come as a massive effort from the team themselves. 

In terms of ongoing collective pay talks, Ethan said: “I will continue to advocate to ensure rural health providers are part of this conversation, in pursuit to find more equitable approaches to funding models. We all deserve timely and accessible healthcare, so that is what I will continue to fight for.”

Roger (Democracy NZ) wants to see the country move to policies that “unite us as New Zealanders rather than divide us so that we can prosper and have a sense of community again”.