Traditions to embrace – and to confront

Rob Scott is the Southland District Mayor

OPINION: I’m writing this on December 23, the day before most of us males start our Christmas shopping, and I am in the midst of what has become a tradition for my wife Jane and I.

Every Christmas since it came out in 2003 we watch Love Actually. It is interesting what becomes a routine and then after a while gets labelled tradition, but Christmas wouldn’t be the same without it.

If I’m being honest, Christmas is a time of the year that I have never been a huge fan of.

It is where pressure builds in so many ways – in some aspects it creates a universally accepted deadline that starts getting mentioned in November, and everybody needs that job done “before Christmas”.

READ MORE:
* In Ukraine, a new wartime debate has emerged: When is Christmas?
* Khloe Kardashian’s photos of True Thompson’s princess gowns are royally adorable
* Admit it – no-one actually likes Christmas pudding

The pressure to keep up with the Joneses and to not let our kids down with their gifts from Santa, knowing full well that some are under so much pressure to impress that they go without, or rack up credit card debt that takes months to clear.

But then there are the good aspects of Christmas, that enforced downtime, where we spend quality time with our families creating memories doing Kiwi stuff like backyard cricket with the barbie cranking and laughter flowing.

It was quite interesting tonight watching Hugh Grant start his first day in the office as Prime Minister in the movie.

Watching it for the 19th time was different this year. I actually found myself relating to his realisation that he is now Prime Minister. The sensation I had walking into the mayor’s office for the first time, the combined feelings of pride, pressure and “is this actually real?”

After two months in the role, I can confirm it is real, and the Christmas-like pressure is there all the time.

Local government is full of cycles, routines and I guess you could say traditions. The main one is that every three years we do a long term plan, and whilst this a repetitive cycle and somewhat predicable, it doesn’t make it any easier.

This is the well scrutinised process that ends up defining what each of our ratepayers pay for the next 10 years, to be reviewed annually, and seldom remains accurate beyond two years.

There are frustrating components like Waka Kotahi’s planning cycle not lining up with ours.

This means that we establish our plans for roading having to make assumptions that the budgets will be fulfilled by NZTA, and in the case of the last long term plan, finding out that all of a sudden they are not.

It’s time to break the tradition and do things differently, and it is time for us to be taken seriously by those who reside in the beehive.

We could be so much more effective in local government if the shackles that hold us back were removed.

If you have watched Love Actually – the cool part in the movie is when all the little stories come together – and again, watching it this time it is different. I am drawing similarities to local government from a Christmas tradition. A well-formed plan is when all the sub parts come together to create that happy ending.

What does that ending look like for me? It is where we can actually be in control of our own destiny. This broad brush approach of “Wellington knows best” is getting old fast.

I have lost count of the number of reforms happening all at once. In our final council meeting for the year on December 21 we received notification of the next 3 Waters Bill entering the select committee phase, with submissions closing in early February.

The same time that submissions close on the RMA and the Future for Local Government amongst others.

On top of this, we have to carry on with the business as usual, with a new council getting its feet under the table and making change.

That doesn’t even factor in the holiday period where people are supposed to be recharging their batteries. It is hard for one not to be cynical and feel like this is done intentionally. We are supposed to be in a democratic system, but that system feels very broken and at times can be very difficult to work in.

My challenge is to break this tradition and start mixing things up.

I have not taken this role on to be content with the norm that is no longer working. Southland always leads the way, and I don’t see this as being any different. Let’s show them how it’s done!