Stuart Smith to represent Kaikōura electorate for a fourth term
By local democracy reporter David Hill:
Incumbent Kaikōura MP Stuart Smith has held onto his seat by a large majority, but he won't be the only Marlburian in Parliament.
With special votes still to be counted, National's Smith finished the election with 18,050 votes, a margin of more than 10,000 to his closest rival, Labour candidate Emma Dewhirst.
New Zealand First candidate Jamie Arbuckle, also a Marlborough District councillor, looked set to enter Parliament as a list MP with New Zealand First over 6%.
Speaking earlier in the night at the Woodbourne Tavern in Renwick, a confident Arbuckle said he was looking forward to taking on the “life-changing experience”.
“I think it’s an amazing achievement. The team has worked really hard, it’s a great result for this electorate,” he said.
”It’s going to be important to have that voice for local issues around the Sounds roads issues, [and] we’ve got those major infrastructure projects with Port Marlborough and the combined colleges.”
Arbuckle, who was sixth on New Zealand First’s list, said he did not want to put Marlborough through a costly by-election, so he intended to continue his role as a councillor.
“Obviously my council role will be different from what it has been,” Arbuckle said.
“But there’s also a lot of stuff I can still achieve for the council."
He congratulated Smith on winning the electorate.
“He does work really hard, and I look forward to supporting him in ways I can, but also learning the role of being an MP myself," he said.
Meanwhile, Smith, surrounded by friends and family at the Blenheim Club at 10pm on Saturday, said he was happy with the results so far, with the numbers for the National Party tracking well too.
“I just want to thank everybody who has supported the National Party, and me,” Smith said.
“Without their support we wouldn’t have got the result that we did.”
Smith, about to enter his fourth term, joked he had “finished his apprenticeship”.
“The night has been great. Election nights are always filled with tension as they should be, because it’s a really important night,” he said.
“This is, in my view, the most important election of my lifetime.
“The politics, the division, has been sent to the dust bin where it belongs.”
Looking ahead to the challenges, Smith said the rebuild of the Marlborough Sounds roads, damaged during flooding in July 2021 and August 2022, needed to be delivered on.
As he had stated throughout his campaign, there needed to be a “fair amount” of funding from central government to help the Marlborough District Council with the rebuild.
The second thing that “worried” him was the flow-on effects of the Picton ferry terminal redevelopment, which would cater for new, larger ferries.
He thought it would lead to congestion challenges on State Highway 1.
“From there [Picton], almost to Christchurch, we have a significant issue with the number of trucks and cars that will be on the road at any one point,” he said.
“Getting that traffic through Blenheim as well will be a challenge, and I think that has to be a priority for our electorate.”
Labour candidate Emma Dewhirst was still smiling despite losing the seat.
Speaking at her campaign headquarters, Dewhirst thanked the people that had supported her.
“I don’t think you can walk into a seat like Kaikōura and expect it to flip immediately, and so it can’t be a single race if you’re serious,” she said.
“That’s a fact right?”
National took 41.4% of the electorate’s party vote, while Labour had 21%. It was a complete flip to that of the 2020 election, when Labour took 44.1%, compared to National’s 30.7%.
----------------------------------------
Kaikōura electorate results
Smith (National): 18050
Dewhirst (Labour): 8024
Arbuckle (NZ First): 3875
Keith Griffiths (ACT): 2197
Richard McCubbin (Greens): 1949
Natalie Colello (New Zealand Loyal): 720
Sandra Campbell (Democracy NZ): 434
David Greenslade (New Conservatives): 191
John McCaskey (Independent): 123
Ted Howard (Independent): 94
Shaun Brown (Money Free Party NZ): 35
* Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ on Air.
Happy Friday y'all! Here's the last riddle of the week!
I am an instrument through which sounds are made, and yet, I am not something that can be played. What am I?
Do you think you know the answer to our daily riddle? Don't spoil it for your neighbours! Simply 'Like' this post and we'll post the answer in the comments below at 2pm.
Want to stop seeing riddles in your newsfeed?
Head here and hover on the Following button on the top right of the page (and it will show Unfollow) and then click it. If it is giving you the option to Follow, then you've successfully unfollowed the Riddles page.
knife sharpening offer
Does anyone remember a post from someone offering knife sharpening? Please message me if so.
Hurunui cash plea rejected by transport agency
By David Hill, Local Democracy Reporter
A North Canterbury council’s bid for road funding has been rejected as too costly by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA).
The Hurunui District Council requested to almost double its funding for the next three years, compared to the period 2021-24, NZTA director regional relationships director James Caygill said.
He said the council’s funding bid sought an increase of 184% from the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme.
‘‘This increase was amongst the highest sought nationally.’’
About the country, councils put in bids totalling $6.5 billion for the 2024-27 period, up 42% on the previous three year period, Caygill said.
‘‘The total bid put forward nationally was unaffordable to the National Land Transport Programme, making it difficult to honour everyone’s bid.’’
Caygill said the agency had approved Hurunui’s request for an increase of nearly 50% in its funding for road resealing, and it ‘‘should be adequate to maintain and renew its network’’.
But at a council meeting on June 25, council chief executive Hamish Dobbie described NZTA's response as ‘‘under-whelming’’.
‘‘It is extremely disappointing given the amount of work we put into getting our roading programme together and it looks like they (NZTA) didn’t even look at it.’’
NZTA’s overall funding had increased, but Hurunui’s allocation was not enough to fund the upgrades needed to ensure the resilience of the district’s roading network, he said.
But funding for increased resilience works and other improvements were assessed separately under the ‘‘Local Road Improvements Activity Class’’, and funding information had yet to be released.
The council has deferred the adoption of its long-term plan until July 15.
■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
Loading…
