As we reach the pointy end of the election campaign, Nelson Weekly publisher Andrew Board sat down with Labour MP Rachel Boyack and National Party candidate Blair Cameron in separate one-on-one interviews at Nelson Weekly headquarters. The interviews come in the lead up to the Great Nelson Weekly MP Debate, which will be live-streamed on the Nelson Weekly Facebook page this Sunday night at 7pm and will also feature Act MP Chris Baillie and Green Party candidate Jace Hobbs.
Rachel Boyack is the Labour Party’s current Member of Parliament for Nelson. She is 43 years old and lives in Nelson with her husband Scott. Labour Party list ranking: 42.
If re-elected, what would be your top policy priority for Nelson?
Continuing work on the hospital rebuild, it’s critical for the region. We’ve made some really good progress but that is a ten-year project and there’s an enormous amount of work to do, one of the big pieces of work related to it is to do with the workforce. We know we’re going to be about 2000 workers short. The Hope Bypass now has that certainty. The business case has been signed off which means that project is going to happen.
If the hospital rebuild is a top priority, why has it been delayed for several years?
Andrew Little was really clear that we wanted the project to start before the election, probably what wasn’t clear to people was actually how much enabling work needs to happen before we start building the building. There had though, been a delay in approving the final business case that went to cabinet and I do share frustrations with people that information from Te Whatu Ora didn’t come through as fast as I would have liked. I did push behind the scenes to get that information out as fast as we could. The reason [for the delay] is that the project is much bigger than initially thought and I don’t think people understood the magnitude of what we needed here.
How will the lives of Nelsonians be improved if you’re their MP?
Because my focus is on lifting wages and it always has been. The way we help people buffer through tough times is to actually have a decent income to start with, that’s fundamental to me. The fundamental issue you have in this country is that we have a low-wage economy, the other side will say you have to lift productivity but actually, if you look at the evidence, productivity has been increasing at a faster rate than wages since the 1990s.
What is the future of Nelson city and what needs to happen for it to remain the heart of the region?
We have a lot of people moving here and a lot of people choosing to retire here and internal migration and so we’ve seen this massive urban sprawl in Richmond and it’s caused huge congestion. We have a lot of people choosing to retire here which means we will need a lot of health workers and health isn’t that productive, it doesn’t help grow our economy. We must invest in other industries, we absolutely must. We have to attract young, talented people to come and live here and they want something a bit different to what people already living here want. We have to build up the inner city, I could not be stronger in my advocacy for that. We have a huge opportunity to get more housing into the inner city.
What has been the highlight of the campaign so far?
I’m really lucky to have such a great team. My team is just awesome and I place a huge amount of value on my volunteers and all the staff in my office.
What has been a lowlight of the campaign so far?
There’s no doubt that we are campaigning in a different environment. In the past I would happily door-knock solo, I’m under strict instructions to have someone with me.
What’s something nice you can say about your opponent Blair Cameron?
He’s obviously been very successful on the international education stage. He’s had a career at the IMF [International Monetary Fund], World Bank, American universities and left New Zealand as a youngster, which is no mean feat.
What’s a criticism that you have of your opponent?
My view is that if people want to represent Nelson I think it’s really important to take the time to get to know the place. I’ve been here 15 years and relationships really matter. I think one of the things I’ve always appreciated with Nelson politics is that, despite a lot of disagreements, actually a lot of us do get on well and I’d really encourage him to maybe think about that. Look at the relationship Nick Smith and I have built, we do disagree with each other on things but we have a huge amount of respect for each other.
Blair Cameron is the National Party candidate for the Nelson electorate. He is a 32-year-old former employee of the World Bank and IMF. National Party list ranking: 35.
If elected, what would be your top policy priority for Nelson?
There’s two, the first would be getting the Hope Bypass started as soon as possible and two is making sure the Nelson Hospital rebuild gets back on track, making sure it starts as soon as possible.
The top two priorities are also top priorities for Labour. So what’s the difference between the two of you?
I would disagree absolutely with that premise. People can see how hard I’ve been working this year to actually get commitments for Nelson already. The Hope Bypass is a great example of that. I made it my top priority when I was selected as a candidate at the end of February, I made sure the party leadership was very aware of how urgent it was for Nelson. Got it included in one of two roads in the South Island for the Roads of National Significance programme, got $250million worth of funding signed off for that and a few weeks later Labour announced that they were going to make it a priority too without allocating any funding for it. I hope that people will see that I’ve been working really hard already to make sure we make progress so that we’re ready to go when we do get into government.
How will the lives of Nelsonians be improved if you’re their MP?
The first way Nelsonians lives will improve is through economic relief, through our tax plan which will put more in their back pocket than they have at the moment. We will get the economy going, if you ask any business in Nelson they will tell you that things are tough for a lot of Nelson businesses at the moment and have been for the past six years. We will do everything we can to get the economy moving because we know that is the best way to help everyone get ahead and we have a suite of policies to do that.
What is the future of Nelson city and what needs to happen for it to remain the heart of the region?
Nelson is the centre of the region, but we have seen a lot of population growth in the Tasman district. When we get into government we’re going to really get the economy moving which is going to help Nelson city become more vibrant. Part of the reason that Nelson is held back is because of our massive housing shortage and it’s getting worse, not better. Our housing policy is really designed to make sure that housing growth happens as fast as possible and pulling all the levers at once. Intensification, which we absolutely support, but also opening up more land for development. That will mean more housing in the CBD, which will mean more people in the CBD which will mean more people in cafes, bars and attending events.
What has been the highlight of the campaign so far?
There’s one every day. I’ve had a little old lady tell me that she has voted for Labour every year but she’s voting for me and that is cool, that I’m having an impact.
What’s been the lowlight of the campaign so far?
The vitriol has been pretty bad. But the cool thing for me is that I read it and then immediately forget it because the goal is getting into government, changing the government and getting things done for Nelson that is really exciting and that’s what the focus is.
What is something nice you can say about your opponent, Rachel Boyack?
I think, fundamentally, she’s a nice person with the best of intentions.
What’s a criticism that you have of your opponent?
I think she’s doing her best but I wouldn’t be standing if I didn’t think I could do a better job. I think in Nelson we need a really strong voice in government, a really strong MP and that’s what I’m going to be.
What would you like to ask our candidates? Nelson Weekly is hosting the Great Nelson Weekly MP Debate this Sunday night. The debate will be live-streamed on the Nelson Weekly Facebook page and there will be questions from readers put to the candidates, send your questions to editorial@nelsonweekly.co.nz
