Thursday December 12, 2002.

STV result a failure for the left in Auckland City

Hobson Community Board member Aaron Bhatnagar today declared the failed STV petition result a damning indictment on the state of the left in Auckland City.

“The Greens, failed left-wing local body politicians, Wake-Up Auckland, the Water Pressure Group, City Vision and so on ad infinitum ­ despite the support of a myriad of different groups, STV failed. The fact that all these groups could not get 12600 signatures (5% of the electoral roll) across the whole of Auckland City in 90 days to trigger a referendum on STV suggests that ratepayers are content with their current system and don’t want complicated changes,” said Mr. Bhatnagar. “It also suggests that these groups are paper tigers ­ despite their bolshie behaviour they don’t have the support of mainstream Auckland.”

“The real truth of the matter is that Auckland City doesn’t need a complicated voting system like STV. The only people who really wanted it are the loony-left political fringe and some of the local body politicians who lost in the October 2001 elections. For example, Christine Fletcher, Maire Leadbeatter and those other left wing politicians who were rejected by the voters a year ago are looking for any chance they can to get re-elected. As some commentators have noted, their promotion of STV was self-serving,” said Mr. Bhatnagar.

“If they had spent more time dealing with genuine ratepayer concerns, instead of presiding over waste-of-time consultation, grandiose touchy-feely communications and engaging in politically correct causes that achieved nothing tangible for ratepayers, then they might have been re-elected. Instead, they were dismissed from office in a landslide,” said Mr. Bhatnagar.

“No doubt, the STV campaigners will try and assert some sort of dubious moral victory even though they were a considerable 20% shy of the threshold. They will be flogging a dead horse,” concluded Mr Bhatnagar.

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For more information:

Aaron Bhatnagar Mob. 0274 872 872

Hobson Ward Community Board Member Ph. 09 3022 448

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