Staples Eyes Up Unfinished Business In Re-election Bid

Thursday, 10 July 2025, 4:54 pm
Article: Emily Ireland - Local Democracy Reporter

Local government stalwart Adrienne Staples will be gunning for a fourth term as Wairarapa’s representative on Greater Wellington Regional Council.

Staples, who has served as a regional councillor since 2016, has a wealth of governance experience, having been South Wairarapa’s mayor from 2004 to 2016, and a Featherston Community Board member prior to that.

In 2017, she was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to local government.

Staples said her motivations for seeking re-election to the regional council were “unfinished business and a strong desire to keep working for Wairarapa”.

With the Government raising the bar on water service delivery, advancing legislative change for resource management, and questioning the need for regional councils at all, Staples said change was looming for local government in New Zealand.

“As a former community board member, my four terms as South Wairarapa mayor, and now as a regional councillor, I would bring unmatched experience and a vast network of contacts to this conversation,” she said.

As for unfinished business, Staples singled out Wairarapa’s train service, which had an “appalling performance in recent times”.

“As a train commuter, I share the frustration and anger of our train users at the seemingly endless delays, breakdowns and bus replacements that have dogged the Wairarapa line for way too long.

“I have quite rightly borne the brunt of public frustration so would like to see the new train project through to fruition.

“It involves an investment of over $800 million in Wairarapa, and no other infrastructure project has ever come close to that amount.”

Staples said Wairarapa was a provincial area within a largely metropolitan region and that she had worked hard as a councillor to ensure the Wairarapa voice was heard.

There was only one Wairarapa seat at the regional council table, despite having about 75% of the land mass, because the representation arrangements were based on population.

In total, 14 representatives would be elected to the regional council in October.

Also running for the Wairarapa seat on the regional council was current South Wairarapa councillor Alistair Plimmer.

Nominations opened for council candidates on July 4 and would remain open until noon on August 1.

Election day would be October 11.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

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