Second ACT Candidate Stands In Marlborough’s Election

Friday, 29 August 2025, 5:00 pm
Article: Kira Carrington - Local Democracy Reporter

Marlborough council candidate John Hyndman says he does not consider himself politically ambitious, however his party sees huge potential. 

The ACT Party has been trying to get Hyndman to run for office since 1994, the year the party was formed, and the year he joined the party. 

ACT, according to a party spokesperson, considered Hyndman their second most high-profile candidate in this year’s local body elections, the first being a former ACT MP, Toni Severin, standing for Environment Canterbury. 

The party was really excited about Hyndman’s candidacy, the spokesperson said though Hyndman himself brushed it off. 

“I've always had an interest in it, but I've never got involved,” Hyndman said. 

“I don't particularly enjoy the limelight, it's not my thing.” 

“The ACT Party must be scraping the bottom of the barrel if I am one of their more impressive candidates,” he wrote in an email to Local Democracy Reporting. 

The party approached the Picton resident again in early June, encouraging him to stand in the Marlborough Sounds ward. 

Hyndman only agreed to run just before nominations closed, and by then, ACT already a candidate in the Sounds, Malcolm Taylor, so Hyndman decided to stand in the hotly contested Blenheim ward.

“The more I thought about it, I thought, ‘yeah, it'll be good for me’ ... I think I could do a good job, I'd like to do a good job, but it's up to the voters, and I don't know how good my chances are,” he said.

Hyndman was a retired doctor and specialist anaesthetist, award-winning medical innovator, and recipient of the New Zealand Order of Merit. 

He worked at Blenheim’s Wairau Hospital for many years, chaired the Marlborough Health Trust, and helped to found the Churchill Hospital and Hospice Marlborough. 

Despite the party’s promises to shake up councils, Hyndman said he wanted to be a collaborative presence at the council table. 

“I’ve always tried to be constructive and positive,” he said. 

“I’m a team person, and whether you like it or not, the council is a democracy. I'll certainly express my views, but at the end of it all when the discussion’s over and you vote, whatever way the cards fall ... I’ll support that.” 

Hyndman described himself as a free-thinker. 

While ACT aligned with his political philosophy, he said he was not particularly good at toeing the party line. 

“I'm not a particularly good compromiser.” 

“My priorities would be what’s best for the Blenheim ward, and after that what's best from greater Marlborough.” 

Hyndman said that while recent rates hikes were unacceptable, he understood that the issues that contributed to the sudden surge were complex. 

“I'm actually quite gratified to see that their long-term plan projects rates to come down by about 2030, down to somewhere around 5% to 6%. 

“And as long as they stick to that, I'll be happy. But if I see it spiking up there again, I'll be on their case.” 

However, it was time for the council to tighten its belt, he said. 

“People are doing it pretty tough out there ... And that's not good, you know, and the last thing we need is a council spending money in those circumstances. 

“I look at the toilets, you see how many toilets we’ve got around Picton here, public toilets, and they’re all space age. 

“I think as long as things are scrutinised, done properly, and you try and do things in a cost-effective manner, that's all you can ask.” 

Hyndman said growing up in Ireland during The Troubles instilled his belief that race and religion had no place in politics. 

“I love the Māori culture, what they stand for ... [but] race has got no role in politics, full stop,” he said.

“You have your Irish problems that I grew up on, and I see it developing in New Zealand. Now we've got division between Māori and the rest, and that's a shame, we don't need all that.”

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

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