Nelson Candidates Divide Crowd On Pay Equity

Tuesday, 16 September 2025, 2:45 pm
Article: Max Frethey - Local Democracy Reporter

One union has given Nelson’s local election candidates some homework: read up about pay equity.

The Public Service Association hosted its candidates meeting on Thursday night, which saw 10 mayoral, at large, and Māori Ward candidates grilled before a crowd of more than 100. 

It was a rowdy evening in which – perhaps unsurprisingly for a union-run event – the more conservative, right-leaning candidates were pressed on various issues by their PSA hosts. 

The night’s discussion touched on diversity on the council and sunshine wages, but it was the question about pay equity that stirred some of the more passionate audience responses. 

Candidates were asked if they would commit to pay equity for council staff and contractors, including specifically lifting library staff pay to reflect “fair and equitable” rates. 

But actually getting the candidates to talk about pay equity proved a challenge in some cases. 

Anne Dickinson and Tim Skinner instead talked about the importance of the living wage, while Jeremy Matthews said equal pay was a “no-brainer”. 

The living wage is the hourly rate that was needed to provide workers with the basic necessities – currently sitting at $28.95 – and equal pay is the principle that a man and a woman in the same job should be paid the same rate. 

Pay equity, however, was about paying people who work in different jobs, which require similar levels of skills, working conditions, or responsibilities, the same amount. 

Committing to pay equity aimed to benefit those in female-dominated industries, which are historically paid less than those in male-dominated industries, to close the gender pay gap. 

Susa Guhl and Graeme Tyree were both supportive of pay equity, as was Māori Ward candidate Kahu Paki Paki, though he said he didn’t expect the council to invest in its library staff when it wasn’t able to commit to a new library. 

Money Free Party leader Richard Osmaston, who was running for mayor, supported pay equity as well, but – in the words of PSA organiser Kate Davis – remained “on brand” and also used the opportunity to advocate for a moneyless society. 

Mayoral candidate Aaron Stallard sparked a round of applause when he said – using his “diplomatic” language – that it was “unfortunate” the Government made changes to pay equity legislation, which raised the threshold to lodge a pay equity claim. 

In reference to library staff, he said that if the council had the necessary information to enact pay equity, “we should be doing it now”. 

Incumbent mayor Nick Smith also touched on equal pay and touted increases in council employee satisfaction rates, while highlighting that councillors were the lowest-paid people at Nelson City Council. 

But after being pressed by the union, Smith said pay equity was a “wonderful slogan” but had “big problems” with cross-industry pay comparisons, drawing groans from the audience. 

“Having people arbitrarily committing what a librarian does, or a crane driver does, or the like, in my view, is not a good way in which to base public policy.” 

Former ACT Party MP Chris Baillie echoed similar sentiments, saying the Government’s pay equity changes, which had been announced by ACT deputy leader Brooke Van Velden, had made pay equity claims “fairer and more balanced”, drawing cries of derision from the crowd. 

At the conclusion of the answers, PSA organiser Sarah Proctor-Thomson, after gaining order in the room through the help of her squeaky gavel, declared that the candidates needed to read about pay equity. 

“They need to understand equal pay for work of equal value.” Amongst the hard-hitting topics, candidates were also asked light-hearted questions, including who they preferred out of Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran. 

There were only three Swifties amongst the candidates: Guhl, Skinner, and Stallard (though, admittedly, Skinner was effectively assigned Taylor Swift by the PSA’s Kate Davis after he wondered if they were judging the two based on their political views). 

Baillie, Dickinson, Osmaston, Paki Paki, Smith, and Tyree were all Sheerios, while Matthews claimed he didn’t know who either pop star was. 

Mayoral candidate John Wakelin and at large candidates Keith Palmer and Nigel Skeggs did not attend. 

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