28 April 2022
Media: Local Democracy Reporter
Topic: Councillor Bentley resignation
Enquiry
I have some comments for right of reply for the mayor regarding today's council meeting.
I also have a question:
Could the mayor please comment on her view of Peter Bentley's resignation?
I am after a response to this query by 5pm latest today please.
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COMMENTS
Peter Bentley
"“The mayor found out very early that I would not be one to merely follow her and her radical and blatant racist ideas,”
Raj Kumar
Outside the meeting, Kumar said the meeting was “really tense”.
He said he had spoken briefly to Bentley and Macpherson before the meeting, and had no indication this would happen.
“It caught us by surprise.”
He said he felt Bentley, who he described as a “very highly esteemed member of the community”, had not been given proper respect in the proceedings.
“At the end of the day, you’re not working for the mayor, you’re working for the city…the people and the ratepayers. The mayor should have been just a little bit more accommodating in how he was treated.”
“At the end of the day, there are protocols, but we have to be flexible as well. I think Her Worship should have really exercised her right to let somebody [have their] say.”
Kumar said he hoped Bentley would think about whether he actually wanted to resign and potentially change his mind.
“It is indeed a very sad day for someone to have to resign – I will hope that he will reconsider his position…he truly represented great faith and great integrity.
“He doesn’t deserve to go like this.”
He hoped if Bentley did reconsider, that Chadwick would be open to him returning.
“Your job [as mayor] is to make sure that you get all hands that the people have voted for on the table.
“Sometimes we just have to be a little bit more patient and let people say what they say. What is the harm?”
Reynold Macpherson
Macpherson said he was "surprised and disgusted" by the events in the meeting surrounding Bentley's resignation.
He said Bentley had given "selfless public service" for a long time and was a "highly respected and thoughtful fellow".
He said Bentley was, in his opinion "treated with contempt by the mayor".
"I am disgusted by the arrogant dismissal of his standing, his service and the absolute denial of the feedback he was trying to give.
"This demonstrates a complete lack of integrity on the mayor's part because she's so disrespectful, and unable to take another person's point of view, particularly when it is about her."
Tania Tapsell
“It was wrong the mayor didn't allow open discussion in public. It did not need to be behind closed doors, our community deserves transparency.
“Peter is a hardworking man who has given a lot to our community. It will be hugely disappointing to lose him.”
ENDS
Response
From Mayor Steve Chadwick:
I am disappointed that Councillor Bentley has chosen to resign his role as councillor.
It is the role of elected members to provide various views at the council table and he has chosen to give that up. That’s his choice but it is disappointing for the community.
Councillor Bentley announced his resignation under urgency at the start of the public part of today’s meeting.
I took exception to disrespectful, personal accusations he was making, asked him to apologise and when he wouldn’t asked him to leave. He then said he was resigning and left.
There is normally a formal process around resigning from Council so we will need to follow up with him.
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Media: Rotorua Daily Post
Topic: Young voter turnout at local elections
Enquiry
I'm working on an article about young voter turnout for elections in the BOP and I'm wondering if I can ask a couple of questions about that.
In addition to the below questions, I was wondering if we were able to get any data from the last round of council elections regarding voting demographics - do we know what percentage of young people between 18-24 voted? And the percentage of people 45+?
Questions:
- Why do you think voting rates for young people are so low Rotorua?
- If young people don't vote, how does that affect our communities?
- In your experience, what are the main issues that concern young people in Rotorua?
- Does their current voter turnout affect how much these issues are discussed/dealt with? How should we encourage young people to vote?
How can we encourage more young people to vote in the upcoming election?
Response
from Governance Lead, Rick Dunn:
Local Government services, programmes and projects affect many aspects of our daily lives. Local elections are an important opportunity for the community to influence the make-up of their local council by voting for candidates they believe would best represent them and the community in addressing local issues and priorities, allocating public resources and making decisions for the good of the community as a whole.
We would love to see more young people vote in the local elections this October and also to stand for election.
Statistics New Zealand Census data shows the median age of the Rotorua population is 36 so the younger population make up a large proportion of our district and we encourage all eligible voters to have a say in who represents them – every vote can make a difference.