“I'm glad you're not sitting at the table,” Selwyn’s Deputy Mayor Brendan "Big Red" Shefford told a failed council candidate during a heated exchange at a meeting.
By Jonathan Leask of Local Democracy Reporting
Shefford made the comment after Chris Till called the council "irritatingly woke".
The fiery exchange happened during Selwyn District Council's first day of annual plan submissions on Thursday.
A record 944 submissions were received on its draft annual plan.
Till – who unsuccessfully stood for council under the Act Party banner in the Kā Mānia Rolleston Ward last year – accused the new council of failing to deliver the “profound change” voters wanted.
Selwyn's council underwent a large shake-up at the 2025 local elections, with a new-look council and mayor.
“Meet the new boss, same as the old boss,” Till said.
He claimed the previous “three-term socialist regime” had continued under the new council, describing it as a "high-spending, irritatingly woke council”.
Till said ratepayers had expected “a radical sea change” and accused councillors of lacking the leadership to deliver it.
Shefford took issue with the criticism, saying some of Till’s comments sounded unchanged from his election campaign six months ago.
“I like to think we actually have a pretty good leader at the top of the table,” Shefford said.
He said many around the country had expected the new council to unravel, but it had not.
“I’ll be upfront, I’m glad you are not sitting around this table.”
Councillor Samuel Wilshire then asked Till what he would have done differently had he been elected.
Till said he would have started by completely rewriting the council’s long-term plan through a special consultative procedure.
When Wilshire questioned whether he understood the cost of that process, Till replied: “What’s the cost if you don’t do it? You’re still working the plan of the old regime.”
Till’s written submission also criticised the council’s unanimous decision to retain a mana whenua seat with speaking but not voting rights.
“Your credibility as a council is already shot when you are prepared to sacrifice democracy and racial equality on the altar of expediency,” he wrote.
He also said the council should rename itself the “Craven District Council”.
Mayor Lydia Gliddon acknowledged “a good leader can recognise differences of opinion in our community”.
She thanked Till for his submission before delivering a final barb of her own by responding to Till’s suggestion in his written submission she should “grow some kahunas”.
“Being a woman, I don’t have any, but there is no better man for a job than a woman.”
– Local Democracy Reporting is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
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