Friday, March 29, 2024

Farmer replaces dumped Hobbs

Neal Wallace
East Otago farmer Andrew Noone is the new Otago Regional Council chairman.
Reading Time: 2 minutes

At an extraordinary special meeting councillors voted 9-2 to remove Marian Hobbs, a first term councillor and Environment Minister in the Helen Clark-led Government.

Noone, a former Dunedin City councillor, was the only nomination. He was supported by 10 councillors with two abstentions.

The vote was the culmination of three weeks of uncertainty that started with seven councillors publicly questioning Hobbs’ governance style and claiming she is too close to central Government.

A letter she wrote in May to Environment Minister David Parker asking him install a commissioner if she lost a vote appears to have been the final straw.

Hobbs said she has not been told why councillors acted against her.

She presumed it was because she was too close the Government and disloyal to Otago, too close to council staff and too old. She is 72.

Claims those opposed to Hobbs are aligned to interest groups such as Federated Farmers and opposed to proposed to water management plans were rejected at the meeting.

“This has nothing to do with water or any other issue the Otago Regional Council deals with. It’s governance,” Cr Gary Kelliher said.

“No council, board or community group in New Zealand that deals with governance would accept the actions of the current chairwoman. We have lost confidence.”

Deputy chairman Michael Laws agreed.

“I reject any contention that council or councillors wish to ignore national standards or any legislation governing this council.

“There are those of us who saw and propose a better way to implement policy, which, in our view, is one that will work, one that will be less divisive and one that will make every group in our community a potential partner in improving the environment and that includes the agrarian and agricultural communities.”

Laws cited two occasions that showed Hobbs was unsuited to being chairwoman.

In a council-only meeting after Hobbs wrote to Parker she said she had lost all faith in the council after councillors voted to call a special meeting to discuss her leadership.

On another occasion Hobbs told councillors she had more faith in staff than them, Laws said.

“Councillors did not walk away from you, you walked away from the council and there is the issue.”

Hobbs rejected those accusations and was defiant, saying the council is divided.

“I will work honestly with whoever is appointed chair but I will not back away from arguing for the environment and arguing against people who think that they own the water, that they own the ore or that they own the soil and can do anything with their land without thinking they affect anybody else.”

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