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Local businesswoman, landlord and former ACT MP Hilary Calvert recently confirmed her candidacy for the Dunedin mayoralty and City Council. She spoke to Critic’s Jack Montgomerie about student flats, obelisks, and her plans to rein in council spending.

Critic: You are running for mayor.

Hilary Calvert: Yes I am.

How did that come about?

I was sort of hoping that some different people would stand for the Council and mayoralty, but I didn’t see anyone putting their hand up.

Different how?

We do seem to have people who are quite good at spending our money, but nobody who seems to have a good handle on looking after it. For example, the Council owned companies, DCHL – there’s some understanding that they’re separate and being looked after on our behalf because they’re fully-owned companies.

But there’s a hundred million dollars, right in the middle of the Council, the endowment fund, that nobody seems to care about at all … It’s got some land that’s described as being used by Delta [a Council-owned company] – now does that mean it isn’t part of the Delta stuff? It doesn’t even look like it has any rates on it. There’s sort of odd stuff and nobody seems to care much.

Why do you think council representatives have ignored problems such as this?

I’m sort of a bit bemused that the rest of the Councillors aren’t concerned at that general level. A lot of people get on Council because they want to do stuff, create obelisks either to themselves or someone else … and I guess, partly my point of difference is, I’m not wanting to build an obelisk.

Who are the obelisk builders?

Well sometimes they’re not totally obelisks, it might be that they’re building cycle-tracks or other things, but the same sort of people are on the committees that give out money and do the nice, warm, fluffy things. I think there is room on there for people who look after the income and what we’ve got … It’s understandable to have environmental people who are concerned about looking after the planet and other things, and who don’t have strong financial nous.

Are you talking about Jinty MacTavish?

Well Jinty has got a strong environmental base and … she’s probably one of the most hard-working on Council, if not the most hard-working. I don’t think she’s got a strong financial focus, and all of her hard work falls into insignificance when we haven’t got any money … you need to have someone sitting on the other end of the seesaw, if you like. We don’t currently think of it as if it’s ratepayers’ money.

The University students could, on their own, choose Council: they’ve got enough clout, there are enough students, and they’re all ratepayers, one way or another. I think there’s somewhat of a missed opportunity to some extent because students aren’t using that influence. One of my concerns is that people try to “buy” students, and I don’t think they’re so stupid as what people think. I mean all this stuff about student flats and them all being made wonderful and the quality going up. I don’t think there are any students out there who think that somehow, somebody’s going to be able to limit what they pay – it’s just a daft idea.

Aaron Hawkins has suggested that regulation could be used to prevent the cost of flat improvements falling on tenants. What do you make of that?

That just sounds completely bizarre. Unworkable, just bizarre. You can’t make regulations saying “you will sell bread and this will be how it is.” I was at varsity when people had toilets down the garden and no carpet on the floors … now I own some student flats, and students don’t want to live somewhere that doesn’t have a dishwasher and a heat pump. They cost a lot more, and they’ve changed a lot. Leave them to it, it sorts itself out.

Would you be opposed to a liquor ban in North Dunedin?

If what we want to encourage is more students to come down here, I don’t think making North Dunedin alcohol-free is a winner. But OUSA just seems to be playing prefects, cosying up to the headmistress.

You think that Harlene Hayne has played headmistress?

Yes I do, but that’s not my business.

You were a solicitor for Stop the Stadium. What should be done with it now that it’s built?

I think it is like the other assets Dunedin city owns. It’s another facility that we should be making the most out of.

You’ve promoted the ideas of Affordable City, which argues for spending on the basics. What are “the basics”?

There’s an official list of things that you would just automatically know: clean water in, dirty water out, infrastructural things, and libraries, for example.

Are cycle-ways infrastructure?

I don’t know that they are under that specifically, but I think they would come under roads. Cycle-ways are interesting and what I’d like is a lot more information about who is actually using them and what they actually want. I think there’s a temptation for people who think they know what other people want to talk to each other and not talk to users.

What are your thoughts on offshore oil drilling and the energy plan currently before the Council?

I think we should get our energy as cheaply as possible to do what Dunedin city does … we’re not obliged to start meddling in “are we going to create our own electricity” or tell the rest of New Zealand how we want electricity delivered to us. I think that if the government decides to allow oil drilling to happen, as fair-minded people then we’d be accepting of people working on oil rigs living in our territory. As regards any possible harm, if we have the poo, then we may as well have the puppy.