Marcus Lush surprised by public's dislike for Invercargill City Council

Wednesday, 17 February 2021

Marcus Lush says he is blown away by the dislike Invercargill people have for its city council and hopes he can play a role in tending to some of the wounds.

The prominent broadcaster has been elected onto the Invercargill City Council through a commanding by-election victory.

The position became available when Toni Biddle resigned from council last year citing a “toxic” culture at the council as one of the reasons.

Voting closed at midday on Wednesday and with 95 percent of votes counted the council declared Lush the winner given he had a 5546 vote majority.

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Lush picked up 7003 of the 13,991 votes cast, with his closest fellow candidate Wayne Harpur, who got 1457 votes.

Lush said he was “overwhelmed” by the result.

“It seems to be a pretty convincing victory. I’m blown away.”

He planned to continue his nationwide show, Marcus Lush Nights, which he hosts every weekday between 8pm-12pm.

The former Aucklander, who has been prominent in both television and radio roles since the 1990s, moved south in 2002.

He lives in Bluff with partner Vanessa Underwood and their sons Denver and Tracker.

Lush said they worked hard during the campaign but he was unsure how the election would play out, despite him having a significantly bigger public profile than the other eight candidates.

He said he was most surprised by the level of dislike and embarrassment there was towards the council from people when he talked to them throughout the campaign.

“I couldn’t believe how despondent people were with the council. Through the campaign, people were very negative. The only engagement I had was people telling me how they all need to be sacked.”

Lush felt now was a good time to join the council to be able to tap into the knowledge of the two independent observers who are in place to help improve governance at the council.

“My job is to get as much information from [the observers] as possible to be as an effective councillor as I can be….. I think it's really important for people to get on board with the council because at the moment, from what I can see, people don’t want a bar of it.”

Lush said he had views on various important council issues, but he wanted to get his feet under the desk as a councillor and gather as much information as possible before firming up some of his views.

The latest issue to hit the council is its plans to increase rent by 35 percent for those living in its 215 council-owned units.

The units are predominately occupied by low-income elderly folk.

Lush said a 35 percent increase at once did seem a lot and he was surprised that much was needed to help with costs of meeting Healthy Homes regulations.

Lush was blown away by the reaction since his election win with many people getting in contact to congratulate him.

Included were Mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt and Bluff community board chairman Ray Fife.

Lush was pleased he will be able to fly the flag for Bluff at the council table.

He felt much of the council’s focus on Bluff has been on ways to boost tourism in the seaside town, but he would like to see the council look at more projects to improve the town for the Bluff residents themselves.

RESULTS

Marcus Lush – 7003 votes

Wayne Harpur – 1457

Simon Edwards – 1090

Kevin Mulrooney – 1069

Tom Downey – 967

David Pottinger – 927

Wade Devine – 849

Carl Heenan – 418

Bernadine Goldsmith – 144