New Mackenzie mayor Scott Aronsen very grateful for support

Saturday, 11 October 2025

Scott Aronsen has won the Mackenzie District mayoralty and was the highest polling council candidate in the Pukaki Ward.

Newly-elected Mackenzie mayor Scott Aronsen said he was tinkering with a vehicle when he found out he was the district’s new mayor.

Aronsen said the maintenance had been a good distraction as he spent the day “pondering over a few things’’, and he was pleased to be voted in as mayor.

The 3472 eligible voters in the district had plenty of choice this year, with five candidates throwing their hat in the ring for the district’s top job.

Aronsen, with 926 votes has secured three years in the role over fellow candidates Karen Morgan (337), Elizabeth McKenzie (199), Robin McCarthy (83) and Ash Jackson (161).

While his selection as mayor meant there were now four Pukaki representatives on the Mackenzie District Council, Aronsen said he did not want to get side tracked by that.

Karen Morgan stood for the mayoralty only, but lost to Scott Aronsen.

“I’ve had a lot of support from Fairlie and I’ve been well received.’’

Aronsen recognised he was the first mayor elected from Twizel, but said he had a rural background and could relate well to those in the Opuha and Tekapo wards as well.

“I’m very grateful for all the support.’’

He said the district was small and that meant if the council was not “on our game’’, central government could “strike us off as a district very quickly’’.

“We’ve got debt that’s starting to stack up, and we’ve got to get ahead of the curve.’’

He said he thought the district had done “pretty well’’ in terms of voter turnout but said ”unfortunately, again, people have lost confidence and trust in councils, and that’s why they don’t turn up and vote’’.

“Because they don’t feel like they’re being listened to.’’

Mackenzie District mayoral candidate Robin McCarthy has his second consecutive attempt at the district’s top job this year.

Voting closed at midday on Saturday and the progress results were based on about 85% of votes, with preliminary results expected to be released on Sunday evening.

A final vote count would not be released until at least Thursday.

McCarthy and Morgan were the only two mayoral candidates who did not stand for a council seat in one of the district’s three wards.

It was McCarthy’s second attempt at the top job, having run in 2022.

Morgan, who had been deputy mayor under Anne Munro, stepped into the top job when Munro fomally stepped down in July, having earlier announced she was battling cancer.

Munro was elected in 2022 after securing 1510 votes over McCarthy’s 333.

Mackenzie District mayoral and council candidate Elizabeth McKenzie has missed out on both roles.

There were also contests in all three wards in the district.

Voters in the Pukaki ward had the choice of six candidates for three positions (Jan Spriggs, Peter Oliver, Frank Hocken, Christopher Hathaway, Brian Finn and Scott Aronsen).

Aronsen was the highest polling candidate with 446 votes, but having won the mayoralty had been withdrawn. Based on the early results, he will be joined by Spriggs (388), Hocken (282) and Finn (270), with Oliver (173) and Hathaway (134) missing out.

In the Opuha ward, five candidates stood for the three positions (Elizabeth McKenzie, Ash Jackson, Phillipa Guerin, Rit Fisher and Mark Adams).

Fisher (698), Guerin (656) and Adams (570) have been elected, with Jackson (250) and McKenzie (199) missing out.

Voters in the Tekapo ward had just two choices for the sole vacancy (Maireire Norman and Sue Allan). Allan looks to have been successful with 126 votes over Norman’s 71.

Mackenzie District mayoral and council candidate Ash Jackson missed out on both positions.

There are three community boards in the district, but the only contest was for the Fairlie Community Board with six candidates running for four positions (Tom Whittaker, Jamie McMurtrie, Holly Lane-Hand, Gina Kilmister, Simon Cassie and Simon Abbott).

Lane-Hand (670), Whittaker (648), McMurtrie (553) and Cassie (478) had been successful, with Kilmister (370) and Abbott (264) missing out.

The Twizel Community Board received only three nominations for four positions (Katrina Te Rito, Mary Murdoch and Tony Hodges) while the Tekapo Community Board got enough to fill its four positions (Simon Tocker, Brent Swanson, Anna Roseingrave and Barbara Nustrini).

The overall turnout was sitting on 49.48% (1718 votes) but did not include votes in transit to the processing centre or special votes.