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Interview : Alok Gupta
Life is full of surprises, being an unassuming schoolboy from Wainui, who prefers to stay low-key, to be the youngest Mayor in NZ’s history, Campbell seems to be a destinies child. He is very humble, approachable and intelligent with lots of clarity and conviction. Being a councillor in his teens, to be the Mayor in his twenties, it seems like he has seen it all in just a decade. He is not the one to mince words or hide emotions; it was a pleasure interviewing him for Indianz X-PRESS newspaper. Here are the excerpts of the interview.
Question: Mr Mayor congratulations for being the youngest ever Mayor in New Zealand, what was your first reaction when you came to know about the election results?
Answer: It was a pretty amazing feeling, my wife kept asking me, do you think you will win the election when the counting was on. I thought I would win by around 2000 votes, but when I was informed by the chief executive that the margin was around 2500, it felt even better. But as the win sinked in, I immediately felt the weight of the responsibilities on my shoulder, which I certainly don’t take for granted. I feel very lucky being in this position at my age to make a difference.
Question: What are your top priorities for the Hutt city as a Mayor?
Answer: I think the big thing around for me is to get the basics right. Which I mean is, the stuff which is not very sexy to talk about but it’s vital to put in place. We need to induce growth, build houses, our population is continuously growing, we need to think long term, and also we have to be kind to our environment, as to how do we send less waste to our landfills and also how do we take action against climate change. For me,it’s all about how I leave my city a better place for my children and grandchildren.
Question: What is the current state of the housing shortage in Lower Hutt City?
Answer: Yes we have got around 500 in the emergency waiting list in Lower Hutt. That number continued to grow in the last 5 Years. We know that this number doesn’t reflect the housing shortage we have in our hands because there are a lot of people who are not in that list. There are many people in overcrowded homes and in garages, and that is just the continuing problem. Last December we approved plan ‘change 43’, which is enabling more intensification of housing. We are seeing quite a few developments coming through them. We are also looking at building more housing with partnerships with various community housing providers.
Question: What response are you getting from Hutt valley residents in regards to your new garbage collection policy?
Answer : It’s been a mixed reaction, a lot of social media commentary is voicing some concerns. Actually, when we tell them, while we’re making these changes, I think a lot of people will get on board with that. There are heaps of complexities involved with the new system. I reckon that people will be financially better off with the new system, some will be saving by half, and it would be hugely useful for the environment and for our landfills. We also intend to make our entire truck fleet electric by 2024.
Question: Any specific plans for job creation, incentives for small businesses and any efforts to bring new industries to Hutt valley?
Answer: The major issue which we are currently experiencing in our Tech sector is the skill shortage. People do not have the skills to fill those roles. So the bigger picture is how to train people locally to fill those roles. Or how do we make sure that the youngsters are coming out from schools skilled and trained enough to seek those opportunities. That is our primary focus currently. We also intend to bring more events and people to Hutt from other regions, which will help our hospitality sector, which was the worst hit during covid-19.
I think the biggest thing we can do is to work with the key stakeholders like the Chamber of Commerce; they are doing a lot with small business owners. They are trying and helping them like, going online, educating them with the new technologies and making their presence felt in the community digitally.
I would also like to emphasise on making the best use of Queensgate shopping mall, a lot of people say that the outside retail businesses are affected by the mall, my take on this is, Queensgate mall is a real asset to Hutt Valley, it brings so many people from all over the region to Hutt Valley, who otherwise would not be coming. So we should make the most of it by integrating more activities and events in Hutt valley to make it a more attractive destination for the visitors from outside.
Question: You seem quite humble, approachable and sharp, attributes needed to be a leader. Being young is also a huge plus, do you aspire to be a long term politician?
Answer: I feel politics is often about timing. What opportunities can come and when, but for me now, there is so much to do within this job, I really can’t think about anything else.
Although I’m always really interested in potentially starting my own business. But I reckon for now it’s all for later. In school, I used to be quiet, pretty low key, always somewhere in the middle of the road. It all changed when I when to Camp America where I worked at the foster kids, and that’s where I suppose, I strongly felt, how could I give back to my community.
I certainly could never imagine when I was leaving school, to where I am right now. But that’s life, you have your ideas, but life takes you to do something else.
Questions: Your appeal or message to the community?
Answer: We are facing some big infrastructure challenges currently like how we fund local government, ageing population and climate issues etc. But the key thing is to have honest conversations around what we can do and what we can’t do. We have to have the courage to make some difficult decisions and honest feedback helps us in taking them. All I would ask from my people is that when we put information in front of them, we need earnest feedback with an open mind. I wish to let everyone know that whatever decisions we take, they are only for the greater good.