The knight, broadcaster, and deputies: Inside Invercargill’s intriguing mayoral race

Invercargill’s mayoral race is attracting national attention in the local body elections, with a storied cast vying for the top spot. Logan Savory reports.

Sir Tim Shadbolt, the self-described former hippy concrete layer, has held a firm grip on the Invercargill mayoral chains for 24 straight years – but could soon be out of a job.

Hot on his heels is nighttime talkback radio host Marcus Lush, who believes he can add the job of mayor to his daily tasks.

Add in a string of Shadbolt’s deputy mayors – Nobby Clark, Darren Ludlow, Toni Biddle – who now want the top job. Clark, a member of the Invercargill Ratepayers Advocacy Group, is the current deputy mayor who believes, at this point, he’s the frontrunner. It’s his election to lose, he says.

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There’s also a former New Zealand First MP, Ria Bond, as well as environmentally-conscious Bluff resident, Noel Peterson, who goes by the moniker Green Wizard.

Tom Morton is a self-described 60-year-old TikToker who has lived in Invercargill for a matter of months. He, too, wants to be Invercargill’s mayor.

Other Invercargill mayoral candidates include Steve Chernishov, who at the same time as campaigning to become Invercargill’s mayor is also after seats on both the Southland District and Queenstown Lakes District councils, and Jacqueline Walter.

Invercargill traditionally has one of the higher voter turnouts in New Zealand for local body elections, and this year there’s even more interest than usual.

For 24 years no one has got within a realistic shot at Shadbolt. Darren Ludlow came the closest in 2019, but even then Shadbolt won with a 3427 majority.

Now, there’s a feeling of potential change in the air.

Shadbolt has declared himself a “long shot” to retain the job, and has gone as far as saying he won’t campaign as vigorously as he once did.

A spot on the council as a councillor would be the “most satisfying conclusion”, he says, as there are issues such as housing he would like to continue championing.

Shadbolt’s acknowledgement that his mayoral reign may be over follows a chorus of criticism in his most recent term.

His ability to chair meetings has been a dominant talking point in recent years, along with his reporting back to the council from key stakeholder meetings.

An initial independent report into the Invercargill council, which followed a letter from the Department of Internal Affairs, suggested Shadbolt “struggled to fulfil significant aspects of his role and that the result of this is a leadership void in the governance arm”.

Report author Richard Thomson put together a follow-up review six months later that didn’t point to any dramatic improvements.

Thomson’s second report described Shadbolt as being an “unavoidable and inconvenient distraction to the Invercargill City Council”.

Shadbolt has continually rubbished the findings, saying he isn’t prepared to be a scapegoat; but acknowledges it’s been a tough few years.

“I promised at the last election I’d finish the term, so I felt I had to stick to that promise, even though it was horrendous. Obviously I’m a lot slower than I used to be, but I promised I’d see it through to the bitter end.”

When Shadbolt says bitter end, he means bitter end; although he says it with a toothy smile and a fair bit of comical personality mixed in.

“I was going to resign earlier, but I heard that if you died in office the council has to pay for your funeral,” he jokes.

“It’s a race between me and the council as to who is going to last the longest.”

Shadbolt first became mayor of Waitematā city 38 years ago, and has been a political survivor almost ever since.

He moved to Invercargill in 1993 and won a mayoral by-election. Shadbolt was unseated by David Harrington in 1995 but returned to power in 1998, and has been the mayor ever since.

Fellow transformed Aucklander Marcus Lush now looms as one of Shadbolt’s biggest threats.

Lush, best known as a nighttime radio talkback host, won a councillor by-election in February 2021, and now has his sights set on greater heights.

“Several mayors contacted me and said, ‘you must run’. They were very persuasive.”

Lush is basing his campaign around Invercargill being the “Welcome City”, and says the southern centre is in desperate need of attracting and retaining people to fill its workforce.

The 57-year-old suggests building New Zealand’s biggest and best playground, the country’s best museum, and bringing trams back to the city.

Lush has his own personal experience of what a warm welcome can mean for a newbie in town.

He shifted to Invercargill in 2002 with his partner Vanessa Underwood and their two boys Tracker and Denver, eventually settling in Bluff, where they now have a seaside home overlooking the harbour.

He remembers one day, when they were at a local playground, a lady approached with a parcel of hot chips, sat beside Vanessa, and welcomed her to town.

“That stuck with me. From that day Vanessa has met all the real housewives of Bluff and has got a real community there.”

There’s unease amongst some in Invercargill as to whether Lush can realistically juggle the duties of being Invercargill’s mayor with his job as a radio talkback host each weeknight.

Lush reckons he can make it work, and suggests having a mayor who’s also a national broadcaster would be a great way of promoting the city.

Deputy Mayor Nobby Clark, meanwhile, who has polled well in some informal polls, does not have the national profile as a Shadbolt or Lush, but has a significant following all the same.

Prior to being elected as a councillor, Clark took on a council watchdog-type role where he often quizzed the council on its decision-making.

In 2019, he was elected as the highest-polling councillor and during his first term the questioning of his own council hasn’t let up.

His approach of asking a lot of questions, and not letting go of certain matters, hasn’t particularly endeared him to many of his council colleagues.

Thomson’s first independent report into the council described Clark as a polarising figure, although the second report did point to some improvements.

Clark remains prepared to “take a bloody nose” from some of his colleagues if needed.

“I don’t care about the politics of being liked or disliked, and I don’t care if my colleagues dislike me. I’ve always been focused on tangible outcomes. If you are not there to drive something for the community, why are you there?

“The alternative is to sit there, be friends with everybody, and rubber-stamp things even though you know they are not right.”

Clark’s aware he doesn’t have the national profile that Shadbolt and Lush carry, but feels it’s time to move on from having a “high-profile celebrity” as mayor.

Clark is frustrated by the lack of questions being raised by most of his fellow councillors at meetings, particularly on financial matters.

Clark is one of Shadbolt’s seven deputy mayors over his decades at the helm, and admits his working relationship with Shadbolt is now non-existent following some public jibes.

“With sadness I look at other councils where I see a mayor and a deputy mayor working well together, and it saddens me no end that I don’t have that,” Clark says.

Clark has been Shadbolt’s deputy for close to two years after Toni Biddle decided to step away from council in the middle of the term in 2020. Biddle departed in a verbal blaze. She described the council environment as toxic and felt she was doing the mayor’s job but without the public’s mandate.

Biddle’s now throwing her hat in the ring to become mayor, and says she’s returning with more clarity about what she wants to achieve.

Darren Ludlow is another of Shadbolt’s former deputies lining up for the top job.

Ludlow has traditionally been a high-polling councillor, and ran second to Shadbolt in the 2019 mayoral election.

Shadbolt’s philosophical about the possibility of being tipped from power on October 8, and says he’s content with the ride he’s had.

“I don’t think any other concrete contractor will do what I’ve done.”