Prabha Ravi is contesting as a city-wide, independent United Hutt candidate for the Hutt City Council. She is the founder and creative director of the Natraj School of Dance, a well-known Indian classical dance school based in Hutt. She is also a management consultant and an independent director and sits on several local and national boards.
Ravi spoke to the Indian Weekender. Excerpts:
You must be the only Kiwi Indian woman running for council.
Yes, I'm the only one. I don't see any other Kiwi Indian women candidates, at least for the Hutt City Council.
How do you rate your chances?
I rate my chances on my merit rather than my gender or ethnicity. I think it's more about what I stand for and what my values are rather than that I'm an Indian woman. Of course, I definitely bring that diversity in thinking and experience to the role.
So, when you go door-knocking, are most of the people you meet drawn from the ethnic Indian community?
Not at all. The other day, we visited about 70 houses and almost everyone, except for one, were all Pakehas. There were Chinese, Filipino and Pacific Islanders as well. But the households we visited so far were mostly those of Pakehas.
What was the reception you got?
Fantastic. I'm not going on my own, because I'm standing as a city-wide, independent United Hutt candidate for the Hutt City Council. I'm going with the local ward candidate so that the residents can know their local ward candidate, and me as a city-wide candidate. We are standing under the banner of United Hutt. So United Hutt is a collective of very passionate, like-minded Hutt residents who have come together with similar goals. We have three main goals, which are reducing the excessive rate increase, improving the services, and not being affiliated to any political party, putting people before politics. We will listen, consult, and engage with people and get on with the infrastructure projects that are essential for our city.
Tell me more about the United Hutt collective?
We are a group of twelve. Each of us has our own individual passions, skills, and experience that we bring to the table. For example, I bring my art and culture background. There are others from health, infrastructure, construction, finance and so on. We are a diverse group with a good mix of experience, skills, knowledge, and strong connections to our community. We stand united under the United Hutt banner.
Does United Hutt have a mayoral candidate?
Yes, he is Tony Stallinger. He was the chief executive of the Hutt City Council for 12 years, until three years ago. Prior to that, he was the chief financial officer at the council. He has a really good finance background and understands the priorities and pressure points well. During his tenure, our rates increased by only 10 percent, whereas now, in just three years, our rates have increased by percent. In the next eight years, rates are expected to double. So, we are committed to stopping this excessive rates increase. When I say bringing down the rates, we are not reducing what we've got now, but we won't be doubling it. So, it will be manageable increases that people can sustain. We have six wards across the city, and we have a candidate from United Hutt contesting for each ward. So, it makes sense to go door-knocking with the local ward United Hutt candidate to introduce ourselves.
What are the key areas that you will spend rate payers’ money in?
We want to complete the important and planned infrastructure projects on time. And we want to make sure there is no wasteful spending. At the end of the day, rate is the biggest killer for our residents.
What about upgrading services?
Regarding services, there are so many staff who have left the council, which means that the services have deteriorated, and this is unacceptable. For example, take resource consent. I'm hearing from people that they've been waiting for a year to get a resource consent to build their house or develop their property. During this time their construction cost has increased beyond what they originally budgeted for. So, these are the kinds of things that we need to fix on a priority basis. We really need to make sure that services are improving and delivered well. And, at the same time, we want to make sure that while we deliver good services, the rates don't double to service that. We want to retain experienced permanent staff and do not spend too much on consultants. We want to bring in consultants only where they are needed. It is important to retain our highly skilled staff who deliver our core services.
What is your vision for meeting the housing needs following the population growth in the Hutt area, which is projected to double by 2030?
As you know, the government has just recently approved multi-storied houses. So, there are many more houses that are going to be built in our city and this is inevitable. Therefore, my focus will be on making sure that the infrastructure around such developments is well considered and managed properly. We also want to make sure that the development is not going to be clogging traffic on the roads. We need to consider car parking facilities, access to public transport, rubbish collection services, among other things, while building houses.