Te Anau resident Kirsty Pickett is to stand for the Southland District (SDC) mayoralty.

An experienced journalist and editor, Pickett said it had been an enormous privilege meeting and telling the stories of people from all walks of life, however it was now time to step up to become an active contributor to serving the district.

Pickett said her professional career had given her a unique insight into the people and issues that make Southland what it is, particularly the nuances of local government and governance.

She has also sat in on countless council and committee meetings.

You could say I have spent the past 30 years “keeping the bastards honest”, she said.

I might not have all the answers, but what I do have is the ability to ask the right questions. And there are a lot of questions ahead of us to be answered, she said.

Pickett predicted New Zealand’s system of local democracy and governance was entering a period of change on an unprecedented scale, where the very roles and functions that currently define local councils would come under scrutiny.

Southlanders have a long history of beating the odds and emerging stronger when we’re backing each other, she said.

Pickett also wants to stop consulting and start talking again, promoting a way of talking with each other that is polite and evidence-based, not just emotional, antagonistic or prejudiced.

Good conversations lead to good decision-making, she said.

Pickett said one of the issues Southland needed to talk about was the merit, or otherwise, of championing one territorial authority for Southland.

She said she also wants to lead a repositioning of the SDC as the true representative force for the people who live here, not a beast in and of itself that we feel we’re forever fighting.

We’re on the same side, Pickett said.

Pickett said she had had a long professional relationship with the late Frana Cardo, New Zealand’s longest-serving female mayor, and that her leadership and ferocious advocacy for Southland had influenced her decision to stand.

Southland needed a proudly parochial Mayor with a dogged determination to go in to bat for Southland and while they were big shoes to fill, Pickett said she felt ready for the challenge.

I believe I have the leadership skills necessary to help the council navigate the journey ahead, and the communication skills to ensure that nobody in our district is left behind, she said.

Pickett co-owns a Southland publishing and tourism business, is a trustee on Community Trust South and a trust-appointed director of Invest South.

Sitting SDC Mayor Gary Tong has indicated he would not be seeking a third term as he contests the Invercargill City Council mayoralty.

SDC councillor Rob Scott has already announced he will be seeking the SDC mayoralty at this years local body elections.

Candidate nominations for local body elections open on 15 July 2022, and close at 12noon on 12 August 2022.

This year's local body election voting papers will be distributed from 16 September and voting closes on 8 October.