Author Archives: Lee Vandervis - lee@vandervision.co.nz

Jules suddenly has gone. Seems unfair and wrong. Jules was decent and pleasant to everyone. His experience and connections will be sorely missed on Council. My heart goes out to Jules’ family and especially Pam who will have so much … Continue reading →

NZ Members of Parliament claiming expenses [in addition to their salaries] of more than 1/4 million dollars in a 21 month period is scandalous. Unsurprisingly, spendthrift Maori, Labour and Greens MPs top the list

ODT election spending article There was little point in my trying to compete with Andrew Simms’ massive advertising spend for the Mayoralty with his similar to me back-to basics policies, especially when much of this spend was not counted before … Continue reading →

I have long argued that DCC staff should not be involved in any aspect of local elections, since some of them have clear conflicts of interest, especially the DCC CEO who is effectively hired by the Mayor and Councillors. I … Continue reading →

Scenic Drive, Queens Drive and the pleasure of driving in Dunedin have long been eroded by our car-cancelling Council evidenced by the planet-saving ‘transport’ staff the previous head of which said ‘We have got to get people out of their … Continue reading →

 our car-cancelling Council have been working towards removing access for travel and parking along Queens drive and the centre city for many years. We lost parking near Olveston for no reason and without consultation several years ago and the restriction … Continue reading →

From: Lee Vandervis <lee@vandervision.co.nz>Date: Friday, 21 November 2025 at 5:24 PMTo: Sophie Barker <Sophie.Barker@dcc.govt.nz>Cc: Cherry Lucas <cherry.lucas@dcc.govt.nz>Subject: Re: Council Roles Hi Sophie, Thank you for reconsidering Chair and Portfolio roles and offering me these two. I accept the Co-Chair with DM Lucas although I am concerned … Continue reading →

I am grateful to Deputy Mayor Lucas for negotiating with Mayor Barker for a position of actual responsibility for me, with Chair of Finance and Performance agreed as my minimum acceptable role. It was a week later that Mayor Barker … Continue reading →

Part of this article accurately summaries some of my views as follows: Among the criticisms before a recent council meeting were that much responsibility lay with Ms Barker and deputy mayor Cherry Lucas, especially chairing meetings. Other Councillors were “sidelined” … Continue reading →

I was surprised after our friendly discussions about changes to the Finance and Council-controlled Organisations Committee I had chaired for the past three years when she suddenly demoted me from Chair of Finance in the weekend with a text. Mayor … Continue reading →

In the minutes before the confirming Tuesday Council meeting Cr. Simms, who was front page ODT reported as refusing to accept his deputy position on Saturday, managed somehow to get his deputy ‘role’ changed to Co-Chair with Mayor Barker. Today’s … Continue reading →

I am disappointed that the DCC media release quoting Dr. Hazelton claims that  “As with any significant construction project, some minor repairs are needed in the first year following its completion and a few issues have been identified that need … Continue reading →

campaign spending rules, STV confusion and postal voting lack of scrutiny, and lower voter engagement despite the STV and Postal voting that was supposed to increase voter engagement.

In the DCC election run-up Mr Ong made many extraordinary claims including listed credentials on his website  https://www.benong.nz>meet-ben   that “I held Vice President and Associate Director roles at leading global banks- Royal Bank of Canada, Rabobank International, UOB Bank and … Continue reading →

Millions of people work in international banks. Mr Ong’s claims of having been a Vice President and Associate Director as below are decidedly not confirmed, on Google or anywhere else.

Lee Vandervis I initially supported STV as promoted by Otago University Political Studies Professor Janine Hayward, as being more representative than the traditional First Past the Post system still used by the majority of NZ Councils. My first decade of … Continue reading →

Also lacking credibility are most of the claims made by Benedict Ong in his Mayoral campaign speeches where his credential claims were so outlandish and vacuous that I had written him off as completely un-electable despite his extensive advertising, especially … Continue reading →

I feel for Dunedin, especially for people on lower and fixed incomes who will now continue to suffer both of our bloated bureaucracies, interest on DCC Billion-dollar debt, compromised Council companies with another Billion-dollar debt, and a Council with re-elected … Continue reading →