Three Waters is 'death wish' for central govt - Nick Smith

Former Cabinet Minister and National MP Nick Smith says he isn't interested in playing politics in his new role as Nelson's mayor, but that the country's rightwards tilt at the local elections indicates "real anger" towards the Government.

According to progress results, Smith was elected with a decisive 3983 lead on other candidates that included several incumbent councillors.

Incumbent mayor Rachel Reese stepped down after three terms at the helm of the city council that represents 46,000 people.

Speaking to Q+A the morning after his victory, the mayoral-elect said the Government would have a "death wish" if it continued to pursue its water reforms.

"The other issue that I think is very clear in the national results and was just so clear in Nelson's is that there is real anger around the Government on Three Waters. Unless the Government has a death wish, they do need to revisit that."

According to progress results, Smith was elected with a decisive 3983 lead on other candidates that included several incumbent councillors.

Incumbent mayor Rachel Reese stepped down after three terms at the helm of the city council that represents 46,000 people.

Speaking to Q+A the morning after his victory, the mayoral-elect said the Government would have a "death wish" if it continued to pursue its water reforms.

"The other issue that I think is very clear in the national results and was just so clear in Nelson's is that there is real anger around the Government on Three Waters. Unless the Government has a death wish, they do need to revisit that."

"There's been a real failure of central government to properly engage with local government around that, and I'm hoping yesterday's result will be a bit of a circuit breaker with the government to genuinely engage with local government."

The former local government minister said it was a "really exciting" time to become Nelson's mayor due to the number of reform projects underway.

"Regardless of who is in the Beehive - I think there are the winds of change," he said. "I think we are likely to see some of the biggest changes in local government at this council term [and] across the country."

"Whether it be Three Waters, or whether it be the changes to the Resource Management Act and the review of local government that's due soon."

Nelson's new mayor said the council would be focused on recovering from August's storms and then tackle "long-term strategic issues." He said the city's economy was focused on fishing, forestry, and horticulture. Smith added that the city had taken a "real pounding" from the lack of tourists and international students over the past two years.

Smith had previously served as an electorate MP between 1990 and 2020 - before leaving Parliament as a list MP following National's defeat in the 2020 general election.

The long-standing MP retired from Parliament in June 2021 over what he said were personal and professional reasons. This included a Parliamentary Services inquiry into a "verbal altercation" in his Wellington office in July 2020.