About Olly
Ko Hikurangi te maunga, ko Waiapu te awa, ko Ngaati Porou te Iwi. Teenaa Koe.
My priorities are: balancing the books, creating jobs through economic growth, safe ways for our kids to bike/scooter to school, artificial sports turfs, and affordable homes. Fifteen years’ experience at Hamilton City Council. Five years around the governance table as Maangai Maaori. Ten years’ experience as General Manager and manager of three different business units. Business owner. Thirty years’ experience in the New Zealand Army. Started as a soldier at Knox Street, now a Lieutenant Colonel. Operational deployments to East Timor and Afghanistan, ceremonial deployment to Gallipoli in 2018 as NZDF contingent commander. Nine years as Chair of Aberdeen School. Coach of my kids’ rugby and cricket teams. Qualified Civil Defence Emergency Management Controller. Fourth generation Hamiltonian. Ready to represent you. Married to Whetu with four awesome tamariki. Teenaa, tukuna mai toou pooti. Ngaa mihi!
What would be your top three priorities for Council in the next three years? Describe what you want Hamilton Kirikiriroa to be in 10 years' time.
- Balancing the books. Day to day operational costs are paid for by day to day revenue. We
don’t borrow to pay for the power bill. We make sure that Council is only doing the work
that it needs to do. - Generating economic development with other stakeholders so we create jobs, particularly
for rangatahi Maaori. - Making Hamilton a cool place to live. We can safely get around the city on bikes and
scooters. Kids can bike to school safely. We facilitate affordable homes. And we have
artificial turf for our establish sports clubs.
What is the most important opportunity Hamilton Kirikiriroa should explore to mitigate climate change?
A great opportunity to mitigate climate change is to go back to some old school ways of doing things.
We make it safe for kids to walk, and bike and scooter to school. We do this by using innovative ways and places in our city for cycle lanes, like using our existing gully network. This will reduce daily drop offs and pick-ups from school with the car and reduce emissions. Another way is by encouraging the use of some reserves for community gardens and planting fruit trees particularly in areas of high social economic deprivation.
If there was one thing you could change about Hamilton Kirikiriroa immediately, what would it be?
If there was one thing I would change about Kirikiriroa immediately it would be confirming the ongoing existence of Maaori ward seats so we don’t have to keep on having the conversations about Maaori representation.
What qualities would you bring to Council that will help our city thrive?
I bring five years’ experience as a Maangai Maaori sitting around the Council table. I bring senior leadership experience from having been a General Manager of Hamilton City Council and senior leadership roles in the New Zealand Defence Force. I bring commercial experience from being the owner of a business in Hamilton and from running Councils old Events Facilities Unit (now H3). I bring grassroots community experience from nine years as chair of Aberdeen School and broad community networks across education, community, sports clubs, business and marae.