A fresh face in local governance

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from The Press

From local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:

Megan Fitzgerald is breaking the mould of elected members in Mid Canterbury.

The 26-year-old Fitzgerald is by far the youngest person to successfully stand in the Ashburton District’s local body elections, winning a seat on the Methven Community Board.

She takes the youngest mantle from fellow community board member Richie Owen, who has some 15-plus years on her, and compared to the current crop of councillors-elect, Fitzgerald is half the age of the youngest member.

She is a fresh face and youth voice on the local governance scene.

“I’m going to use the Methven Community Board as an experience to see if it is something that aligns with where I want to head in life.

“I’m really passionate about community development and is see the council as a pivotal spot for supporting our communities now and into the future.”

Fitzgerald will bring a younger voice to the table but said it’s not it’s not the age and gender of the voice, it is what it’s saying that should matter when representing the community.

“Everyone has their own natural bias and perspective so having diversity on a board feeds into making more robust decisions, ones that represent a wider demographic of the community.

“We need representation from the older demographic and people in between.

“I’m definitely different and have a different voice and approach to thinking about things.”

Born and bred in the Methven area, Fitzgerald attended Lauriston Primary and then Mt Hutt College before heading to Lincoln University to complete a Bachelor of Agricultural Science.

A keen hockey goalie she has played for Canterbury but suffered a severe concussion in 2016.

“I had to stop studying and just take a step back as it took me three months to recover.

“As I was getting back into things, I ended up working with St John as a volunteer on the ambulance for 18 months.

“I realised how important mental health and well-being are.”

It was a turning point for her.

She then got an opportunity to work in Malawi doing community development and went to the Netherlands and studied international land and water management – “really around coordinating people and the environment to produce food”.

She continued with post-graduate studies at Lincoln completing a master's on connecting smallholders to high-value vegetable supply chains in Malawi, spending another three months in Africa, and handed in her thesis at the start of the year.

As she was studying part-time for those two years, Fitzgerald also started with Wellbeing Ōpuke.

“It’s a community initiative trying to drive well-being objectives.

“We got it from a group of community members to a full trust with two employees.

“It’s pretty cool to see where it has got to”.

With her studies completed, she has taken up a part-time role with a farm consultancy business.

“It’s been quite a journey.”

Now she is embarking on a career in local politics, set to be sworn in as a Methven Community Board member on Thursday.

While Fitzgerald is only just dipping a toe into local politics, she said running for a seat at the council could be an option, following the pathway of former Methven Community Board chair and now deputy mayor Liz McMillan.

She could also eventually even make a run to be the youngest female mayor.

Currently, Ashburton has previously only had one female Mayor, Donna Favel who was in her 50s as mayor from 2016-19.

Depending on when and if she makes a run at the mayoralty she could even be the youngest mayor in district history.

But Fitzgerald isn’t getting ahead of herself.

The first step is getting into the swing of things on the Methven Community board, with the inaugural meeting on October 31.

Fitzgerald joins returning board members Kelvin Holmes and Richie Owen as well as fellow newcomers Allan Lock and Robin Jenkinson.

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Something needs to change

Fitzgerald said something needs to be done to make local government representation more accessible to younger people.

“I’m only working part-time which has enabled me to take this opportunity, it’s not because of the pay.

“As for the council, the reimbursement for the time and energy that goes into the role isn’t enough for people in the middle of their career.”

The problem isn’t only getting younger people to stand for the positions, it’s getting them voting and engaging in the decision-making process – but it’s a problem that isn’t just specific to the younger demographics she said.

The Government is currently reviewing the future of local government and will be looking at better ways to increase engagement and participation.

Fitzgerald highlighted the need for a change in tactics to increase community engagement and said using social media is making things more accessible.

“It’s one thing I’m keen with the Methven Community Board is to look at how we get engagement with our community across different demographics."