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Deon Swiggs, pictured in 2016, wants to become a councilor for Environment Canterbury.
A former city councilor who lost his seat in the last election after allegations of inappropriate messages made an attempt to return to local politics.
Deon Swiggs, who served on the central ward of Christchurch City Council from 2016 to 2019, is running for a seat on the Regional Council, Environment Canterbury (ECan), in the October local elections.
Swiggs said he has stayed in touch with the communities he represented and is committed to putting the environment first in decision-making. He said he would bring managerial, business and environmental experience to the role.
The nominations for the elections closed last week and 31 candidates compete for 14 Ecan seats.
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Other notable candidates include former Conservative Party board member John Stringer and former coastal district councilor David East.
Labor-oriented The People’s Choice has four candidates for Environment Canterbury: Brynlea Stocks, Joe Davies, Chrys Horn and Craig Pauling.
David Walker / Things
Former Coastal ward councilor David East is 31 candidates running for a seat on the regional council. (file photo)
Swiggs, who works as an independent in the Christchurch West/Ōpuna Ecan district, said he has not lost his passion for the city.
“I’ve actually become much wiser, much rounder and the decision is not easy, but I have something to offer and I’m going to offer it,” he said.
Swiggs was previously a member of Christchurch City Council, but lost his seat in 2019 to The People’s Choice/Labour candidate Jake McLellan.
Just a few weeks before the election, allegations that Swiggs sent inappropriate messages made public to young people. Swiggs denied the claims.
George Heard / Things
Thirty-one candidates compete for 14 seats in Environment Canterbury.
He said that the problems of the last election were then being dealt with.
“We’re moving forward, I don’t want to drag my life back to the past.”
Asked about how he felt about getting back into public life, he said: “I really didn’t leave it, I didn’t hide, I kept a public profile, I stayed in touch with the communities I used to represent all the time.
“I feel like I’ve continued in a lot of the spaces I already did and so now is just another evolution.”
Swiggs, who founded the Rebuild Christchurch website after the September 2010 earthquake, has spent the past three years working in the environmental sector. He said it made sense to run for the regional council.
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He founded a medical cannabis company, which he said led him to work on kaitiakitanga (custody and protection) with farmers on the West Coast.
“We need to put the environment first in all decision-making,” Swiggs said.
He said there had never been a more important time to be part of local government, as so many “top-down decisions” were made by the government, such as three waters.
The next Ecan council will look different than it is now, as four councilors – Megan Hands, Nicole Marshall, Phil Clearwater and Lan Pham – are not up for re-election, and neither is Chairman Jenny Hughey.
After October, the municipality will also have two unelected members appointed by Ngāi Tahu for the first time, after parliament passed a law earlier this month allowing IWI representation.