Whakatāne District Council candidate Dave Stewart promises, if nothing else, he will make local government entertaining.

“Local government is never interesting, and I will change that,” he said.

Mr Stewart has made a name for himself as a social media influencer with political leanings since retiring to Whakatāne 10 years ago.

“It’s been two years since I first stuck my head up over the parapet and posted it on Facebook. I stood on the roundabout in support of Jacinda Ardern.”

The former prime minister had been the subject of personal attacks after announcing that she was stepping down from the role and Mr Stewart was not standing for it. He created placards thanking Ms Ardern for the work she had done.

He was surprised at the support he received.

“I got a little bit of hate as well, but I expected that. I didn’t expect the sort of support I got and I still get that support, even now, on that and other things.”

More recently, a video he created poking fun with quotes from Donald Trump received millions of views.

“I put up a Banksie photo recently and it’s had 500,000 views and 20,000 shares,” he said.

His main aim if he is voted onto council is to set in motion his plan to fix the broken funding model for local government in New Zealand.

“My first thing would be to lodge a claim [with the Government] for back pay. I’m quite happy to take that argument to the Government.

“I think the things we’ve been asked to do by Government that have impacted on ratepayers should have been funded by the Government. I don’t see any reason why we can’t go back and argue for that, other than weakness.

“I think just accepting it and saying, ‘oh, well, the Government’s said we’ve got to do this, we’ve got to do it’. I don’t think that’s right. I think that’s weak.

“A lot of what is being put on council is being generated by central government and unless we deal with that, then we’re just going to be administering a central government plan. That is not going to be good for us. I mean, look at the hospital.

“I think [the council] have accepted decisions they haven’t liked and are probably a bit punch drunk over it. I’m not. I’ve been taking punches for 50 years and I’m not going to be quiet. I’m not going to stop.”

He is quick to jump to the defence of council spending on making the town a better place to live.

“All of our friends and family have come down to visit us here and stroked our egos about what a beautiful town we live in. I say to them, it costs us $100 a week to live here to make it beautiful. So, we get those bragging rights. Nobody says, ‘I wish it was ugly’.

“Nobody says, ‘I wish it wasn’t that good’. We all love that our beach is the favourite beach in New Zealand, that our town’s beautiful, but we hate paying for it.”

As one of seven children growing up in Mangere East, his father a freezing worker and his mother a cleaner, Mr Stewart has always been on the side of those doing it tough.

He started his working life at the railway workshops at Otahuhu as an apprentice and was a union secretary for the Railway Trades Association for eight years during Government restructuring and redundancy.

“We grew up with nothing. I eventually got my feet on the ground and am, to quote Luxon, wealthy and sorted now. But I’ve never forgotten what it felt like, after working all week, only being able to afford what we needed. Not being able to afford even a chocolate bar

“For far too many people, that’s what it’s like.”

He spent 41 years building up a business as a photo-finish operator for New Zealand racing, auditing race results and “making sure millions of dollars went to the right place”.

“I’m retired now, which means I’m paid by the Government to be annoying,” he said.

Music, specifically punk rock, has been a big part of Mr Stewart’s life and these days he is a regular at Mata Brewery’s open mic nights.

“I was in one of the very first punk rock bands in New Zealand, back in the ‘70s,” he said.

The band was called Antimusic.

“When punk rock came along it was kind of like my bus turned up. I’ve been a punk rocker all my life.”

“I’ve been involved in music ever since. I had a little business that did guitar mods and pedals. When I used to live on the farm, I used to have an annual concert with eight or nine bands that would turn up and play to the cow paddocks.”

His decision to stand for council was prompted by a comment he received from a friend who told him, “every council needs an outspoken thinker with sound values’.

“I thought, ‘that’s me’. Someone’s got to sort this mess out. I’ve never accepted anything that I don’t like. If you don’t like something, and it’s wrong, stop pretending that you have to go along with it. Stand up. Things are really crook and if we don’t stand up we’re just going to get walked over.

“Maybe we will stand up and we’ll still lose, but give it a go.”