Dunedin's mayor has called on councillors to reflect on their conduct, as community satisfaction in their performance remains weak. "I think that all councillors need to look in the mirror and think about how their behaviour affects residents’ satisfaction." Public sentiment hardened against the council before the election in October and had since recovered somewhat, quarterly results from the council’s residents’ opinion survey indicated. Levels of satisfaction regarding the performance of the mayor and councillors had bounced around in the low 30s and lately went from "completely abysmal to just terrible", he said. Satisfaction about value for money from council services and activities in the same periods moved from 33% to 24% to 27%.

Source: Otago Daily Times February 13, 2026 17:02 UTC