Green shoots of recovery

Following the devastating floods in Nelson, the race for the mayoralty has shifted focus towards a climate-affected future, according to candidate Matt Lawrey.

-  KERRY SUNDERLAND

Nelson City Council mayoral candidate Matt Lawrey calls himself a progressive and says he’s committed to speeding up the pace of change, but his bid for mayor may yet depend on how the region responds to its worst floods in decades.

Well before the floodwaters had subsided, it became clear that the damage to buildings and roads in Nelson would make the job of the city’s new mayor much more difficult. The flooding also briefly stopped Lawrey’s campaign in its tracks. At the height of the disaster, he sat at his home-office desk, advocating for residents in need of help.

Lawrey has a dedicated workspace in the home he shares with wife Tania Norfolk, sons Darcy, 16, and Miro, 14, and the family pooch, a Staff ordshire terrier called Monty, also 14. From their open-plan living and dining room, the family enjoy expansive views overlooking Nelson’s central business district, port and, beyond that, Nelson Bay. Their home, a former duplex state house that has been remodelled into one dwelling, is on a quiet street on a hill, about a 20-minute walk from the Victory Community Centre, which is the hub for Nelson’s growing migrant community.

“Bizarrely, our part of town appears to have been left-largely unscathed,” says Lawrey of the “atmospheric river” that devastated Nelson last month. It has afforded him time to support others.

These eff orts started the night before the weather bomb hit, when he was tagged in a Facebook post by someone who was concerned about the city’s homeless. Lawrey spent the next 24 hours making phone calls, texting and emailing. After an initial struggle to fi nd somewhere warm and dry, Unite Church in Rutherford St offered to open its doors to those in need.