Crux Podcast: Mark Rose: "This is not how democracy works."

Respected hotel and hospitality operator Mark Rose calls in the latest Crux podcast for a change in community leadership and for our local council to open their books in the face of planned $1 billion debt - a level he calls "a frightening number."

"If there's serious financial problems then we need to discover those now and get them fixed" Mark Rose told Crux Managing Editor Peter Newport.

Mr Rose started his career as an international chef and then moved on to luxury hotel management, making a success of the five star Rees hotel in Queenstown from the depths of the global financial crisis. 

"The fabric of our community is at risk" Mr Rose told Crux, speaking of the community's inability to house and sustain key hospitality staff on $70,000 a year. "It's simply not enough to live on at the moment keeping in mind the cost and availability of local housing."

Mr Rose also speaks in detail about the need for younger, fresher community leaders and elected councillors. He notes in particular what he sees as the lack of leadership from the current council and decisions being made behind closed doors.

Referring to the council's $100 million spend on the luxury Lakeview apartment project, with little evident prospect for future profits, Mr Rose told Crux "if it's such a great deal, show us the books."

"Good leadership is about taking people along with you. I'm just not seeing that from the current council and it worries me greatly."

Also on today's podcast Kim Bowden and Peter Newport discuss two of the week's top stories. One is a complete surprise - the installation of a high-tech parking meter on a Wānaka boat ramp. That story has been read over 30,000 times on the Crux website, and we try to figure out why.

Plus there's the QLDC workshop on parking issues that suddenly went from being a public event to a public-excluded "informal conversation" or even a "touchstone" - whatever that is. Either way it was a first - the council did reveal to us that such a private event had never been held before, so it does appear to be a closed door replacement to the newly "open" public council workshops.

Crux Podcast: Listen to our top stories and Mark Rose (short version) here.

Crux Podcast: Listen to the full interview with Mark Rose here.