Quentin Smith - Deputy mayor of the Queenstown Lakes District

17/09/2026

16/09/2026

Reminder on the submissions and feedback on Disability, Accessibility and Inclusion in our District

Accessibility and inclusion is everyone's business. Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) wants to better understand the experiences of disabled and neurodivergent people, people with access needs, their whānau, carers and supporters, and the wider community. We're

14/09/2026

https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/09/14/fresh-calls-for-century-old-queenstown-bridge-to-be-replaced/

Recent earthquakes had forced temporary closures of the heritage-listed Edith Cavell Bridge.

03/09/2026

Having worked intimately in this space over the last decade I can hardly believe that neither major party have a pathway to close the ever increasing infrastructure deficit in this country. Both parties look to a future of significant contraction in investment in transport in this country. Productivity will suffer significantly without investment.

We’ve entered the topsy turvy in which National is arguing Labour is irresponsible for ruling out a tax.

24/08/2026

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/bed-tax-backdown-queenstown-mayor-john-glover-seeks-urgent-meeting-after-government-u-turn/KD74ALFTZNHLDHEBYQ7YJUKXEY/?utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=nzh_fb&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwY2xjawT4hR9wZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMTMyU3k4TnFvd0lkZnlORW9zcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEe33ZJkuxpJ0K7lnZ5Ybrl9VgUj5Giq0ePSjdCdyTSQrrLYwLmPRfZ3Jz35mY_aem_66pyqC3Wbg_yJMJRyUrO8A =1787535635

John Glover says he may walk away from the Regional Deal over National's bed tax backdown.

14/08/2026

Elections are interesting times. QLDC has roughly 6m bed nights which would be $6m of funding. The IVL generates over $200m a year at the border and tourism spending generates $2.83B a year in spending in the district which is $370m+ in GST alone. $6m is an insult. We should be getting $30-40m a year from the IVL alone. A local visitor levy was projected to be in that order also. This is chump change and isnt and "alternative" at all. David Seymour. Todd Stephenson MP please explain. You have been obstructing the Local Bed Levy for years and this is the best you have got. Joseph Mooney MP for Southland your ball!

The ACT Party has come up with a bed tax alternative: giving councils $1 for every guest night in their area, funded from GST and existing visitor levies.

12/08/2026

Simply put, the south island and QLDC need a bigger share of the national transport funding. Urgently.

Only one in $9 of government roading funds gets spent in the South Island, a new report obtained by RNZ reveals.

10/08/2026

Here are some good stats for you for the South Island .
* Generates $98.1 Billion in GDP
* 24% of the NZ Population
* 33% of national Export GDP
* 40% of total Visitor Spending (more than half is in Otago)
* 27% of total road use.

Guess what our proportion of the National transport funding is?
Guess what our share of the International Visitor Levy is?

Something to ponder while you sit in traffic today!

Send a message to learn more

03/08/2026

The long awaited announcement, We are pleased to welcome James to the team.

James Stevenson-Wallace has been appointed as Chief Executive of Queenstown Lakes District Council.

Mr Stevenson-Wallace has previously served as Chief Executive of Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research and the Electricity Authority. Most recently, he was Director of Transformation for the newly established Bioeconomy Science Institute.

Prior to those roles, he held senior leadership positions at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), with responsibility for energy and natural resources, fisheries management, regional development and regulatory reform.

Mr Stevenson-Wallace will relocate from Wellington with his partner and commence in the role on 5 October 2026.