Christchurch mayor Bob Parker is still refusing to take part in a debate in the lead-up to the mayoral election saying he is focusing on re-building the quake damaged city.
The other main contender for the city's mayoralty, Wigram MP Jim Anderton, says Mr Parker appears to have time to give media interviews, but not to actually state what his policy is.
Mr Anderton says decisons about the city's future are happening behind closed doors, wheras people in badly-hit areas want to know they're participating in any decisions about their future.
"What they hear is announcements are going to be made
by somebody, that's going to tell them the future of their neighbourhood, or whether they can rebuild or whatever."
Christchurch mayor Bob Parker says circumstances have dictated his priorities.
"We've been out there debating for months now, people have got a very clear idea of the character and the personalities and the views of the front-runners in the race.
My community pay me at this time to be focussed 100% on this job rather than on my own future."
Mr Parker says the debate would be distracting from the job of getting the city back on track.
