We invit­ed all can­di­dates in Welling­ton elec­torates to con­tact us with their answers to fif­teen crowd­sourced ques­tions. Answers are restrict­ed to 30 words each, and we pub­lish them exact­ly as we receive them.

  1. Who are you and what do you want?
    I am Grant Robert­son, and I want your vote to con­tin­ue to be MP for Welling­ton Cen­tral and your par­ty vote for Labour on Novem­ber 26th .
  2. You have 30 sec­onds to con­vince some­one to come to Welling­ton. What’s your pitch?
    Sun­day morn­ing, you’re hav­ing the best cof­fee ever on Cuba St when the guy from Mighty Mighty last night walks by and says din­ner at Logan Brown is on him
  3. Where do you stand on the issue of open­ing up gov­ern­ment data?
    Got to hap­pen.
  4. Describe your bicy­cle, or your favourite bus route
    Lov­ing the 13 because it’s the most direct to work in the morn­ing, and the 23 because it means I am on the way home.
  5. When did you last use the library, a com­mu­ni­ty cen­tre, or a coun­cil-run sports facil­i­ty?
    Vis­it­ed Karori Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­tre a cou­ple of weeks ago to say hi to the folks who run the food­bank.
  6. Would you wel­come a cen­tral gov­ern­ment dri­ven “super-city” amal­ga­ma­tion of local author­i­ties?
    Hell, no. If there is to be any change it has to be dri­ven by the peo­ple of the region.
  7. What city inspires your vision for Welling­ton? How?
    Cliched, but Mel­bourne or San Fran­cis­co. Eclec­tic, spir­it­ed, great green space, thriv­ing cre­ative, arts, music scenes, trams, and gen­er­al­ly great vibe.
  8. Is the con­cept of demo­c­ra­t­ic rep­re­sen­ta­tion impor­tant to you? How so?
    For sure. Because its how we make our coun­try work
  9. What achieve­ment for Welling­ton are you most proud of?
    Help­ing make Welling­ton a Fair Trade City. I have been on the Steer­ing Group since 2007, and it was great to be part of some­thing real­ly pos­i­tive for the city.
  10. What role do you think cen­tral gov­ern­ment should play in local roading/public trans­port issues?
    We need some cen­tralised trans­port plan­ning to make best use of resources, but need to change the fund­ing for­mu­la so that cen­tral gov­ern­ment funds a greater per­cent­age of pub­lic trans­port.
  11. How can we make Welling­ton more envi­ron­men­tal­ly friend­ly?
    Sup­port Option X for the Basin Reserve devel­op­ment.
  12. What will you do to ensure diverse rep­re­sen­ta­tion on gov­ern­ment issues?
    Keep lis­ten­ing to and talk­ing with a wide range of Welling­to­ni­ans. This term I set up a Youth Advi­so­ry Group, would be good to have a cou­ple of oth­ers this…
  13. What’s your per­son­al his­to­ry of liv­ing in Welling­ton?
    Arrived end of 1994- Thorn­don, then The Ter­race, then Wadestown, then Thorn­don again, then over­seas, then back to Thorn­don and then to Wilton, where we’ve been for 8 years.
  14. What pol­i­cy of your par­ty do you think will have the most impact on Welling­ton?
    Not sell­ing state assets. It mat­ters to all of us, because once they are gone, they will be tough to get back.
  15. Do you gen­uine­ly believe you have a chance at win­ning the seat you’re con­test­ing, or is this more of a par­ty cam­paign?
    In to retain the seat, and get the par­ty vote for Labour.