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? 
    My name is Dr Sea Rot­mann and I want NZ to be green and clean, with happy, healthy kids, safe rivers and seas and some long-term, big-pic­ture think­ing from politi­cians
  2. You have 30 seconds to con­vince someone to come to Wel­ling­ton. What’s your pitch?
     It is the most gor­geous little jew­el in the South Pacific, great people, lots of cool stuff to do and the most amaz­ing envir­on­ment all around it
  3. Where do you stand on the issue of open­ing up gov­ern­ment data?
     I am all for it – trans­par­ency usu­ally helps innov­a­tion and reduces rorts in the sys­tem
  4. Describe your bicycle, or your favour­ite bus route?
    It’s my ex-boss’s moun­tain bike in duck yel­low and my bus route is the 30 Break­er Bay which starts right out­side my house
  5. When did you last use the lib­rary, a com­munity centre, or a coun­cil-run sports facil­ity?
    Hmmm, too long ago!
  6. Would you wel­come a cent­ral gov­ern­ment driv­en “super-city” amal­gam­a­tion of loc­al author­it­ies?
    I am not sure that Cent­ral Gov­ern­ment under­stands Loc­al Gov­ern­ment issues well enough. Let’s see how Auck­land goes.
  7. What city inspires your vis­ion for Wel­ling­ton? How?
     Ber­lin – it is the coolest and most eclect­ic; Havana for the rooftop gar­dens; my homet­own Graz for its amaz­ing old archi­tec­ture that sur­vived cen­tur­ies
  8. Is the concept of demo­crat­ic rep­res­ent­a­tion import­ant to you? How so?
    Abso­lutely. Which is why it is so import­ant to keep MMP this elec­tion, as it is by far the fairest and most demo­crat­ic sys­tem of rep­res­ent­a­tion
  9. What achieve­ment for Wel­ling­ton are you most proud of?
    The film industry and the fact it turned into such a great, live­able, cool city. The mar­ine reserve, as the South Coast is our taonga
  10. What role do you think cent­ral gov­ern­ment should play in loc­al roading/public trans­port issues?
    It needs to stop fund­ing crazy road­ing pro­jects and put money into pub­lic trans­port and main­ten­ance – see Greens’ trans­port plan
  11. How can we make Wel­ling­ton more envir­on­ment­ally friendly? Do NOT build the Basin fly­over and 6‑lane high­way in Haitaitai!
    The coun­cil’s 2040 strategy out­lines a smart, green city. Com­munity gar­dens and bet­ter cycling/walking.
  12. What will you do to ensure diverse rep­res­ent­a­tion on gov­ern­ment issues?
    Keep MMP and fix it up.
  13. What’s your per­son­al his­tory of liv­ing in Wel­ling­ton?
    Moved here 8 years ago after fall­ing in love the second I got off the plane when I came to ‘Return of the Kings’ premiere. Own my dream house on the beach.
  14. What policy of your party do you think will have the most impact on Wel­ling­ton?
    The Greens will have the best impact, the Nats the worst, but if they win the major­ity it will be the most impact.
  15. Do you genu­inely believe you have a chance at win­ning the seat you’re con­test­ing, or is this more of a party cam­pa­gin?
    It is a Party Vote cam­paign all the way, but I really enjoy cam­paign­ing in the Wair­ar­apa – it’s a micro-cosm of ‘real’ New Zea­l­and.