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’m Hol­ly, I’m from the Hutt, and I want a clean green econ­o­my that works for every­one. I also want to see more women in Par­lia­ment. And on bicy­cles.
  2. You have 30 sec­onds to con­vince some­one to come to Welling­ton. What’s your pitch?
    Welling­ton — it’s close to the Hutt!
  3. Where do you stand on the issue of open­ing up gov­ern­ment data?
    All for it!
  4. Describe your bicy­cle, or your favourite bus route
    My bicy­cle is called Pru­dence. She is pale green, with a step-through frame and soft leather han­dle­bars. I love her.
  5. When did you last use the library, a com­mu­ni­ty cen­tre, or a coun­cil-run sports facil­i­ty?
    I make week­ly trips to the Petone library to get out new recipe books and trashy detec­tive nov­els.
  6. Would you wel­come a cen­tral gov­ern­ment dri­ven “super-city” amal­ga­ma­tion of local author­i­ties?
    No.
  7. What city inspires your vision for Welling­ton? How?
    Port­land, Ore­gon. Amer­i­ca’s green­est city, with a super-effi­cient pub­lic trans­port sys­tem, great cycling infra­struc­ture, and fun­ny come­di­ans! We’ve got the come­di­ans, now let’s tick off the oth­ers
  8. Is the con­cept of demo­c­ra­t­ic rep­re­sen­ta­tion impor­tant to you? How so?
    Very. The House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives should be tru­ly rep­re­sen­ta­tive. MMP puts more women, Maori, rain­bows, and eth­nic minori­ties in Par­lia­ment, and means every vote counts. I’m vot­ing to keep it.
  9. What achieve­ment for Welling­ton are you most proud of?
    Elect­ing the coun­try’s first green May­or, Celia Wade-Brown.
  10. What role do you think cen­tral gov­ern­ment should play in local roading/public trans­port issues?
    Pro­vide nation­al vision and direc­tion, inte­grate plan­ning between regions, and stump up with its fair share for local projects that have nation­al ben­e­fits — like light rail in Welling­ton.
  11. How can we make Welling­ton more envi­ron­men­tal­ly friend­ly?
    Where to start? Smart pub­lic trans­port, bet­ter cycling infra­struc­ture, clean­ing up water­ways, sub­si­dies for rain­wa­ter tanks, more home insu­la­tion… The Greens have robust poli­cies to advance all these goals.
  12. What will you do to ensure diverse rep­re­sen­ta­tion on gov­ern­ment issues?
    Diver­si­ty is very impor­tant to the Greens. Our par­ty list is bal­anced by gen­der, eth­nic­i­ty, region, and sex­u­al ori­en­ta­tion. We’re com­mit­ted to diverse per­spec­tives because they lead to bet­ter deci­sion-mak­ing.
  13. What’s your per­son­al his­to­ry of liv­ing in Welling­ton?
    I was born and raised in Low­er Hutt, and now live in Petone. In between stints study­ing in Dunedin and Oxford, I’ve lived in Tai­ta, New­town, Boul­cott, and Island Bay.
  14. What pol­i­cy of your par­ty do you think will have the most impact on Welling­ton?
    Welling­ton’s pub­lic trans­port is good by New Zealand stan­dards, but poor by world stan­dards. We’re launch­ing our plan for inte­grat­ed, effi­cient pub­lic trans­port in Welling­ton soon, so watch this space!
  15. Do you gen­uine­ly believe you have a chance at win­ning the seat you’re con­test­ing, or is this more of a par­ty cam­paign?
    At num­ber 12 on the list, there’s a real chance I’ll be elect­ed. I’m ask­ing peo­ple to vote for who­ev­er best rep­re­sents them in their elec­torate, and par­ty vote Green!