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.

NB: Alex went over the 30-word lim­it a few times. We’re pretty strict about the lim­it, so those answers have been trun­cated after 30 words.

  1. Who are you and what do you want?
    I’m Alex. I was born in Aus­tralia to Kiwi par­ents and have returned home. I want to stay here, but things have got to change. I also want League to…
  2. You have 30 seconds to con­vince someone to come to Wel­ling­ton. What’s your pitch?
    Wel­ling­ton rocks! It is easy to get around and is the only city in New Zea­l­and where you can exper­i­ence true urb­an cul­ture. We have world class museums, great cof­fee…
  3. Where do you stand on the issue of open­ing up gov­ern­ment data?
    Provided it doesn’t com­prom­ise nation­al secur­ity, I am for it. People have a right to access gov­ern­ment info. The power comes from the people after all!
  4. Describe your bicycle, or your favour­ite bus route?
    Noth­ing beats the 83 Val­ley Fly­er head­ing from Petone into Wel­ling­ton early in the morn­ing on a nice day. See­ing the early morn­ing sun shine across the har­bour, with the…
  5. When did you last use the lib­rary, a com­munity centre, or a coun­cil-run sports facil­ity?
    On Wed­nes­day for a Meet the Can­did­ates for­um at Bel­mont Memori­al Hall out here in the Hutt.
  6. Would you wel­come a cent­ral gov­ern­ment driv­en “super-city” amal­gam­a­tion of loc­al author­it­ies?
    Wel­ling­ton is not one urb­an sprawl like Auck­land. Also, we are nowhere near as big so I don’t believe it’s neces­sary.
  7. What city inspires your vis­ion for Wel­ling­ton? How?
    Being born in Sydney, it really hurts me to say this but it would be Mel­bourne. Mel­bourne has a fant­ast­ic cul­tur­al scene, a night­life which depends a lot more on…
  8. Is the concept of demo­crat­ic rep­res­ent­a­tion import­ant to you? How so?
    It’s of the utmost import­ance. Labour and Nation­al make up 75% of the party vote at most elec­tions and before MMP it was only them being rep­res­en­ted. Since 1996, we…
  9. What achieve­ment for Wel­ling­ton are you most proud of?
    I thought we were the best host city of the Rugby World Cup! The way the city hos­ted trav­el­ling rugby fans was bril­liant and the com­pact­ness of this city made…
  10. What role do you think cent­ral gov­ern­ment should play in loc­al roading/public trans­port issues?
    I think that loc­al gov­ern­ment is far bet­ter placed to make decisions regard­ing loc­al road­ing and pub­lic trans­port than cent­ral gov­ern­ment, as loc­al know­ledge is the key to sound decision…
  11. How can we make Wel­ling­ton more envir­on­ment­ally friendly?
    I don’t like rid­ing my bike around the Hutt because the infra­stru­cure is use­less and I don’t feel par­tic­u­larly safe doing it. I am sure there are many more like…
  12. What will you do to ensure diverse rep­res­ent­a­tion on gov­ern­ment issues?
    Vote to keep MMP. The num­bers of Women, Maori, Pacific, Asi­an and Gay MPs have all increased sign­fic­antly since 1996 and New Zea­l­and has been the win­ner.
  13. What’s your per­son­al his­tory of liv­ing in Wel­ling­ton?
    I moved here to study at Vic in 2008. I star­ted out in Wel­ling­ton Cent­ral and Kel­burn before com­ing out to Maungaraki in early 2009.
  14. What policy of your party do you think will have the most impact on Wel­ling­ton?
    I think our eco­nom­ic policy is the most import­ant thing. Espe­cially the Reg­u­lat­ory Stand­ards Bill which will make it much easi­er to do busi­ness not only in Wel­ling­ton but the…
  15. Do you genu­inely believe you have a chance at win­ning the seat you’re con­test­ing, or is this more of a party cam­paign?
    I’ll be bru­tally hon­est here. I have abso­lutely no hope of win­ning Hutt South. Tre­vor, Paul and Holly are all lovely people and would make great loc­al MPs, so voters…