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…