Candidates: Tane Woodley for the Greens in Rimutaka

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 Tane, and I was born and bred in the Hutt. I want a New Zealand that is fair, com­fort­able and vibrant, liv­ing with­in its envi­ron­men­tal lim­its.
2. You have 30 sec­onds to con­vince some­one to come to Welling­ton. What’s your pitch?
   I’ve got a spare tick­et to the Sev­ens.
3. Where do you stand on the issue of open­ing up gov­ern­ment data?
   Pri­va­cy needs to be pro­tect­ed, iden­ti­ty theft pre­vent­ed and there are gen­uine secu­ri­ty and com­mer­cial con­sid­er­a­tions. Oth­er­wise, open it up, trans­paren­cy solves a lot of prob­lems.
4. Describe your bicy­cle, or your favourite bus route?
   I’ve got a cheap moun­tain bike, total­ly unsuit­able for moun­tains. It’s also ter­ri­ble for going up Ngaio Gorge to John­sonville, but I per­sist because it burns lots of calo­ries.
5. When did you last use the library, a com­mu­ni­ty cen­tre, or a coun­cil-run sports facil­i­ty?
   About a month ago to the library, though I use their books every night when I read to my kids in bed.
6. Would you wel­come a cen­tral gov­ern­ment dri­ven “super-city” amal­ga­ma­tion of local author­i­ties?
   Not if it’s imposed. The cit­i­zens need to want it enough to do it them­selves, not have some­one tell them what’s good for them.
7. What city inspires your vision for Welling­ton? How?
   It could be Lon­don, Paris, Ams­ter­dam or any of dozens of Euro­pean cities. Dense, low ener­gy hous­ing, with lots of local parks, ameni­ties and shops, linked by excel­lent pub­lic trans­port.
8. Is the con­cept of demo­c­ra­t­ic rep­re­sen­ta­tion impor­tant to you? How so?
   Hell yes! Rep­re­sen­ta­tives give a focus for the people’s man­date, and make democ­ra­cy work­able, by turn­ing it from a mob of mil­lions, to a Par­lia­ment of 120.
9. What achieve­ment for Welling­ton are you most proud of?
   That I can catch the train to work. That’s an hour of read­ing I get to do every day. I’ll be proud­er when the rail sys­tem is bet­ter.
10. What role do you think cen­tral gov­ern­ment should play in local roading/public trans­port issues?
    Pri­mar­i­ly fund­ing (and more of it), and sec­on­dar­i­ly of coor­di­nat­ing between coun­cils. They also need to stop impos­ing unnec­es­sary motor­ways on the pub­lic (Kapi­ti express­way, I’m look­ing at you!)
11. How can we make Welling­ton more envi­ron­men­tal­ly friend­ly?
    Bet­ter town plan­ning. Denser hous­ing and no more green­fields sub­ur­ban sprawl. Make every­thing as close and walk­a­ble as pos­si­ble, with bet­ter pub­lic trans­port. It’s how the Euro­peans do it.
12. What will you do to ensure diverse rep­re­sen­ta­tion on gov­ern­ment issues?
    Retain MMP. It’s already doing a good job of increas­ing diver­si­ty in Par­lia­ment, and that trend is con­tin­u­ing. Plus it’s a damn sight fair­er than the oth­er sys­tems.
13. What’s your per­son­al his­to­ry of liv­ing in Welling­ton?
    Lived here 29 out of my 39 years. I’ve lived in Low­er Hutt, Upper Hutt, Kapi­ti, Porirua and Welling­ton City. We’re now rais­ing a fam­i­ly, so anoth­er 20 to come.
14. What pol­i­cy of your par­ty do you think will have the most impact on Welling­ton?
    $15 min­i­mum wage (since bor­rowed by Labour). Most wages will also rise, putting mon­ey in the hands of those who spend it local­ly, help­ing Welling­ton busi­ness­es in turn.
15. Do you gen­uine­ly believe you have a chance at win­ning the seat you’re con­test­ing, or is this more of a par­ty cam­pa­gin?
    One day the Greens will stand a can­di­date in Rimu­ta­ka and con­test for the elec­torate vote. That’s not today, so we’re run­ning for the par­ty vote (this time…).
16. Bonus: Is there a need to com­bat region­al resources & fund­ing being siphoned away from Welling­ton to Auck­land or Christchurch, and if so, how would you achieve that?
    Some­times we need to trust the gov­ern­ment. If funds go else­where, it should be because their need is greater. If it’s going to the ‘Hol­i­day High­way’ though, vote accord­ing­ly!