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 Chris Hip­kins and I want you to vote for me so that I can con­tin­ue to be MP for Rimu­taka and want you to give your party vote to …
  2. You have 30 seconds to con­vince someone to come to Wel­ling­ton. What’s your pitch?
    For­get the city, come out to the Hutt Val­ley where it’s all hap­pen­ing. Green hills, great river, nice shops, friendly people.
  3. Where do you stand on the issue of open­ing up gov­ern­ment data?
    Gov­ern­ment data should be openly avail­able. Open gov­ern­ment is account­able gov­ern­ment.
  4. Describe your bicycle, or your favour­ite bus route?
    I’ve got a Giant moun­tain bike and a Scott road bike, and ride both reg­u­larly.
  5. When did you last use the lib­rary, a com­munity centre, or a coun­cil-run sports facil­ity?
    I was at the Hapai Club com­munity hall last week. Trentham Memori­al Park is a reg­u­lar vis­it­ing place.
  6. Would you wel­come a cent­ral gov­ern­ment driv­en “super-city” amal­gam­a­tion of loc­al author­it­ies?
    No. Any change should be driv­en from the grass­roots up.
  7. What city inspires your vis­ion for Wel­ling­ton? How?
    Wel­ling­ton does. It’s unique, but we shouldn’t pre­tend Wel­ling­ton is just the CBD.
  8. Is the concept of demo­crat­ic rep­res­ent­a­tion import­ant to you? How so?
    Yes. No one will ever get all they want all the time. Demo­cracy is how we bal­ance com­pet­ing interests for the col­lect­ive good.
  9. What achieve­ment for Wel­ling­ton are you most proud of?
    The major upgrade of the rail net­work, star­ted by the last Labour govt and still con­tinu­ing. The best pub­lic trans­port in NZ.
  10. What role do you think cent­ral gov­ern­ment should play in loc­al roading/public trans­port issues?
    A big one.
  11. How can we make Wel­ling­ton more envir­on­ment­ally friendly?
    Keep improv­ing pub­lic trans­port, waste less water, and send less refuse to the land­fill.
  12. What will you do to ensure diverse rep­res­ent­a­tion on gov­ern­ment issues?
    Keep in touch with the loc­al com­munity and sup­port loc­al groups who want to make sub­mis­sions or be heard.
  13. What’s your per­son­al his­tory of liv­ing in Wel­ling­ton?
    Grew up in the Hutt Val­ley, lived in the CBD for a few years, now live in Trentham.
  14. What policy of your party do you think will have the most impact on Wel­ling­ton?
    More sup­port for fam­il­ies strug­gling to make ends meet (eg. Min Wage increase, tax-free zone, etc).
  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 hold the seat now, and I hope to keep it. But the party vote is the one that determ­ines the gov­ern­ment.