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?
    Kia ora I’m Gareth Hughes, Green can­did­ate for Ohariu, pas­sion­ate MP, fath­er and firm believ­er in a clean green eco­nomy that works for every­one. I want your party vote.
  2. You have 30 seconds to con­vince someone to come to Wel­ling­ton. What’s your pitch?
    Great cof­fee, thriv­ing arts and cul­ture, reju­ven­at­ing land­scape, enga­ging and wel­com­ing cit­izens… It’s no coin­cid­ence that “the coolest little cap­it­al in the world” is headed by a Green may­or!
  3. Where do you stand on the issue of open­ing up gov­ern­ment data?
    Green policy is for a more access­ible and trans­par­ent demo­cracy. I have a goal of New Zea­l­and becom­ing the most open demo­cracy in the world. Full policy is at bit.ly/vDOxJ3.
  4. Describe your bicycle, or your favour­ite bus route?
    I’m lucky enough to be able to walk to work, so I don’t often take the bus, though my favour­ite is the 14, which winds over Mt. Vic’s stun­ning views.
  5. When did you last use the lib­rary, a com­munity centre, or a coun­cil-run sports facil­ity?
    We’re fre­quent vis­it­ors to Wel­ling­ton Cent­ral Lib­rary. My kids love it! It’s import­ant that all Kiwis can access such great ser­vices for free, and I love Wellington’s free CBD wifi.
  6. Would you wel­come a cent­ral gov­ern­ment driv­en “super-city” amal­gam­a­tion of loc­al author­it­ies?
    Auckland’s com­munity-level rep­res­ent­a­tion has been gut­ted by ACT’s ideo­lo­gic­al-solu­tion-in-search-of-a-prob­lem; it’s not what we want for Wel­ling­ton. I’m open to a review but changes …
  7. What city inspires your vis­ion for Wel­ling­ton? How?
    Copenhagen’s cyc­list and ped­es­tri­an ori­ented plan­ning and Port­land for their green space, though I think the ‘Wel­ling­ton: 2040’ vis­ion is really inspir­ing and excit­ing.
  8. Is the concept of demo­crat­ic rep­res­ent­a­tion import­ant to you? How so?
    Enorm­ously. Hav­ing input into decisions that affect us all is cent­ral to the Kiwi psyche. MMP has helped give us a diverse and account­able Par­lia­ment that looks like our soci­ety.
  9. What achieve­ment for Wel­ling­ton are you most proud of?
    I’ve been cam­paign­ing hard to stop Steven Joyce (‘Colos­sus of Roads’) des­troy­ing com­munit­ies with uneco­nom­ic motor­ways, and I’m delighted that WCC are sup­port­ive of our smart altern­at­ives like light rail.
  10. What role do you think cent­ral gov­ern­ment should play in loc­al roading/public trans­port issues?
    An import­ant one, but by tak­ing a motor­way-cent­ric approach NZ is increas­ing car and oil depend­ence. The Greens would invest in light rail, bet­ter buses, and walk­ing and cyc­ling …
  11. How can we make Wel­ling­ton more envir­on­ment­ally friendly?
    Pri­or­it­ise pub­lic trans­port like light rail, cre­ate more green spaces, intro­duce smart elec­tri­city meters, take bet­ter care of our rivers and har­bour, intro­duce more com­munity gar­dens, insu­late more houses!
  12. What will you do to ensure diverse rep­res­ent­a­tion on gov­ern­ment issues?
    Diversity is incor­por­ated into our party list, so the best way to ensure diverse rep­res­ent­a­tion is to Party Vote Green! We believe strongly in com­munity con­sulta­tion into the gov­ern­ment­al pro­cess.
  13. What’s your per­son­al his­tory of liv­ing in Wel­ling­ton?
    I moved here in 2000 to study and aside from a brief spell in Auck­land and Aus­tralia I’ve been here ever since. Love this city!
  14. What policy of your party do you think will have the most impact on Wel­ling­ton?
    We’ll con­tin­ue to lobby hard for light rail to the air­port. This will trans­form our city. It will make our streets safer for ped­es­tri­ans, lower com­mute times, and reduce emis­sions.
  15. Do you genu­inely believe you have a chance at win­ning the seat you’re con­test­ing, or is this more of a party cam­paign?
    The Greens just want your party vote in Ōhariu. More party votes will see more Green MPs and more good green policy wins.