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 Steve, I grew up in Welling­ton, and I want a New Zealand that’s more pros­per­ous to ensure that young peo­ple stay here.
  2. You have 30 sec­onds to con­vince some­one to come to Welling­ton. What’s your pitch?
    Describe the fol­low­ing to them: Sweet Moth­er’s Kitchen; Hooch; the water­front; the view from the cable car; and Kaf­fee Eis on a sun­ny day in Ori­en­tal Bay.
  3. Where do you stand on the issue of open­ing up gov­ern­ment data?
    In favour.
  4. Describe your bicy­cle, or your favourite bus route
    I have a moun­tain bike, although it has been dis­used through the win­try months. I catch the Num­ber 1 to work most days; prob­a­bly not my favourite.
  5. When did you last use the library, a com­mu­ni­ty cen­tre, or a coun­cil-run sports facil­i­ty?
    Often find myself in Turn­bull House, which offers cheap rates to com­mu­ni­ty groups, and is a great place to hold events.
  6. Would you wel­come a cen­tral gov­ern­ment dri­ven “super-city” amal­ga­ma­tion of local author­i­ties?
    No.
  7. What city inspires your vision for Welling­ton? How?
    Should­n’t try to copy any oth­ers. Welling­ton is great as it is. Cer­tain­ly don’t try to copy Hol­ly­wood!
  8. Is the con­cept of demo­c­ra­t­ic rep­re­sen­ta­tion impor­tant to you? How so?
    It’s vital­ly impor­tant. Demo­c­ra­t­ic rep­re­sen­ta­tion is an impor­tant com­po­nent of per­son­al free­dom. But we should not allow majori­ties to take away our fun­da­men­tal rights.
  9. What achieve­ment for Welling­ton are you most proud of?
    Being a fun place to live despite the pres­ence of politi­cians.
  10. What role do you think cen­tral gov­ern­ment should play in local roading/public trans­port issues?
    A fund­ing role for projects with sig­nif­i­cant ben­e­fits, and ensur­ing that fund­ing for projects meets cost ben­e­fit analy­sis.
  11. How can we make Welling­ton more envi­ron­men­tal­ly friend­ly?
    Water meter­ing; con­ges­tion pric­ing on some of our roads.
  12. What will you do to ensure diverse rep­re­sen­ta­tion on gov­ern­ment issues?
    Vote for MMP.
  13. What’s your per­son­al his­to­ry of liv­ing in Welling­ton?
    I was born and raised in Paparan­gi, in North Welling­ton, and have lived more cen­tral­ly since begin­ning Uni­ver­si­ty.
  14. What pol­i­cy of your par­ty do you think will have the most impact on Welling­ton?
    School vouch­ers, which will ensure tax mon­ey fol­lows the child to the school of their par­ents’ choice. More par­ents – not just the wealthy – need access to inte­grat­ed and pri­vate school­ing.
  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 am seek­ing the par­ty vote, and am num­ber sev­en on the ACT list. Par­ty vote ACT!