We asked the ques­tions, they answered.

1. What should the council’s role be in cre­at­ing afford­able hous­ing?

Welling­ton City Coun­cil needs to work with devel­op­ers to cre­ate more through a com­bi­na­tion of inten­si­fi­ca­tion in our inner-city and open­ing land for devel­op­ment.

2. What one project for Welling­ton have you been most active on so far?

As a vol­un­teer at Zealan­dia, I am proud to be work­ing with mem­bers of the Welling­ton com­mu­ni­ty to raise aware­ness around pro­tect­ing NZ’s nat­ur­al her­itage.

3. What project do you plan to cham­pi­on most if you win this posi­tion?

Over­haul the City Council’s com­mu­ni­ca­tions and social media port­fo­lio.
Eg, I want to see Social Media being used to increase engage­ment with our com­mu­ni­ty

4. What’s your opin­ion on the pro­posed new bus routes?

While more bus fre­quen­cy and eas­i­er to under­stand timeta­bles is a big plus, I feel there are still some areas being under­ser­viced, espe­cial­ly on week­ends

5. What’s your opin­ion on Cycle­ways?

Cycling is an excel­lent activ­i­ty for fam­i­lies, I am for the con­struc­tion of Cycle­ways in Welling­ton, when they are built well.

6. What’s your opin­ion on the air­port exten­sion?

As it stands, I am opposed to the fund­ing of the run­way exten­sion.

7. Who is the biggest dona­tor to your cam­paign?

A num­ber of restau­rants and cafes have sup­port­ed me with food and drink, espe­cial­ly cof­fee (which I have found to be the best dona­tion).

8. Which NZ politi­cian do you most admire?

Jacin­da Ardern and Grant Robert­son

9. What do you think needs to hap­pen to the Town Hall?

A grand, beau­ti­ful build­ing, such as the Town Hall, should nev­er be left vacant and derelict. It must be reopened to the pub­lic ASAP.

10. How long have you lived in the area you are stand­ing for?

I have been liv­ing in my cur­rent home now, in Mount Vic­to­ria, for two and a half years.

11. What’s one thing from the 2013–2016 Coun­cil term you think was real­ly great and why?

The increas­ing of our inter­na­tion­al city part­ner­ships and eco­nom­ic ties. For exam­ple, build­ing clos­er trade rela­tion­ships with cities such as Can­ber­ra and Xi’an.

12. What do you think of the Auck­land Uni­tary Plan and what can Welling­ton learn from it?

I believe the Auck­land Uni­tary plan to be an excel­lent idea for cre­at­ing a cohe­sive growth plan across the entire met­ro­pol­i­tan stretch of Auck­land.

13. What’s the biggest risk Welling­ton faces in the next ten years?

The biggest issues which must be addressed in Welling­ton are our sus­cep­ti­bil­i­ty to nat­ur­al dis­as­ters and an increase in afford­able hous­ing.

14. How will you work with the rest of the coun­cil to achieve the things you’re set­ting out to do?

Work­ing on Coun­cil is sim­ply a case of putting aside the ego, tak­ing into account everyone’s view­points, estab­lish­ing com­pro­mise when nec­es­sary, and push­ing through.

15. Who do you nom­i­nate for Welling­ton­ista Welling­ton­ian of the Year (assum­ing we run the TAWAs again)?

I would nom­i­nate Tash Ked­dy.
Welling­ton-born, Shorty actor cur­rent­ly holds an impor­tant place in nor­mal­is­ing equal­i­ty and rais­ing under­stand­ing of Trans issues here in NZ.