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.