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?
    Annette King, MP for Ron­go­tai (& Chath­am Islands). I want to con­tin­ue to be your loc­al MP, so vote for me and party vote Labour.
  2. You have 30 seconds to con­vince someone to come to Wel­ling­ton. What’s your pitch?
    Come to the City that knows how to hold a party! The Sev­ens, it’s our Car­ni­val!!
  3. Where do you stand on the issue of open­ing up gov­ern­ment data?
    I’m for it.
  4. Describe your bicycle, or your favour­ite bus route?
    The bike my hus­band gave me for my birth­day 5 years ago (plus bike pants to go with it!!). Bus – Hataitai to Lamb­ton Quay.
  5. When did you last use the lib­rary, a com­munity centre, or a coun­cil-run sports facil­ity?
    Island Bay Com­munity Centre last week for the launch of the Time Bank. Wake­field Park on Sat­urday for Indi­an Foot­ball Tour­na­ment.
  6. Would you wel­come a cent­ral gov­ern­ment driv­en “super-city” amal­gam­a­tion of loc­al author­it­ies?
    It’s the people who should decide. No Bee­hive edict in Wel­ling­ton.
  7. What city inspires your vis­ion for Wel­ling­ton? How?
    Wel­ling­ton itself. The city has developed its own brand­ing, style and sense of iden­tity.
  8. Is the concept of demo­crat­ic rep­res­ent­a­tion import­ant to you? How so?
    Abso­lutely. The altern­at­ive is far too scary.
  9. What achieve­ment for Wel­ling­ton are you most proud of?
    After years of wait­ing, get­ting Wel­ling­ton a new pub­lic hos­pit­al and if I’m allowed, anoth­er – help­ing to save Mar­unui Surf Club & Café!
  10. What role do you think cent­ral gov­ern­ment should play in loc­al roading/public trans­port issues?
    As the fund­ing comes from Cent­ral Gov­ern­ment, it has to be involved, but best plans come from an agreed Region­al Trans­port Plan.
  11. How can we make Wel­ling­ton more envir­on­ment­ally friendly?
    Add land to the Green Belt, con­tin­ue the tree plant­ing pro­gramme. Open a 2nd tun­nel through Mt Vic­tor­ia, future-proofed for light-rail.
  12. What will you do to ensure diverse rep­res­ent­a­tion on gov­ern­ment issues?
    Keep “loc­al” in the role of MPs, so I know what my con­stitu­ents think.
  13. What’s your per­son­al his­tory of liv­ing in Wel­ling­ton?
    Arrived 30 years ago. Became a Dent­al Tutor at Wil­lis street Dent­al clin­ic, bought a house in Evans Bay Parade, stayed in the East­ern Sub­urbs.
  14. What policy of your party do you think will have the most impact on Wel­ling­ton?
    Afford­able, high qual­ity & access­ible Early Child­hood Edu­ca­tion. The young fam­il­ies in Ron­go­tai want their kids to have the best start.
  15. Do you genu­inely believe you have a chance at win­ning the seat you’re con­test­ing, or is this more of a party cam­paign?
    Yes, and I’m cam­paign­ing for both.