The Daily Examiner.
Former Labour Party leader Andrew Little has announced he will be contesting the Wellington mayoralty at local elections later this year.
Two former Wellington mayors have been reported as having expressed optimism after former Labour leader Andrew Little’s announcement that he will be standing for the job at the 2025 local elections being held in September and October
Dame Fran Wilde, who was mayor from 1992-95 after being the Labour MP for Central Wellington from 1981 to 1992, said she was “delighted” Little had announced his candidacy.
“I think his experience and judgement will be very helpful for Wellington City Council at present,” Wilde said.
She didn’t want to comment on the issues facing the capital, simply saying the council needed “some really strong leadership”.
Dame Kerry Prendergast, mayor from 2001-2010, in a brief text message described Little as “intelligent and with immense integrity”.
“My impression is of an experienced governor who will be able to work with the government of the day in Wellington’s best interests, if elected,” Prendergast said.
Both Prendergast and Wilde were founding members of the Vision for Wellington group, although Wilde has since announced she will be contesting the South Wairarapa mayoralty and has pulled back from the Vision organisation.
That enthusiasm for Little is not shared by Better Wellington’s Andrew Boyce who says the city needs a change from political parties and says Wellington needs and deserves better candidates.
Over the last couple of decades, Wellington has been ruled by either Labour or the Green parties. Over that time, Wellington property owners have experienced only increases in rates demands. The Labour Party and the Green Party are made up of candidates who spend more and will keep raising your rates.
Better Wellington endorses the strong “Independent Together” candidates who are standing alongside Wellington City Councillor and leading mayoral candidate Ray Chung to contest this year’s local government election.
This team of skilled, experienced and vibrant candidates is the most impressive line-up to contest the Wellington City Council elections in over 20 years is most important.
Better Wellington he says has received numerous emails from pensioners saying they are cutting down on power usage and even cutting back on food, just to afford their rates bill. Unnerving, as our country heads into winter.
The threat of having to sell the family home is very real. And the council has just devalued Wellington properties by around 25 percent this year. The supply of houses for sale also exceeds demand in the city, and consequently sale prices have dropped by hundreds of thousands of dollars in some suburbs.
One of our supporters asked the council for advice on meeting the rates increases and was advised to “get a reverse mortgage”. Unbelievable but true.
That is what Wellington has got from party politics around the council table where their ideology and lack of reality forces people into financial hardship. The Independent Together team rejects party politics. Voters must have reassurance that the future interest of Wellington City is the priority – not the political party machine.
If elected, these candidates will look at the council in terms of value of the services that it provides. The goal of the zero rates increase is for Wellington ratepayers to keep more of their own money in their own pocket. It’s a very simple policy.
The council is close to being insolvent. The city is in debt to the extent that Wellington City residents are paying approximately $2 million in interest on loans each week. And yet the council continues on a path of rapid rollout of cycle lanes all over the city, costing hundreds of millions of dollars and which is killing the city’s commercial base. Our hospitality sector is bleeding.
Pleas for relief fall on deaf ears. The council continues to save itself using its legal power to take more money from residents, to push rates higher and higher.
The response to this policy has been met with the usual disdain from old Labour Party hacks like Sir Geoffrey Palmer and Helene Ritchie. Geoff, please spare us from another of your interminable, out-of-touch lectures or sanctimonious articles. No-one wants to hear your trumpeting. It was your government that put everyone in this position today.
A Curia Market Research political poll for Better Wellington released early February puts Ray Chung in the lead to become the next mayor of Wellington.
Well-known statistician and political commentator David Farrar says, “If the city council election is a 100 metre race, Ray Chung is already 20 metres in front.”
This research has not been made public before.
Six months out from the election, Ray Chung leads over every other current mayoral candidate, including Tory Whanau, whose performance stands at 17% approval rating. A whopping 73% of Wellington voters say her performance as mayor is barely average or is worse.
The number of people who have heard of Ray Chung exceeds that of the other challenges for mayor. He is more appealing to voters than all other candidates, has the highest approval rating amongst both men and women voters, and has a lead that is possibly unassailable.
Ray Chung is indefatigable. His work day usually starts before 5am and ends late into the night. Ray has lived all his life in this city and attends every residents’ or cultural association meeting that he can. Ray is working to bring accountability and more responsible spending to council. The fact that Ray is so far ahead of other candidates is testament to his service. At 75 years old, Ray still rides his Kawasaki Ninja to work but prefers taking the bus.
He’s the only councillor so far who has unequivocally pushed back against fencing off Wellington’s waterfront as a safety measure. This $30 million cost is being proposed by the bureaucracy because council doesn’t have the strength to be honest to a grieving family who lost a son – self-responsibility is the best protection. Ray is working to remove all political ideology from the council table and has the strength of principle to achieve it.
If you are a voter and want more money in your pocket, a city that works better, a council that is accountable and frugal with your money, a council that values common-sense, a council that ignores pointless cultural and identity politics, such as minority rights, culture wars, social justice, and other objectives outside of core business, a council that isn’t continually clashing with the government – then you should vote for Independent Together.
