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.
There are many reasons to vote for it, but here are the three most important.
NO PARTY POLITICS. 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.
The most recent increases of over 20% have been painful for property owners, with many people on fixed incomes or superannuation finding it financially crippling. These increases also hurt renters.
Better Wellington 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 their 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 Welington 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.
ZERO RATES INCREASE policy. 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.
The third most compelling reason to vote for it.
RAY CHUNG LEADS THE MAYORAL RACE. 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 for name recognition. 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.
Check out the team’s website here: www.voteforit.nz
Candidate Approval rating is the net difference between those who have a positive versus a negative opinion about a candidate.
