Father and son running for election in Auckland

A father and son team are contesting the Auckland local body elections on the same ticket. Ryan Hicks, a 23 year old is running for the Eden-Albert Ward of Auckland City Council and his father, Kevin, is running for the Auckland District Health Board. Both are very concerned about the sustainability of our public services. "We can't afford any wastage of money that should be spent directly on core infrastructure and the health of our population" say Kevin. Ryan adds that “any savings should be used to encourage clean lean green industry and thereby ensure sustainability of our flagship city".

Ryan says he has always been interested in politics and decided to run after he saw how much the last round of rates rises hurt local young families and businesses. Working as a banker in Mt Eden and living in Mt Albert he sees rising rates as yet another blow to young families trying to afford their own home. He insists that other methods of funding must be explored, along with cost savings. "The current council has been very wasteful" he says "with failed projects and excessive social spending that local bodies cant afford and should be left for central government". Meanwhile the basics such as rubbish collection from public bins are neglected. Ryan chose the C&R ticket because they were the only party to vote against the massive rates increases last year. He also deals with local small businesses and is very disturbed at their high handed treatment by the council over signs. "These small business people are local members of our community doing our hard work for us. That’s where you will get your latte, buy your books, newspaper or get your TV repaired". "We need a supportive council that rejoices in our diversity, not a hostile one that tries to make us all fit in the same round hole"

Kevin, a cancer researcher at Auckland University, is equally concerned about the Health System. "Our public health system cannot stand failures like the laboratory fiasco last year. Expenditure on legal fees is money not spent on increasing Aucklander's Health." He is also very concerned about the recruitment and retention of top staff at our leading referral hospital. "Attracting staff is not just about wages but also about an environment where they feel that they contribute to positive outcomes and feel safe and valued. Negative publicity and adversarial approach do not help staff morale." Kevin believes in broad based consensus and chose the C&R ticket believes they will be most likely to consult widely and make the hard decisions necessary for sustaining our first class health system. He also feels that government and health board funding decisions are often based on political expediency rather than what is right for top class health. "This is reflected in holding off with capital expenditure – for example P.E.T. (positron emission tomography) is long overdue for our cancer patients and has now been put on hold for another two years." As an active cancer researcher he feels that getting PET as soon as possible would not only be positive for patients but would help build NZ's already impressive biomedical research and development capacity and foster collaborative projects.

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