8 October 2013

Vote for a hard-working, co-operative Wellington City Council

“Although we have different policies, I’ve been co-operating with Hayley Robinson and Sridhar Ekambaram throughout my campaign and I hope Onslow-Western voters will consider us all as worthy preferences because we’ve already been working together for months,” says Wellington City Council candidate, Malcolm Aitken.

“We have different policies in some areas, and we agree on a lot. If you vote for one, two, or maybe all of us is that you’re voting for candidates who have done the hard graft. On the final day of nominations a number of names suddenly appeared from nowhere. At that stage we’d been active for months, running separate campaigns but helping each other with leafleting and telling each other about important meetings coming up.

“We’ve put in the hard yards and we’ve been very consultative. We’ve talked to thousands of residents in person and on the phone. We’re all environmentally aware, believe in the supporting local businesses as well as encouraging new ones to the capital, do our research and are consensus builders. We’ve got a lot of researched ideas that would contribute to a more successful Wellington for all of us.

"Obviously, we would make every effort to work with anyone you elect for the good of both the Onslow-Western ward and the city as a whole," Hayley says.

"However with Sridhar and Malcolm there is already an existing respect and relationship that would mean we could hit the ground running. We already know that each will listen to the others' reasoning with open minds. It has been brilliant working with them duing the campaign.

“I particularly enjoy a good debate with Sridhar about the importance of car parks for retail customers. Malcolm and I share concerns that our small and medium businesses are not well supported. Whatever the topic, we all believe in grass-roots style councillors; you're more likely to find us at a residents' meeting than some glamorous opening ceremony [that's what Mayors are for].”
“You’re not talking Business As Usual,” Malcolm says.

“If you want fresh faces and new ideas around the council table vote for Malcolm Aitken, Hayley Robinson and Sridhar Ekambaram.”

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