logo
Alex Baker throws hat into ring for Wellington mayoralty

Alex Baker throws hat into ring for Wellington mayoralty

RNZ Newsa day ago

Alex Baker is running for Wellington Mayor.
Photo:
Supplied
A seventh candidate has thrown their hat into the ring to be
Wellington's next Mayor.
Alex Baker is a Chartered Accountant and has also worked in urban development.
Baker said he was a progressive candidate and was focused on creating a vibrant city that could have sustainable growth.
Baker's ideas for setting the city up for growth included improving housing affordability, improving transport networks and facilitating an innovative and productive commercial environment.
He also wanted to change the way Wellington set rates a development contributions to be fairer.
Baker is the seventh to enter the all male candidate pool.
Others vying for mayor include Former Labour MP Andrew Little, current city councillor Ray Chung along with Karl Tiefenbacher, Kelvin Hastie, Rob Goulden and Graham Bloxham.
Nominations are open until 1 August.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero
,
a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

PSA Welcomes Mayoral Candidate's Commitment To Pay Equity
PSA Welcomes Mayoral Candidate's Commitment To Pay Equity

Scoop

time34 minutes ago

  • Scoop

PSA Welcomes Mayoral Candidate's Commitment To Pay Equity

Press Release – PSA The union representing library workers at Wellington City Council welcomes mayoral candidate Andrew Little's commitment to pay equity, and encourages all local body candidates to make the same commitment. 'This is just the latest example of people across the political spectrum recognising the Government's vandalism of the Equal Pay Act as an unjust attack on women,' said Fleur Fitzsimons, National Secretary of the Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi. 'We call on the Council to fix the undervaluation it knows is there, and deliver pay equity to these workers.' 'Local body candidates around the country have the chance to do the right thing and recognise the true value library workers bring to their communities.' 'But this is no substitution for legislation that guarantees pay equity in full, with provisions for maintaining it. We will keep fighting to reverse the Government's changes.' The PSA lodged the library workers' pay equity claim with Auckland, Tauranga, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin councils in 2019. Since then, the PSA worked with the councils in good faith to reach a settlement. Library workers were one of the pay equity claims that was close to being settled before being cancelled by last month's amendments to the Equal Pay Act.

Heat on Agriculture Minister Todd McClay to deliver KiwiSaver farm promise
Heat on Agriculture Minister Todd McClay to deliver KiwiSaver farm promise

RNZ News

time37 minutes ago

  • RNZ News

Heat on Agriculture Minister Todd McClay to deliver KiwiSaver farm promise

Agriculture Minister Todd McClay. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone The heat is on the Agriculture Minister to deliver this term on a pre-election promise to unlock KiwiSaver so it can be used to buy a first farm, a flock of sheep or herd of cows, and not just a house. At the moment, if you have been contributing to KiwiSaver for three years, you can withdraw almost all the money to buy a first home to live in, although there are a few exceptions. As a general rule, you can't have owned a home or land before. But there are some exceptions for second chance buyers who, for example, might have been through a relationship breakup. Federated Farmers has launched a petition urging the government to loosen the rules for accessing the retirement scheme, saying it will turbo charge the next generation of farmers and deliver on a commitment that Agriculture Minister Todd McClay made during a meeting in Morrinsville prior to the election. The minister has now said that his comments were a National Party promise, rather than a coalition promise. But McClay told Checkpoint he does intend to uphold the promise before the end of the government's term. "I hope to have an announcement later this year and yes, that would be before the end of this term. But the work is underway now," he said. "We're gonna work pretty hard on it. If there is a reason not to, I'll front up and tell them. But I'm confident that it will be done before the election" McClay said that while he is determined to stick to the pre-election promise, he wants to ensure that it does not come with any unintended consequences. "You've gotta make sure that it's fair cause there will be others in the economy that say, well, you know, I want to use my KiwiSaver to buy a business that also allows me to get into a farm," he said. "Secondly, it's around whether if you get a flock of sheep and what happens if you decide that you don't wanna go any further, and then purchase a home... then money might go back into KiwiSaver." McClay said that because of these scenarios, the overall policy responsibility lies with another minister. "As Agriculture Minister, I'm focused on what we can do for farmers... I think there's a much broader conversation than I'm willing to have as the Agriculture Minister." Federated Farmers Dairy Chair Richard McIntyre told Checkpoint the changes would help young farmers get on the property ladder. "This is a chance to allow young farmers to actually progress their way up the ladder, investing in in small scale business ownership with ultimately the goal of buying a farm," he said. "A tangible asset like a flock or herd that gets young farmers progressing up up the ladder within the agriculture sector makes a huge amount of sense." He said although the promise hasn't yet been delivered, he still has faith in the Agriculture Minister to deliver. "We've still got a lot of confidence that we're gonna get this over the line. It's just taking a little bit more work and a bit more pressure than we'd like it to." McClay said that this government has already delivered the majority of what Federated Farmers had called for prior to the election, as well as intending to fulfil this final promise in some form. "We announced probably 25 pieces of policy and [Federated Farmers] had a list of 12 that we had already put out. Of those, 11 have been delivered on fully or are now underway with law changes." National MP for Rangitīkei Suze Redmayne submitted a members bill late last year, which will achieve some of what Federated Farmers is calling for, but it is yet to be drawn from the ballot. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

3D animal scanning app up for award at Fieldays
3D animal scanning app up for award at Fieldays

RNZ News

timean hour ago

  • RNZ News

3D animal scanning app up for award at Fieldays

Scanabull team Dan Bull (left) and Daniel Stuart-Jones. Missing Paul Schlumbom and Paul Sealock. 3D scan of a cow (right). Photo: Scanabull Scanabull founder Dan Bull using the app. Photo: Supplied / Scanabull Fieldays is back for another year, kicking off next week at Hamilton's Mystery Creek. It's the Southern Hemisphere's largest agricultural event and is well known for launching cutting edge technology in the farming sector. Scanabull is one of the finalists for this year's Innovation Awards - they've developed an app that allows farmers to take a 3D scan on an animal, to determine its weight - something that will help save time and money, while also reducing the number of trucks on roads at the same time. Scanabull's founder Dan Bull speaks to Susie and Mihi.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store