Latest news with #RayChung
RNZ News
2 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Wellington mayoral hopeful Ray Chung promises to slash council jobs
Photo: Supplied / Facebook Wellington mayoral hopeful Ray Chung wants to eliminate rates increases altogether by cutting costs - starting with council employees, despite an admission he does not know what "a lot of these people do". Chung, councillor for Wharangi/Onslow-Western Ward after topping the ballot in the 2022 local elections, is running for mayor on the 'Independent Together' (IT) ticket. The frontrunner is likely former Labour leader Andrew Little, who has the backing of the city's outgoing Green-affiliated mayor, Tory Whanau. Chung insists the city should steer clear of party politicians. "I've never belonged to any political party, so I don't have any affiliation with any of the parties. I just think that we should be looking at things that make financial sense, make things that work for everyone." IT's five key policies include having no party politics in local government. "The media are very fond of saying that we're 'right' when we first announced IT. Even some of my colleagues came out and said that, 'Oh, we are a right-wing party,' but we aren't, and I don't even know what any of the people, any of the candidates that we actually have, I don't even know what their political affiliations are." The party's headline policy was zero rates increases for three years - not zero after inflation, but zero at all - and after that only increase rate to match inflation. That was despite the city's potential billion-dollar problems with its water infrastructure and projected double-digit increases for years to come . Asked on Morning Report on Friday if zero rates increases would mean cuts, Chung replied "absolutely". But when it came to what exactly would get the chop, he said "a good close look" at things that "aren't our core business" would be needed. "The thing is, when cutting, when looking at cutting rates, the rate cuts have to come from [operating expenses]. They don't come from [capital expenditure] - a little bit comes from [capital expenditure], but very little… "Anything that we need to borrow money for to actually build or to do, then that comes out of [capital expenditure]. So that doesn't affect your rates, except for the interest on the money that you're borrowing. "So where the big cuts are coming is out of operating expenses. So we've got to take those out because they have a direct effect on rates. So these are the things that we're focusing on to try and get out." Pressed further, he ruled out cuts to "core council activities" including "parks, swimming pools, libraries, community facilities". But said the size of the council's payroll was a problem. "Our staff numbers have just gone up exponentially and really, I have no idea what a lot of these people do." According to Wellington City Council's latest annual report , the headcount has actually been relatively flat over the last few years - 1970 in 2022, 2065 in 2023 and actually dropping to 1939 in 2024. Each year, between a quarter and a third of employees were casual or part-time. In 2017, the council had 1762 employees, percent3D&keywords=2017&type=all&utm_source= its archives showed . Other pillars of IT's policy platform included scrapping "wasteful projects", reinstating "lost" carparks and increasing surveillance in the CBD to prevent anti-social behaviour. At his own campaign launch, Little called Chung's campaign pitch of no rates increases not credible . "I don't think that's at all credible, and I know look, I'm the first to say rate rises of 30 percent over two years is not acceptable. That's not credible either, and so the council has to be doing what it can to manage those rates rises." Voting in this year's local elections begins in September. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
NZ Herald
15-05-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Senior National Minister Chris Bishop says Andrew Little ‘favourite' for Wellington mayoralty
'But if he does win, and I would say he's the favourite, then, you know, I look forward to working with him.' Bishop said the capital has 'big challenges' especially in his own portfolio areas. He is currently the minister for Housing, Infrastructure, RMA Reform, and Transport, as well as holding associate responsibility for Sport and Recreation and Finance. 'We've got some big issues here, water, housing, infrastructure, congestion, getting a bit of life back into the place.' He believes the mayoral race would still be a 'battle', rather than a coronation, pointing to fellow candidate Ray Chung. 'The council needs a maturity that has not been demonstrated in the last few years', Bishop said, adding that he believes Little wouldn't get distracted by other issues not in the interest of the city. 'I don't mean to be mean about Tory [Whanau] but every time she came on your show we ended up with debates about everything other than the debates about issues facing Wellington and that's not good for the city,' Bishop told Mills. Tory Whanau made headlines after revealing to Nick Mills that she sold her car to help pay her mortgage. She later backtracked on that claim. Earlier this year she cancelled her monthly slot on Newstalk ZB. Andrew Little said when he announced his mayoral bid that he had been approached by 'quite a cross-section' of Wellingtonians asking him to run. 'Obviously Labour people but also National Party, Green Party people, community leaders, business people.' The National Party does not run or officially endorse candidates for local body elections. The local election will be held on October 11. Candidate nominations open on Friday, July 4 and close on August 1.
RNZ News
11-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Wellington mayoral race: Who wants the top job?
Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER Former Labour Party leader Andrew Little is a high profile entrant in the battle for Capital's mayoral chains - so who are the other contenders for the top council job? RNZ Wellington Issues reporter Nick James explains. Karl Tiefenbacher Photo: Supplied Karl Tiefenbacher narrowly missed out on becoming a city councillor last year when he lost a byelection to the Green's Geordie Rogers . Now he wants a crack at the top job and the owner of Kafee Eis said his business experience was one of the key reasons why he was running. "Realistically we need some business nous in the council and leading the council and we need not to accept the way the council is running at the moment. "We've got to fight against the status quo of the way things are operating because it hasn't been working for a long time." Tiefenbacher said his focus would be on lowering rates and getting debt under control. "The more money we take out of ratepayers' pockets is less money they have for discretionary spend, then the businesses start to suffer." Ray Chung Photo: Supplied / Facebook Focusing on rates is something he has in common with current councillor and candidate Ray Chung. Chung is running on a policy platform of no rate increases, which he thought was possible, potentially. "It may be that we can't get down to zero, but we actually can get very close to it, because it all depends on people's appetite for the council not doing some things." He would cut spending on projects like council funded electric car charging, but not core community facilities and services. "The central government is actually putting in car chargers, and the petroleum companies are doing that [too]." Graham Bloxham Photo: Supplied Graham Bloxham is well known online for running the popular Facebook page Wellington Live. He is advocating some large cost cutting particularly with regard to council staff. "We need half the staff - with mental health in mind - we need to help people across to other careers and cut costs so pensioners don't lose the homes that they've saved and lived in all their lives because rates are too high. "The whole thing's a banana republic." His other priorities were boosting tourism and improving the environment. "Right now I think the things we can do is work on biodiversity and AI powered environment so I am going to work very, very hard on that." Supporting biodiversity was also something conservationist and candidate Kelvin Hastie backed. He created Predator Free Crofton Downs to eliminate pests from the suburb. He told RNZ he wanted to give residents more of a voice. "It is about getting the community first back into the Wellington City Council, so putting community first and certainly engaging more." He also supported amalgamating the council with others nearby. He would commission a report looking at the benefits of the idea to ratepayers. "So it is about looking at the benefits of amalgamation. Rob Goulden Photo: ROB GOULDEN / SUPPLIED Another candidate, former councillor Rob Goulden said his focus would be developing a long-term plan for the city. Goulden said that would look at what infrastructure was needed for the city provided by both the city and regional councils over the next 30 years. He said the city is facing some big problems. "One of those is the finances, we're living beyond our means. I don't want to sound negative but we are." All candidates RNZ spoke to either backed pausing or scrapping the Golden Mile project. Election day is 11 October.
Scoop
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
Statement By Wellington Mayoral Candidate And City Councillor Ray Chung
Statement by Wellington Mayoral Candidate and city councillor Ray Chung It's been a month since we launched the Independent candidates' campaign to contest the local government election this year. Since then, we've received a huge amount of public support that has been truly humbling. I'm proud to stand beside these Wellington candidates, under the 'Independent Together' brand. They are all hard-working residents who love this city and who will bring a variety of different skills as well as life and business experiences to the council should they be elected. What is starkly apparent is the desire for change amongst Wellington ratepayers and residents. Many are telling us that a clean sweep is needed – an entirely new council is required to lift our city out of the mire. Our policy pillar of no party politics in council resonates well with voters. For too long, we have had city councillors whose first allegiances are to the central Parliamentary political party – like Labour or the Green parties – and Wellington comes a poor second place. The last couple of years under Mayor Tory Whanau with Green and Labour party majority support is demonstrative of the need for our policy. What the Labour and Green political parties stand for has changed enormously in the last 20 years, and Wellingtonians viscerally understand this. Party politics no longer works for the city, if it ever did. Our candidates are truly independent. But they also acknowledge the hold that political parties have over Wellington. In order to beat the party political machines, they know they need to stand together, pool their resources, and express a common objective. They do not support the 'tax and spend' status quo that has left many Wellington ratepayers unable to afford to live in the city. Hundreds of people around the city have come forward with offers of help, to donate, to volunteer, to distribute flyers or door knock on behalf of the candidates. We are grateful for that assistance because we cannot do this as candidates alone. When people ask me how this election campaign is being funded, my answer is simple: from concerned Wellington people who are desperate to end the cycle of spending that is taxing them out of the city they love. We may be the underdogs, but we are the only candidates who are offering a real solution to Wellington's problems.
