“Tonight at the Taxpayer’s Union Tāmaki debate I put forward to voters why I should be the next advocate for their community in Parliament,” says ACT Deputy Leader and Tāmaki candidate Brooke van Velden.

“After 63 years being represented by the same party, the polls are now neck and neck. It’s clear that Tāmaki locals are ready for a fresh new voice to represent them in Parliament.

“Across the thousands of doors I’ve knocked and 120 Street Corner Meetings I’ve held, I've heard countless tales of people doing it tough. A tearful man planning to cut his kids’ swimming lessons to pay the mortgage. A family facing a $400,000 loss selling a house they can no longer keep. A young family with no money left for the rest of the week looking for a free meal wherever they can find it.

“I’ll be accountable to the people of Tāmaki. I know that the job means I am here to listen and work for you.

“Other voters have told me they’re concerned about housing laws that increased density willy-nilly. ACT was the only party who opposed this law change, we want to fix the real issues in housing, infrastructure financing and funding. My GST-sharing policy does this.

“Tamaki is an awesome place to live with great communities, but it faces some real challenges. It takes too long to deliver infrastructure, we have to contend with raw sewage on our beaches. And crime is out-of-control.

“Voters have two options. We can keep going as we are, or we can make a serious effort to cut the waste from govt, and get the funding we need to the doctors, nurses and excellent teachers that we should be rewarding.

“Something’s got to give and it is the billions in wasteful Government spending that Labour, New Zealand First, and the Greens have all stoked over the past six years. ACT is the only Party with a clear plan to get Government spending under control so families can breathe easy at the end of the week.

"The people of Tāmaki can vote for a change of government and a change to a stronger local voice this election.

“I’m passionate about Tāmaki and I’m striving for real change. I want to give the people of Tamaki a stronger voice in Wellington. And a change for the better.”

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On The Government’s Smokefree Laws Debacle

The most charitable explanation for National’s behaviour over the smokefree legislation is that they have dutifully fulfilled the wishes of the Big Tobacco lobby and then cast around – incompetently, as it turns out - for excuses that might sell this health policy U-turn to the public. The less charitable view is that the government was being deliberately misleading. Are we to think Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is a fool, or a liar? It seems rather early on in his term of office to be facing that unpleasant choice. Yet when Luxon (and senior MP Chris Bishop) tried to defend the indefensible with the same wildly inaccurate claim, there are not a lot of positive explanations left on the table.... More