Auckland’s youngest mayoral candidate joins the race

Friday, 1 July 2016

Chloe Swarbrick wants to shake New Zealand politics to its core.

It's likely the 22 year-old will rattle a few cages after she announced her campaign for the Auckland mayoralty on July 4.

The elephant in the room is she'll be facing up against candidates at least twice her age, but Swarbrick believes that's nothing to stamp her feet about.

If anything, she says it's an advantage

'I come from a generation that the media predicts will never be able to buy into Auckland.

'I don't own a home, I catch public transport almost every day and I have a lot friends who can't find jobs or are leaving because opportunity is greater elsewhere.

'I'm grounded in a lot of the issues that Auckland is currently experiencing.'

Swarbrick describes herself as a 'producer'.

The Epsom resident has a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Auckland. She's started up multiple businesses in fashion and marketing, worked as a journalist with radio station BFM and run numerous community projects.

'My background is essentially that I say yes to a lot of things,' she says.

'I termed myself as a producer and that's essentially just because I make things happen, I get things done.'

Swarbrick says creating a dialogue will separate her from the pack as things heat up in the steps towards the October election.

Housing, jobs, transport, arts and culture, future proofing the city, and transparency are the cornerstones of her campaign.

But it's not a matter of here are the problems, these are your solutions.

'What I really want to do is create a dialogue and get everybody engaged and involved,' Swarbrick says.

'You have to engage people in a way that makes sense to them. I'm fully prepared to be responsive . . . I do want people questioning things because that's what democratic society is supposed to be.'

She points to the fact that only 34 per cent of eligible voters took part in the 2013 Auckland local body elections.

'The perceived frontrunners have touched on the housing crisis and they have talked about a few other things but to date nobody has talked about how voter turnout is dismal.

'If that low of a turnout is indicative of anything it's that people either don't care or aren't being spoken to about what they care about.'

Swarbrick will be standing as an independent.

She says the decision to throw her hat in the ring was a simple one.

'I say yes to opportunities as they arise and the more that I thought about this, the more it made sense.

'I want to live here for the rest of my life and I want it to be the best city that it could possibly be.'