Would-be mayor still involved in Wellington Live, interviews rival

Monday, 31 March 2025

Wellington mayoral candidate Graham Bloxham: “Some of my writing is super-aggressive and unbalanced.”

Graham Bloxham, one of numerous people in the running to be Wellington’s next mayor, continues to create content for his Wellington Live site – including conducting an interview with an unwitting mayoral rival.

Bloxham owns Facebook page Wellington Live and numerous other sites under the banner of One Network.

In January he announced he was running to be Wellington’s mayor and said he had sold Wellington Live and associated websites though was yet to reveal who the new owner was, other than it was an Australian-based company which was “very big” in hosting websites and social media.

Bloxham on Monday, the day the new owner was expected to be announced, confirmed he was still involved in creating content for Wellington Live. This included an interview with fellow mayoral candidate Karl Tiefenbacher, which he would send off to someone else to compile, check, and add balance before posting on Wellington Live.

Wellington mayoral contenders, clockwise from top left, include incumbent Tory Whanau, conservationist Kelvin Hastie, city councillor Ray Chung, former city councillor Rob Goulden, radio host Nick Mills (who is currently just considering a run), and businessman Karl Tiefenbacher.

“Some of my writing is super-aggressive and unbalanced,” Bloxham said.

Tiefenbacher confirmed he received a call from Bloxham, who he knew, but only realised halfway through the call he was being interviewed.

“I don’t know what he is playing at,” Tiefenbacher

Meanwhile, Bloxham claimed the deal was going through on Monday but there was a glitch with the new owners not wanting to buy one of his Facebook pages, South Proud.

He said he was meeting with the new owners over dinner in Wanaka on Monday night to finalise the deal, though claimed Wellington Live was already sold and the delay was so “due diligence” could be done.

There is no current company called One Network listed with the Companies Office though a company named Wellington – Live on Monday had Bloxham as the sole owner and director.

The Post in February revealed Bloxham was previously issued at least two court orders to pay his workers and bailiffs had been sent to seize his car.

Bloxham bought Wellington Live as an existing entity and said he now had a staff of three in New Zealand, and six part-time content producers in Karachi, Pakistan, one in South America, and one in Australia.

In a January statement, Bloxham issued a list of promises if he was to become mayor, including reducing rates and associated rents “for young ones significantly” and fighting to retain the annual Homegrown music festival.

He said he would “give cars the priority they deserve”, cut “wasteful” costs, reduce council staff numbers by 800, keep the council’s airport shares, and bring in an expert to write the council’s long-term plan. He also promised to start the conversation about amalgamating some Wellington councils.

“I will personally walk to the tunnel and start digging the thing to move past these awful ‘stagnated’ consultants – slowing everything down,” he said.

Bloxham also planned to stand in the Paekawakawa/Southern ward as a councillor.

Also in the running for the mayoral chair is incumbent Tory Whanau, city councillor Ray Chung, conservationist Kelvin Hastie, businessman Karl Tiefenbacher, and former city councillor Rob Goulden. Radio host Nick Mills is also considering a run.