Here are your Wellington mayoral candidates - and these are their policies

Saturday, 2 August 2025

Some of Wellington's mayoral candidates, in alphabetical order clockwise from top left: Alex Baker, Diane Calvert, Ray Chung, Rob Goulden, Josh Harford, Andrew Little, Donald McDonald, Pennywize the Rewilding Clown, Joan Shi and Karl Tiefenbacher.

In just over a month, voting papers will start arriving in Wellington City letterboxes and voting will open in what is already a highly contested mayoral race.

It is the mayoral candidates that will suck up most of the oxygen but, as any of the recent mayors can attest, a mayor without a council behind them is virtually powerless – they are ultimately just one vote at the table of up to 18.

But it is the only city-wide vote, with the exception of Te Whanganui-a-Tara Māori ward for those on the Māori electoral roll, so a decisive mayoral win can be fairly read as a referendum on policies the city wants.

There has already been plenty of politics, insults, allegations of dirty politics, unseemly emails … and there is nothing to suggest the coming two months until voting closes on October 11 will be any different.

Aside from that, The Post is taking a look at what candidates actually stand for. It turns out, they mostly stand for pretty much the same things – affordable rates, a safer city, returning the council to basics and leading a cohesive council.

But it will be their perceived ability to do it, and some actual policy differences ‒ some oppose party politics while some are on party tickets ‒ that could swing votes.

Ray Chung is running on a zero rates increase promise.

They are listed in random order with names pulled from a bowl. For the better-known, we have included a video so you can hear them in their own words ‒ on policy, not politics ‒ as much as possible.

Ray Chung has had a torrid run and, amid the fallout of the lewd email he wrote, pulled out of a video interview with The Post then did not reschedule or return calls.

It means that we have not been able to question him in recent times on his policies and can only go by the five “pillars” of the group Independent Together (IT) of which he is a member.

The most audacious of them is to maintain no rate increases for three coming years. Specifically how this will be achieved, and what will have to be cut, has never been fully detailed (though there is talk of things like “top down budgeting”, reducing council staff numbers via attrition, reducing duplication, focusing on core services, and getting rid of “gold plating”).

Chung has previously admitted zero rate increases may not be possible in the first year, though more recently says it is.

Broadly speaking, Independent Together talks of cutting “unnecessary” council projects and prioritising core infrastructure.

Wellington Mayoral Candidate Andrew Little sits down with The Post Senior Journalist Tom Hunt.

They also plan a “back to basics” approach, bringing business back to the city including reinstating removed car parks, removing party politics from council (IT sees itself as a group aligned around shared goals but not a political party), and focusing on city safety.

Chung has not pledged to release the identity of major donors before voting starts.

Andrew Little of Labour is being widely touted as the front-runner in the mayoral race but this is anecdotal with no known and reliable polling done since he announced.

He recently rolled out a policy, with Greater Wellington Labour candidates, for a weekly cap on bus and train fares.

He pledges to save community facilities such as Khandallah Pool, the Begonia House and Karori Event Centre.

Andrew Little is standing for Wellington mayor on the Labour ticket.

Little is promising stronger financial controls and an external advisory group to “run the ruler” over council projects.

Wellington mayoral candidate Alex Baker sits down with The Post Senior Journalist Tom Hunt.

He also pledges to rebuild the city’s trust in the council by ending the “misuse” of commercial confidentiality as well as proper engagement and community impact statements on major decisions.

His stated priorities are fixing pipes and investing in parks, swimming pools and libraries; more housing development, supporting small business, revitalising the economy, taking action on the climate, honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi and keeping a firm grip on the council and its finances.

An amalgamation referendum in the 2028 election, opening the harbour quays bus lanes, and improving the Karori to Miramar bus routes are all policies. He supports the Golden Mile revamp in principle – if costs won’t blow out and businesses are impacted as little as possible.

He has pledged to release the identity of major donors before voting starts. More policies, including on housing, are promised.

Alex Baker, a newcomer to politics, has some of the most complete policies so far.

Alex Baker is running for mayor as an independent with many Green-aligned policies.

Running as an independent with many Green-aligned policies, he also has a focus on financial discipline and policies that could appeal to business.

Perhaps strongest of these is a rates overhaul. By switching to a rating system based on land value (rather than the current system of land plus improvements) he wants to remove incentives that stop more homes being built.

Rob Goulden is a former city councillor.

He says businesses need a rates structure that doesn’t push them out of the city. He wants a revamped business development agency to grow business, with a focus on getting more non-government jobs into Wellington.

Council effectiveness and cost control, plus attracting and retaining young families, are parts of his strategy to reduce rates – with a lower council cost base, spread across more ratepayers.

The former accountant is Green at heart, hence committing to bus lanes, bike lanes and pedestrian improvements, plus doubling down on Wellington’s predator free and native species conservation.

Diane Calvert is running as a 'no frills' mayoral candidate.

He promises to reveal all large donations before voting starts, but has so far budgeted $40,000 of his own money for the campaign.

Rob Goulden is a former city councillor who has been releasing his policies largely via Facebook.

They include more electric buses (a regional council area) and better bus stops, which do sit with the city council. He also talks of “fairer bus fares and more”.

In one Facebook video, Goulden stands in front of the long-shuttered (though scheduled to reopen) Amora Hotel.

Current city councillor Diane Calvert is running for mayor.

“If elected I will strive to transform these areas into hubs of opportunity, fostering investment and community vibrancy across the city,” his post says.

Wellington Mayoral Candidate Karl Tiefenbacher sits down with The Post Senior Journalist Tom Hunt.

His nomination statement talks of reducing debt and keeping rates affordable with increases of no more than inflation.

Pennywize the Rewilding Clown at a recent Independent Together road show - he is not linked to the group.

Goulden wants to make Wellington an arts, cultural and entertainment capital; encourage the film industry and make the city an IT hub. His way of achieving these things seems to be through leaving those industries to their own devices without council intervention. Goulden promises to release more concrete policies soon.

Diane Calvert, a current city councillor, had ruled out a run for the mayoralty until a surprise announcement that she was indeed running as a “no frills” candidate.The fact she is yet to come out with a full policy platform suggests that this was truly a last-minute call.

She has five “core priorities”. They are, in her words: Reset the budget and respect ratepayers, get the basics (roads, waste and public spaces) right, build safer and stronger communities, have a city open for business, building and “bold ideas”, and a council that listens, engages and delivers.

Perhaps her strongest point of difference is, with nine years already on council, she is the one sitting councillor in the race with the strongest first-hand knowledge of how the council works and the history of how it has come to decisions (Chung is so far a one-term councillor and Goulden was last a councillor in 2010).

Karl Tiefenbacher is an independent candidate for mayor.

“Whilst it was a late call for me to stand for mayor, I had already put a lot of thought into how we reset the direction of this council to meet the challenges we all know that exist (also identified in the pre-election report),” she said.

Joan Shi is an independent candidate for mayor.

“I think the difference between the candidates is what gets prioritised first and how we go about addressing them.” She has not pledged to release large donations prior to voting.

Wellington mayoral candidate Donald McDonald put his affiliation as “Mcdone waiting 2coming terms Passover”.

Pennywize the Rewilding Clown is an unashamed satirical candidate with policies including returning the Basin Reserve to swamp and daylighting the Waitangi streams with people able to ride tuna (eels) to work.

There is also a plan to bring the moa back from extinction, and they will also form part of Wellington’s public transport solution.

Karl Tiefenbacher, like many, aims to reduce the rates burden, but not only through cutting projects. He does want to cancel the Golden Mile overhaul, new cycleways and organic waste collection – but also wants to negotiate with the Government to transfer the cost of council social housing back to it.

Josh Harford is running under the Silly Hat Party for the Wellington mayoralty.

There is also talk of ensuring council staffing levels are “appropriate for the outcome required” and auditing council processes around “procurement and delivery”, while setting key performance indicators within the council to compare costs against other councils around the country.

Tiefenbacher aims to restore Wellington's reputation as the “creative capital” with the likes of busker festivals, music, sports events, and light displays. In addition, he aims to make Wellington the “tech and innovation capital of Australasia' by heading a council that encourages investment in the city.

He promises a safer central city with more CCTV and better lighting as well as making sure local bylaws, such as anti-loitering, are properly enforced.

Tiefenbacher has not pledged to release the identity of major donors before voting starts as he believes political parties split donations from big donors to get them below the declarable limit which creates an unfair playing field. He is self-funding much of his campaign.

Joan Shi promises to focus council spending on core infrastructure and essential community services – particularly fixing leaking pipes, better and more affordable public transport and “nurturing a business friendly environment”.

She plans to negotiate with the Government for funding and sharing GST for core infrastructure.

Donald McDonald is a regular contender for council or the mayoral seat and, by his count, has run eight times. He claims to be “zero honest” but says anyone running who claims to be otherwise is lying.

McDonald wants to change the calendar to months of five, six-day weeks to create a simpler system – it would need a correction every six years, then every 800 years.

He wants clearer answers from the council and to conduct an audit of the call centre.

McDonald – party affiliation “Mcdone waiting 2coming terms Passover” – wants to reduce the number of cars and have harsher penalties for infringements such as over-parking and driving in bus lanes.

Josh Harford, of the Silly Hat Party, is, like Pennywize, of the less-serious persuasion. His policies include a lazy river down Courtenay Place, mandating optimism for all councillors and council staff, and better weather from massive sails to direct wind to Cook Strait and the Hutt Valley and a giant umbrella.

The party, also fielding a candidate in Dunedin, wants animal voting rights, a war on sand flies, abolishing decimal numbers, and replacing the New Zealand dollar with chocolate fish.

Scott ‘Scoot’ Caldwell visited Wellington for the first time in June. He says it is time to stop pouring money into quake prone buildings and start investing in a thriving city. He wants to generate high rates income without asking residents to pay more.