Candidates heat up over Maungakiekie
Things got heated as candidates for one of Auckland’s most hotly contested electorates called each other out one last time.
Maungakiekie’s three front runners, National candidate and Auckland councillor Denise Lee, Labour candidate and former policy analyst Priyanca Radhakrishnan and Green candidate Chloe Swarbrick, who came third in the Auckland mayoralty race last year, sat down with Stuff.co.nz on Monday for their final debate before the general election on Saturday.
The three discussed Maungakiekie and the big issues facing the electorate - housing, transport, taxes and climate change. The full debate can be found on our Facebook page.
Radhakrishnan, who is ranked 12 for Labour and Swarbrick, ranked seven for Greens, clashed with Lee, who is ranked at 63 for National.
On transport Swarbrick said massive proposed roading project the East West Link was a ‘‘waste of money’’, while Radhakrishnan said it would be scaled back under a Labour government.
Lee said with traffic slowing down industry in Penrose and Onehunga the East West Link was necessary.
‘‘There’s nothing silly about the engine room of New Zealand’s economy,’’ Lee said.
All three candidates agreed housing was an issue for Maungakiekie.
National’s failure to insulate homes had led to the hospitalis- ation of 40,000 children a year because of preventable respiratory illnesses, Radhakrishnan said.
Labour would build affordable housing on surplus Crown land, and bolster renting rights, including getting rid of letting fees, Radhakrishnan said. commodities and instead start seeing houses as homes.’’
On climate change, National had made progress, including signing up to the Paris Accord, Lee said.
However, this meant nothing because it wasn’t entrenched into domestic law, Swarbrick said.