No politician or political party is entitled to anything, least of all the loyalty of a neighbourhood or electorate.
The privilege of representing our community is something I work every single day to earn – this is why it’s an honour to be writing to you freshly re-elected as your local Auckland Central MP.
Thank you to everyone who voted for me to continue our crucial work ensuring our Auckland Central and Aotearoa New Zealand at large are designed around wellbeing for people and planet. I do not take that support for granted and am humbled by our five-fold increased margin even before the special votes are counted.
I want to acknowledge the other candidates who put their hats into the ring to fight for our electorate. It takes a lot of guts, energy and personal sacrifice to step into the political arena and I have nothing but respect for those who have the courage of their convictions. Our democracy is all the stronger for it.
Monday, after election day, I met with Mayor Wayne Brown to discuss immediate priorities for our city – particularly our city centre – with the incoming Parliament and Government. There were many promises made by parties soon to assume the Government benches about resource sharing with Local Government and localised decision-making throughout the election and we’ll be keeping the pressure on to ensure they're delivered (because, notably, the same parties who promised this devolution were responsible for the strongly opposed Super City amalgamation last time they were in power).
Some readers may recall that earlier this year, I sought to rally the 40-odd MPs based in and representing electorates across Tāmaki Makaurau to try and find a constructive, creative and collaborative way to prevent what could have been disastrous cuts in Auckland Council’s draft Budget proposals. While we disappointingly found little interest from MPs, we managed to get tens of thousands of Aucklanders engaged in what became the largest ever submission drive for a Council Budget. This democratic process drove greater accountability and public understanding, in turn softening cuts and protecting outcomes for climate and community.
It’s this grassroots problem solving approach, consistently ensuring our communities understand the decisions that impact us and how we can influence them, that you can continue to expect from my work. Simply put, politics doesn’t just happen every three years with a general election, but every single day in the decisions made which impact our daily lives. If we leave politics to the politicians, we’ll get what we’ve always got: generalised dissatisfaction. The more that everyday people pay attention and get involved, the higher the bar of expectation is raised, as it should be.
I’m proud to have come out the other side of the election campaign with the Greens holding steadfast to a clear vision of a country that ensures everyone has what they need to get by, thriving nature and a healthy planet. We put forward necessarily bold, evidence-based policies to confront the challenges of our time and you’ll continue to see us fight for these in the halls of Parliament. You can also expect to see our usual constructive approach in working across the aisle to achieve these gains.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to my office if there are any issues you need support on, ideas big or small. Every single day we have the opportunity to contribute to the communities that all of us deserve and I’m grateful to have the platform to continue doing that organising and work for and with Auckland Central for the next three years. (Chlöe Swarbrick)
Chlöe Swarbrick, T: 09 378 4810, E: chloe.swarbrick@parliament.govt.nz
www.greens.org.nz/chloe_swarbrick
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Published: November 2023