Stephen Berry Affordable Auckland leader and ACT candidate at the last election Stephen Berry has announced he will stand for Auckland Mayor once again. The openly-gay political hopeful stood in 2013 and finished third, with 4.1 per cent of the vote. Berry says he accepts that at this stage he is an outside chance to win but believes Affordable Auckland will be able to have a strong impact on the result of the election. “In 2013 we started campaigning only six months out from the election, our limited resources were spread across five cities and we were ignored by the media. This time around we are starting to campaign today, we will have more resources focused only on the Auckland election and our voice cannot be ignored.” His campaign will focus on lower rates, focusing on core Council services and deregulating the housing market. Berry has recently been outspoken against council advisory groups, including a proposed Rainbow Panel, saying the Council should not be in the business of creating special interests which get a greater hearing than other concerned individuals. “It is clear that seniors, gays and Pacific people all need their rubbish collected. We don’t need a special advisory board for each group to convey that,” he stated. Announcing his campaign early, Berry says if another candidate steps up who supports these policies he will consider withdrawing, to avoid any chance of splitting the vote. Berry will also stand for Auckland Council in the Albany ward.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 13th April 2015 - 10:06am