Today I announced that, for the first time ever, ACT is looking to stand common-sense candidates in this year’s local council elections.New Zealanders voted for real change in 2023 – but we’ve heard loud and clear that your council missed the memo. Ratepayers are being squeezed harder than ever, yet local politicians continue to waste money, neglect basic services, and push ideological agendas that most Kiwis never asked for.

We’re encouraging our supporters to get involved, and support ACT Local. That is how we get real change and lower rates in councils.With an ACT councillor, you’d know where your representative stands. In Parliament we’ve staked our reputation on delivering the basics well, scrapping wasteful spending, and taking race out of politics. In local government we’d do the same.

If you’re sick of seeing your hard-earned rates [payments] wasted, now’s your chance to do something about it.

👉 File an expression of interest to stand for your council.
👉 Sign up to volunteer to support ACT candidates get elected.
👉 Chip in to support ACT’s local government campaign.

An ACT Councillor would be committed to:

🚧 Delivering the basics well. That means fixing the roads and pipes, and collecting the rubbish. 

🗑️ Scrapping wasteful spending. You work hard for your rates so we’d cut out the vanity projects and stick to doing what only council can do. 

🚗 Ending the war on cars. We depend on our cars to get to work, pick up our kids, and live our lives. ACT councillors would reject anti-car ideology, prioritise fixing potholes, and let local residents decide how they want to travel.

🏛️ Taking race out of local politics. ACT councillors would champion equal rights, opposing race-based representation and woke procurement so that council decisions benefit all ratepayers, regardless of ethnicity.

💵 Being accountable to you. Too much of what councils do happens behind closed doors, orchestrated by unelected, faceless bureaucrats. We’d bring transparency and force accountability for anyone spending your money.

🔻Keeping rates down. ACT councillors would bring solutions to keep rates down and vote against rate hikes that fail to respect the pressures faced by households.

This is going to be a big effort. If you want to see ACT councillors championing ACT values in your town hall, we’re going to need your support. Whether you are interested in standing as a candidate, helping out as a volunteer, or making a contribution to the campaign, it’s time to act now and ACT Local. 

We want to make sure that in October, New Zealanders have the chance to get real ACT values around the council table. Are you ready for real change?

Thank you for your continued support.

Yours sincerely,
David Seymour
ACT Leader

Kapiti doesn’t have a tradition of national-level political party involvement in elections: the only recent councilors who openly campaigned (and were elected) on a Labour Party platform were Rob McCann in 2019 and the present Mayor in 2022. It’s possible Sophie Handford in Paekakariki/Raumati made her Labour membership known in that ward. National has always stayed out of local council elections. —Eds