Following the very well attended Meadowbank St John’s Residents Association Meet the Candidates Indoors Street Corners event on Wednesday 5 August 2026 we asked each candidate on thing they would like to share and one thing they learned in 250 words or less.
All 5 candidates, MC Tim Duguid and the audience at the event.
Each candidates response in alphabetical order by surname is below.
James Christmas
ACT
One thing to share
I did not receive many questions on intensification on the night, but it is a big issue for our community in Meadowbank and St Johns. My mantra is infrastructure before intensification. I want local input restored and an end to the sledgehammer approach from Wellington, such as when Labour and National imposed density standards that allowed three homes of up to three storeys on almost any site as of right. ACT was the only party to stand against that. Our residents know their own streets. Wellington-based politicians and officials do not.
In Parliament I will insist on consideration of infrastructure capacity before upzoning takes effect, whether it’s stormwater, wastewater, schools or roads. I will press for revenue sharing so councils can make the investment. And I will argue for intensification directed where we can carry it, not pushed deep into narrow residential streets.
One thing I learned
As I said on the night, what struck me was the largely positive mood in some of the breakout rooms despite the challenges we face. There is a willingness to debate solutions and interest in confronting and fixing problems rather than explaining them away.
New Zealanders will only back hard decisions if politicians respect them enough to explain them. I am convinced that, with economic discipline and focus from government, the next decade will be a good one for New Zealand, and the outlook of the people I met on Wednesday night is one of the reasons I think that.
Max Harris
Labour
Thanks to everyone who came out! I learned how deeply concerned people are in Meadowbank and St John’s about people struggling in our electorate and country. I had questions across all my “corners” about this: what I’d do about child poverty, what policies I’d support for people in social housing, my position on inequality, what I thought about growing unemployment, what I’d do for young people worried about their futures. You’re right to be worried: this National-ACT-NZ First government has pushed people into hardship, with disability cuts, the axing of pay equity, inaction on the cost of living. We do need more care in our community, and we do need more community in our politics.
One thing I’d share is: I’d be deeply committed to people who are struggling if elected as your local representative (and I do think our Labour campaign can win this time in Tāmaki, with boundary changes and disquiet about this government). I have an electorate office where we’re helping people already, with income support and disability services. This continues the work I’ve previously done as a lawyer and campaigner. I’m asking for your support for Labour – because we need a party with a focus on people after the last three years. And I’m asking for your support for me, Max Harris, because I’ll be your best local advocate: a genuine person of substance, a person serving the whole electorate, who’ll listen, understand, solve problems, and win for the people of this community.
Sacha Haskell
TOP
1 thing I want to share with you:
A vote for Sacha is a vote for a strong independent voice for Tāmaki, who is laser focussed on your interests with decades of hands on, real world professional expertise in local government, building stronger and safer communities, and delivering through stakeholder alignment and consensus.
I will enable:
– safer community and safer transport outcomes
– sensible housing intensification with proper urban planning that will prevent social issues for the wider Tāmaki electorate
– improve local community services and local economic development opportunity
– and be an accelerator to progress and growth through central govt, stakeholder engagement, consensus and alignment.
Opportunity will be the circuit breaker to the handbrake of left/right bloc bickering, and short term thinking – for we are committed to accelerate national progress.
I learnt from you that :
Land Value Tax (LVT) is a concern for Aucklanders in high land value areas, and feel disproportionately disadvantaged.
That’s understandable and I have heard you.
I have already escalated this through to party leadership.
Opportunity’s intent with LVT is to table an option to drive different investment behaviours, share wealth to your next generation while they need it, while fixing the increasing poverty, head off social unrest, and fix the big broken systems now.
We have proposed a ten year transition period, offer flexibility in approach, and this is only the start of the conversation, by no means the end.
Donald Mackenzie Mayo
Green
The main thing I learned from meeting with the community at the Indoor Street Corner Meetings was that, across the political spectrum, there is a sense that we are not investing enough in the things that matter: our neighbourhoods, hospitals, environment, and making life more affordable. I heard particular concern that essential services, especially healthcare, are struggling to keep up with demand. We also need to do more to address the root causes of that demand: things made worse by this Government, including greater exposure to cigarettes/vapes, unaffordable housing, and poor access to healthy food. But I also came away encouraged. Despite increasing political polarisation, there was much more agreement than disagreement about the fundamentals. People want cheaper power, reliable transport, affordable groceries, well-funded hospitals, and a natural environment that future generations can enjoy. My biggest takeaway is that we have more in common than our political debates sometimes suggest. We may disagree about how to get there, but there is a broad desire for a country where working people get a fairer deal, public services are properly funded, and our environment is genuinely protected. For me, that means fixing a tax system that places too much burden on working people while ensuring large international companies pay their fair share. It also means protecting our democracy from undue corporate influence, so decisions about our health and environment are made in the public interest. Despite our differences, I believe we can find common ground on the country we want to build: one where we invest in our communities and nature, so we can all thrive together.
Mahesh Muralidhar
National
It was great to meet so many of you at the MBSJRA’s “Meet the Candidates” event. What struck me most was how clear-eyed residents are about what you want: safer streets, spaces that meet our community’s needs, and growth that doesn’t outpace the infrastructure meant to support it.
I heard it loud and clear on the GI to Tamaki Drive shared path – people want the Gowing Drive and John Rymer connections finished, not just promised. I heard it on the Meadowbank Community Centre, which this association has advocated for through
years of funding setbacks. And I heard real concern about intensification arriving faster than the transport, water, and green space that’s meant to come with it.
These aren’t abstract issues or talking points to me. I live here, and I’ve already started raising them directly with our Ministers, Local Board, Auckland Transport and Watercare. I’ll keep doing that as your MP – showing up, pushing the specifics, and not
letting momentum drop.
This is the work I love. Listening to residents, understanding what you need and then doing the work to deliver outcomes. I’ll use my international, business and policy experience – and my strong relationships with Government Ministers – to solve real problems and get the right decisions for our community and our country.
It would be a privilege to serve you as your MP for Tāmaki. I want to hear what matters to you, please send me an email or drop by my office on 8A Turua St, St Heliers.