Meet Sam Walmsley, running for Palmerston North City Council.
Watch the full Local Focus interview for Walmsley's views on the region's biggest issues, and our less important quickfire questions.
Sam Walmsley is a type 1 diabetic who works hard managing his health alongside all of life's stresses. As a candidate for Palmerston North City Council he reckons this abilityto juggle life's problems would make him a great city councillor, along with his work experience in hospitality, landscaping and home maintenance.
"I've always started at the bottom, and worked my way to the top," he said.
Walmsley is best known as an anti-vaxxer and conspiracy theorist, who spent 16 days at the anti-mandate protest outside Parliament earlier this year. It is reported by Stuff that he returned feeling unwell with Covid symptoms, but blamed it on radiation poisoning and advocated copper bracelets as protection.
Walmsley, who is also a fire-dancer, is passionate about tiny houses and believes they are "a big asset to our community for people who can't afford the outlandish house prices".
The Palmerston North City Council candidate admits he is "definitely no climate change expert, or scientist" but believes renewable energy "needs to be researched more".
"Things like solar panels are great, 'cos I've got them, I know. And they cut down that power bill and everything like that - but the materials they're made from, where these materials come from - is not very environmentally friendly."
Some other councillor candidates were not available to be interviewed and others chose to not be interviewed by Local Focus.
