Local Elections 2022: Whanganui District Council candidate Michael Law wants transparency

Whanganui District Council candidate Michael Law said he wants to create a new strategy that aligns with the values of Whanganui. Photo / Supplied

First-time Whanganui District Council candidate Michael Law says he wants to make sure that in 20 years' time, Whanganui is better than it is today for his three young children.

"I want to bring an objective-driven lens to help create strategies and outcomes that will benefit our children in the future."

Law is a management consultant and owns local business Surge Consulting, with 60 employees.

"For the last 15 years, I've worked with ministries and large organisations to ensure lower costs while meeting the same services and outcomes," he said.

"A lot of businesses come to Whanganui but I want to focus on growing local businesses so when young people leave school they don't have to move to Auckland to get a job."

He said he could help fix some of the prohibiting factors stopping Whanganui from growing.

"For instance, we have 5 per cent homelessness and wages aren't keeping up with inflation.

"I believe there was a 3.1 per cent wage increase, a 3.6 per cent inflation, and yet a 3.4 per cent increase in rates," Law said.

"If you want a greater Whanganui, you need to invest in the future. To invest in the future you need to grow your economy and to grow your economy you need to fix the prohibiting factors."

"So I want to create a new strategy and bring the democratic voice into the board room so it's not 12 people making the decisions it's 48,000."

"My competitive advantage is that I am young, I'm in technology and I focus on innovation."

Law said the Three Waters reforms were a power grab and he was completely against it.

"If the central government wanted safe and clean water, then they would use the health act which is already in place to push these investments onto councils with restrictions," he said.

"If they actually cared, they would do it."

He said it was too early to tell what he thought about the Resource Management Act.

If elected, what do you want to be judged on after your first year?

"I would like the whole team to be known for transparency and focusing on objectivity and democracy.

"So it needs to be run like a business and therefore keep the value increasing relative to the rates that are being paid.

"My main thing is as a ratepayer and ultimately a shareholder in Whanganui Council Limited, you should know what we are focussing on and how close we are to completing those goals."

How will you do that?

"I want to build an app that allows everyone to have their say on every item in council," Law said.

"Right now no one really knows what the priorities or key performance indicators of the council are, and that's because it's not transparent.

"With the app, if you're waiting for a road repair, you could see it would be about three months away because you're number 198 in the queue."