Press Release
ISSUED BY AFFORDABLE AUCKLAND
Convention Centre
Mike Lee Says You Should Pay!
“Sky City wants to build an amazing Convention centre within the ward of Waitemata & Gulf in exchange for being allowed to have more gaming machines. It won’t cost ratepayers a dollar and I welcome it one
hundred percent!” says Affordable Auckland Waitemata & Gulf candidate Stephen Berry.
“Unfortunately, Waitemata & Gulf incumbent Mike Lee thinks ratepayers are a bottomless pit of cash and today voted for a motion passed by Auckland
Council opposing the deal with Sky City which gets Auckland a free convention centre. Obviously Mike Lee thinks
ratepayers should pay for it.”
Mr. Berry believes the list of things Mike Lee would like ratepayers to be compelled to fund is growing impossibly
large, especially after Auckland Council passed a budget today which will see $1..2 billion of additional borrowing over
the next 12 months, bring debt levels up to over $7 billion.
“Mike Lee was instrumental in the construction of the $8 million tram service in Wynyard Quarter. It leads nowhere, has
dismal passenger numbers, yet he backed the spending of another $ 8 million! Mike Lee voted to give $3 million to the
wealthy Anglican church, to help them fund an organ upgrade! Mike Lee supports the construction of the City Rail Loop,
but I’ll wager anything you like that he won’t want it funded out of asset sales.”
“The excessive spending and borrowing of today is going to become the crippling rates of tomorrow. High rates in the
future will make home ownership the exclusive domain of the rich, while rents eat up ever bigger proportions of income.
A vote for Mike Lee in Waitemata & Gulf in October’s election is another vote on council for high rates, spending and borrowing.
To save your children from a future of rates and debt, vote Stephen Berry for Waitemata & Gulf.
ENDS