20 Oct 2017

Wellingtonians hopeful for change

9:38 pm on 20 October 2017

Beyond the Beehive, the suburbs are abuzz with the news that a new government is about to take the reigns after nine years under National.

People on the streets of Wellington were mostly looking forward to life under a Labour-New Zealand First coalition with support from the Greens.

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Eve Huka Photo: RNZ / Emma Hatton

Also on their minds was the raft of promises made and which ones might have made it safely out the other side of negotiations.

Eve Huka, a hospital worker from Newtown, hoped the healthcare sector would receive more funding.

Clean waterways and immigration were also big issues for her and she was glad Ms Ardern and Mr Peters had both been vocal on the topics.

"I didn't care who gave me those things, but I'm glad I got what I wanted."

Housing policy was also a hot topic.

Rebecca Start from Lower Hutt said she wanted to see something done with vacant Housing New Zealand land.

"I'm hoping her policy on the housing market is going to work, because there's a lot of empty spaces where they've pulled down Housing New Zealand houses and they're not doing anything with it."

Alex Gillespie from Porirua said housing affordability was a big problem the new government must tackle.

"I don't even have kids or anything and I'm still struggling to pay my bills and I've been looking for a place around here for over a year now and I still can't find anything in my price range."

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Lawrence Dunn Photo: RNZ / Emma Hatton

Newtown pensioner Lawrence Dunn said rising everyday costs made living on a fixed-income hard and he hoped something would be done about that.

"It's good that Winston Peters is trying to introduce an even-par range for workers and raise the wages up because I believe that the cost of living is going up and up, but the rate of pay is not."

Most people also thought Ms Ardern and Mr Peters would work well together.

Eve Huka said Ms Ardern seemed like she would not put up with any of Mr Peter's "nonsense."

Mr Dunn agreed, he said he thought Ms Ardern would make a good Prime Minister but could learn a lot from Mr Peters.

"He's a good ally for Jacinda and I think he'll help her along."

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