FRIDAY OCTOBER 21 2011
MAINLAND PRESS
WEEKEND
FREE1
PROUDLY LOCALLY OWNED Christchurch election issues P3
What’s that stink? P7
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 25 2011
Winning ride P19
Time to have your say
Staff reporters
THE cost of education, getting the country out of debt, the sales of state assets and support for new technologies have all been raised as key issues for Christchurch voters this election. Mainland Press sought out a variety of voters including a teacher, a mum, senior citizen, tradesperson, employer and someone who was casting their vote for the first time to ask what were the important issues for them this election and how they would affect their vote. Teacher and managing director Craig Fortune was worried about teacher redundancies in Canterbury because of the earthquakes. “The cost of education is one of the biggest issues for me. There’s no free education in New Zealand anymore and schools are run like businesses. National standards in primary schools
Wil McLellan M L ll Employs nearly 70 staff
and the NCEA need to be revisited by an independent body. Funding is important as many schools are now in debt. Attention also needs to be paid to class sizes as research shows that smaller class sizes improve learning. All of these issues are important for me with the election coming up.� Student and first-time voter Ellie Toner said she would probably vote for National as she supported their policies rather than Labour’s. However she didn’t agree with National’s free trade ideaology. Self-employed builder Lindsay Wilson said the costs associated with running your own business would influence his vote. “I’ve just seen something by the Greens where they talked about tax changes for small
businesses. People spend a lot of time – two or three days a month – working on their tax, GST and insurance, all that goes into running a small business. That’s horrendous for us – a major cost. There’s a lot of expenditure going into business.� Mel McQuarrie, who is mum to one-year-old Brylee, was focused on the long-term plans for bettering the country. “Like with Kiwisaver and things like that and saving money and not spending and getting our country into more and more debt.� Senior citizen Joyce Walker said she would vote for National’s John Key but she was disappointed about its policy on state asset sales. “That has made him very unpopular with a lot of people but the opposition really doesn’t
Ellie Toner Student and first-time voter
Craig Fortune C Teacher/managing director
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Joyce Walker Senior citizen
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offer me personally anything that I don’t sort of get now.� Employer Wil McLellan, whose two companies have about 70 staff making gaming products for the global market, said it was important to have a government which was interested in the new technology sector. “The policies that are important to us is who’s going to be investing in new technologies, who’s going to be supporting research and development, who’s going to be supporting extensions of trade abroad for small companies. Currency and policies around that are important as well because that affects how much money we bring back into the company and into the country.� More election coverage P14
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