About Tim
Candidate Statement
So, Climate Change then. You agree that something needs to be done? But what can we do? If we don't change our ways, everything else up for votes is just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. I've been busy enough with family/career/life to do much other than save a few birds - and talking of deck chairs, was going to sit on one now that I’m mostly retired! But I’ve got a nagging feeling that perhaps I should make a difference (kids do that) - bugger. What about you? How about supporting me in putting Climate Change front and centre of Hamilton City Council decisions. I’m an Engineer - but don't let that put you off - and have previously provided IT support at HCC. An inquisitive mind for how the world works, keen to get to the crux of a matter and keen to implement proven solutions.
Candidate Profile Questions
1. What would be your top three priorities for Council the next three years?
Firstly, we should work towards being a carbon net-zero city and stop using the atmosphere as an open sewer. Council will move from the current focus of reducing its own CO2 emissions, to a community-wide reduction. We will leverage Council resources to enable us all to reduce emissions.
Secondly, we need to keep investing in our essential services such as water, transport and rubbish. We all inherited our city's infrastructure when we were born in or moved to Hamilton. It is our privilege and duty to continue to maintain and enhance those services.
And of course, we need to keep our finances under control – long term we should aim for debt-zero. It is absolute bonkers that we seem to have agreed to give ‘the banks’ some of our rates money every year, forever! Instead let’s pass on a debt-zero Council to our children.
2. What is your aspiration for Hamilton Kirikiriroa?
We will be a leading and proud net-zero city thanks to us all working towards that goal. Geo-thermal, wind, solar and perhaps wood waste will supply the majority of our power needs.
We will all have cheaper to run toasty homes thanks to them being very well insulated and heated by affordable renewable energy.
Luckily we will get some respite from the inevitable heat waves due to our extensive tree coverage - keep planting.
Commuting options will consist of electric cars/buses/bikes/scooters as well as walking and cycling, on safe roads and lanes. We will have figured out how to normalise ‘working from home options’ in a way that benefits employers, employees and the environment.
And maybe we will be a bit healthier thanks to choosing to eat a bit less red meat and doing a bit more exercise :-)
3. How do you think Council could best use opportunities to meet the key challenges we are facing?
We have great opportunities to enable this vision starting with the abundant and sustainable energy resources in our vicinity and we can use continually developing technologies to harness this power. Thankfully we are not alone, and it’s not rocket science - many cities around the world are further down the same path towards net-zero and are sharing their knowledge.
Our infrastructure has been looked after well – seems we know how to do that. Efficient water use, by repairing leaks, means less demand to build new reservoirs helping to keep rates down. Continuous improvement should keep us on track to deal with the coming challenges of climate change.
Hamilton is full of wonderful people who work hard to make this a great city in which to live and work. We must continue to support and thank them – we are going to be ever more dependent on their generosity, talent and vision.
4. If there was one thing you could change about Hamilton Kirikiriroa immediately, what would it be?
I’ll answer this question as if we had the magic to ‘change … immediately’. So how about: tomorrow we would all have access to cheap net-zero energy! We could then do all those energy demanding things without passing on anymore climate-debt to our children. Keep driving our cars (if we want to), have warm homes and build enough accommodation for all from sustainable materials. It gets better, we can use this net-zero energy to start to extract CO2 from the atmosphere and even start mining our rubbish dumps for valuable resources. But, alas just like the engineers in the 1960’s we don’t have magic, but when there is the political will and the support of a population, we too can aim for the moon. Vote for candidates that want a net-zero Hamilton.
5. What qualities would you bring to Council that will help our city thrive?
- Reasoning and Problem-Solving - I have the technical skills and a lifelong passion for trying to understand how the world works.
- Honesty and Integrity - Honesty provides truth to help make the right decisions and integrity to make sure it's for the right reasons.
- Compassion and Kindness - treating others as you would want them to treat you seems to be a good idea to me.
- Courage - Willing where necessary to face uncomfortable truths to make the right decisions.
- Self-awareness - Will take advice where I do not have all the expertise/knowledge/experience.
- Thrifty - with my money and yours.
- Professional - I think it is important to prepare for and attend Council meetings with the intention to work in a collaborative manner.
- I am genuinely willing to work hard for Hamilton to achieve net-zero, if you want me to?
6. Where can voters go to learn more about you?
Social media:
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/tim.hunt.for.hcc
Linkedin linkedin.com/in/tim-hunt-7b988314