Worming their way into city

By BERNARD ORSMAN

It was the Greens' turn to woo voters in Auckland yesterday when the leadership and local candidates, brandishing everything from a worm bin to a solar panel, launched the party's sustainable cities policy.

The latest Herald-DigiPoll survey showing the Greens polling 6.4 per cent in Auckland, better than its nationwide score of 5.2 per cent, has led the party to lift its profile across the city in the last week of campaigning.

The party got a welcome boost yesterday when the successful local soft-drink company Phoenix Natural Foods urged customers to give their party vote to the Greens.

Phoenix director Chris Morrison said the company wanted a strong green voice in Parliament to see off the genetically engineered food threat and market internationally an image of New Zealand food being clean, green and organic.

A One Network News-Colmar Brunton poll last night also confirmed that the Greens co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons was ahead in the crucial seat of Coromandel with 44 per cent of the electorate vote, five points clear of the sitting National MP, Murray McLean.

Labour's Margaret Hawkeswood was on 11 per cent. A Bay of Plenty Times poll published last Wednesday had Jeanette Fitzsimons nine points clear of Mr McLean.

Just a day after a new study showing Auckland must squash to grow, Jeanette Fitzsimons told a lunchtime crowd in downtown Queen Elizabeth Square that Auckland was a prime example of an unsustainable city.

"In 1994 Auckland ran out of water. In 1998 it ran out of power and at 5 pm it runs out of roads."

"Everyone thinks the answer is to build more roads, stormwater drains and energy lines. The only solution to deal with Auckland's unsustainability is to change the mindset and learn to do more with less for longer."

Jeanette Fitzsimons said a sustainable future for cities was a mixture of high-tech and down-to- earth.

Among the items Auckland candidates brought along to illustrate this point were a long-life lightbulb, a solar-powered radio, a filter for stormwater drains and organically grown flowers and vegetables.

The Greens, who have already announced a five-year moratorium on urban motorways to free money for public transport, believe sustainable cities are where it is easy to get around without a car.