Mike Kampkes
Auckland, September 14, 2022
I was born and raised in Hawkes Bay to Dutch immigrant parents who arrived in New Zealand in the early 1950s with just £10 in their pockets.
Being one of seven children times was tough, and while we were poor as Church mice in those early years, we were never short of love and support. Work and, as importantly, how to spend wisely and “look after your stuff,” was instilled in us like it was coded into our DNA.
Fast forward to today and my family and I are financially independent, having achieved that on a single income a decade ago.
I still work and have chosen to put a corporate career behind me in 2014 and take up building which I am enjoying to this day.
Varied employment roles
There were plenty of jobs before I left school. I attained University Entrance before beginning my career with a Management Trainee position at Wattie’s in Hastings (Heinz-Wattie’s as they are known now) and worked for that company through to 2000 and subsequent management roles beyond that with other companies.
Additionally, with a part share in a couple of Auckland retail outlets for 16 years, there were plenty of learnings from a small business environment to add to my skill base in manufacturing, supply and logistics and a range of other disciplines. I am quite comfortable around a boardroom table as I am pitching in on the factory floor.
I moved with the family up to Auckland in 1997 into a lovely little bungalow in one of our beautiful suburbs Narrow Neck and never left. Auckland is my home.
My interests are many and varied but from a child, fishing has always been a passion and currently, I enjoy nothing better than to be drifting on the tide in my fishing kayak on the Hauraki Gulf with the objective being, three snappers in the bag before returning home.
Equity and fairness
Those who know me understand I am passionate about our country, our rich outdoor sun-filled way of life, equity and fairness. That translates into a passion for inclusive democracy and the environment. I rail against the toothless UN, and the corrupted US democracy and I watch with dread, fear and hope as the war grinds on in Ukraine, as do I watch the inexorable march of climate change with the same mix of feelings.
Locally of late, we have our government eroding the local body institutions and the democratic principles on which they are founded. Rushing through needless housing intensification law, abusing the consultative process along the way, consequently denying our right to due process, and adversely affecting Aucklanders, with no mandate from the people in its suburbs.
Similarly, Three Waters, the nationalisation of council assets to be handed to undemocratic bodies further gutting Councils, and more command and control. To add insult to injury, we have Council-Controlled Organisations paying lip service to the consultation process.
So, I am out of my fishing kayak and I am off the couch to sort it. Now is the time to stand up for those principles and reinvigorate democracy in our spectacular city and our nation.
I will deliver that along with substantial policies on affordable housing to put more money into the pockets of those in lower income brackets.
Poverty breeds crime. High house prices and high rents breed poverty. We must break the cycle. All of society including businesses benefit from this.
I have more innovative policies across a wide range of Auckland Council’s key functions.
Please visit www.mikek4mayor.kiwi for more information.
Mike Kampkes is a candidate for the Auckland Mayoralty.
