Candidate Kōrero: Scott Sheeran

Words by Ethan Manera (he/him)

Dr Scott Sheeran has lived many lives before throwing his hat in the ring for Wellington Central. He went from being “famous for not turning up at school”, and sporting dreadlocks while in a university band, to becoming a published author on human rights law and working multiple stints at the UN. 

Most recently, Sheeran has been in Abu Dhabi, working as senior legal counsel to the United Arab Emirates Government. Last month, he packed up and moved back to Wellington with his family to try his luck at politics.

Despite running for a seat that National hasn't won since 1978, he's confident that he has a chance. “I don't know what's going to happen, but I certainly don't feel like I'm somehow handicapped.”

“Maybe I'm an oddball, who knows?” he jokes. 

Sheeran sat down with Salient to discuss his top three priorities for Pōneke: housing, transport, and investment.

Housing:

Sheeran says Wellington’s rental woes stem from “an issue of supply”, and says that National “don't think that price controls, more taxes on landlords, asset taxes, and all that stuff” will resolve the issue. He supports National’s plan to allow more housing outside of city centres by getting rid of the requirement for councils to build housing under Medium Density Residential Standards, and allowing “greenfields” development on rural land. 

Sheeran said National’s plan to build a road connecting Petone to Grenada Village “will open up housing space for about 5000 more houses in greenfields”. The party’s policy will also enable councils to zone 30 years worth of previously set aside land immediately, freeing up space to allow more houses to be built faster, which he calls a “really good plan”. 

When asked how he would advocate to improve standards of poor quality student flats, Sheeran said that more development outside the city would improve the overall market, giving renters more choice. 

“We've got to enforce standards. I think a lot of landlords are actually pretty decent at doing that,” he said. When asked if that meant he supported a policy to enforce the Healthy Homes Standards, Sheeran backtracked, “I really don't have an answer for that, because, partly, I haven't thought about it”. He said he was prepared to look into it, but noted it was not National Party policy.

“I've seen a few student flats. They are much better than what I used to live in in Dunedin, in that I didn't see health issues. But I haven't gone to some of the worst places in town,” he said.

As for his own personal housing situation, Sheeran is currently renting a home on Wellington's iconic Cuba Street. When asked, he also revealed he is a landlord. 

Transport

Sheeran is keen to scrap the contentious Let’s Get Wellington Moving transport initiative because “there hasn't been much action”. He supports the National Party’s new transport policy, which would see a second Mount Victoria tunnel, a four-lane highway through the city, as well as scrapping the plans for light rail, which Sheeran calls “a pipe dream in terms of the cost to benefit and the size of the population”.

He said the council's current approach of removing on-street parking to build cycleways is “killing the central city” as “lots of people are no longer driving in because they can't get a car park, and lots of businesses are really finding it quite hard”.

“I get that most students probably don't think much about cars because they’re like, ‘Well, I don't have a car.’ [...]  But when you’ve got three kids, like I have, and a grandmother, you know, public transport is quite difficult.” 

He acknowledges that roads are not the only solution, and says that National’s policy has been unfairly framed as extreme. “Buses are the future of public transport. We can have electric buses; we can build a little bit of extra capacity around the choke points; we can have a bus network that would serve us really well. I have to say, I've never been to the capital city of a developed country that has such a schmozzle as what we have on buses. Like, it's really crazy.”

Sheeran says that although he doesn't currently own a car, he is in the market for a new ride, and will “probably” get a Nissan Leaf. Asked if he would get a Tesla to match Christopher Luxon, Sheeran ruled it out with a firm “hell no”.

Investment

One of Sheeran’s top priorities is the economy, and as the Wellington Central MP, he says he would “try to make the place a bit more business friendly”.

“I talk to businesses who say they tell people not to start a business now because your rates are going up. It's all getting very, very hard.”

He says the city needs to be better at nurturing all businesses, especially social enterprises. “They hire people; they provide great jobs.”. 

He says that climate change comes under investment and is one of the policy areas he loves advocating for. “National has exactly the same target as the greens, we just have a different plan on how to do it,” he said. 

National’s current climate change policies include increasing renewable energy generation by fast tracking the resource contents process, and lifting the ban on genetic modification to “give farmers the tools they need to reduce emissions, such as gene-edited crops, feed, and livestock”.

Students

While no tertiary education policy has been released by National, Sheeran hinted that such policy will be out before the election. He wouldn't be pushed on what it would include, but says the current first year fees free program is “a poorly designed policy”.

He said that although he agrees with the objective of trying to increase enrollments in universities, he supports a means-tested approach, which would see only students from low income families receiving free tertiary education.

“What National doesn't do on tertiary education is just say, ‘[Here’s] lots more money, guys, we'll give you all free allowances, there'll be no university fees…’ That's BS, right, it's never gonna happen.”

Opponents

Sheeran takes an amicable approach towards his opponents, saying he respects anyone who runs for public office. In response to attacks from Green candidate Tamatha Paul, who recently called Sheeran out for “parachuting in from Abu Dhabi”, he says he doesn't feel the need to respond. “Candidates say lots of things, but that's not my style [...] people will judge me for who I am.”

However, Sheeran was quick to give a shout out to The Opportunities Party candidate for Wellington Central, Natalia Albert, “because nobody else does”.

“She has this problem that nobody includes her in the discussion. They don't invite her to the debates or whatever, but she's got some very good ideas, and she's a good person.” He says that he “would work really well with her” if they both ended up in government.