Helensville Candidate Selection Announcement

11 Dec, 2019

From Chris Leitch, Leader

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Social Credit has chosen a 21 year old as its candidate for the new Helensville electorate.

Callan Neylon is the first of the party’s candidates to be selected for next year’s general election.

He has a particular interest in ecology and set up an environmental group at Bream Bay College in Ruakaka where he was a prefect and house captain, and he has a Certificate in Horticulture from Northtec.

Mr Neylon is strongly opposed to the Chinese Government owned Waste Management Ltd proposal to build a potentially toxic landfill in the Dome Valley, which is just south of Wellsford and in the new Helensville electorate.

"At a time when the government is telling us we must reduce waste and emissions they have allowed the sale of 1000 hectares of Dome Valley farmland for what would be the country’s largest rubbish dump, in a flood prone area where the potential risk of toxic leachate spilling into the Kaipara Harbour is high”.

 “Landfills are an antiquated idea that should remain in the 20th century. We should be embracing technological solutions like waste to energy plants”.

 “As we saw with the Fox Glacier landfill just this year where flood waters spilled tonnes of rubbish into the ocean, dumps are ecological disasters waiting to happen and will continue to pose a risk to our air, soil and waterways for many generations to come”

“Yet New Zealand’s Green Party and government partners are happy to see this proposal, which will add 500 return trips by truck and trailer units on State Highway one between Auckland and the Dome Valley every day, go ahead”.

"A waste to energy plant south of Auckland that would be close to New Zealand’s fastest growing cities, and could take rubbish from the whole of the country would be far more forward thinking.”

“This would take large numbers of heavy trucks off the road and be more efficient, less polluting and make roads safer for other users.”

Mr Neylon says Social Credit’s funding policies would enable much greater investment in health care and particularly mental health support, an issue he sees as affecting large numbers of young people around his age.

Callan Neylon is the Social Credit Party's Youth Wing Leader.