The income inequality lobby group Closing The Gap has surveyed local body candidates on what it believes are crucial issues affecting the Bay of Plenty and New Zealand.

And it wants to share the results so the electorate can make considered, informed decisions when they vote for new mayors, councillors and boards in the local body elections.

Income equality advocate Peter Malcolm. Photo: Supplied.

It polled candidates across the region on their attitudes to the ‘living wage', controls on top salaries, provision of social and affordable housing and fair and equitable rating structures.

They asked candidates questions like whether they supported 'the living wage” for local government employees, whether Local Government Organisations – known as LGOs – should be in the business of caring about the welfare of their residents, and whether they should offer discounted public transport for those on low incomes.

'Often voters know very little about candidates apart from self-written profiles,” says income equality advocate Peter Malcolm. 'And attendance at ‘meet the candidate' opportunities has historically been pathetic.”

Peter says for democracies to function properly it's important for eligible people to vote. 'But often the turnout has been considerably less than 50 per cent and often as low as 30 per cent.” And Peter says this means elected representatives cannot be said to represent the constituency.

However, Closing the Gap is delighted with the candidates' response to its survey. 'Traditionally, the level of response is not high but across the four local authorities we canvassed the response was close to 50 per cent.”

Some of those who did not complete the survey explained they were worried about ‘misrepresentation' and they believed the survey was simplistic.

'But if you look at the survey questions below, the responses on our website and the comments, you can decide for yourself the validity of their reasons for no response,” says Peter.

And from those who did respond, it's clear many of the candidates believe inequality, social justice and affordable housing should be the business of our local authorities.

To assist the electorate on deciding who they want to represent it, Closing the Gap released the questions it presented to candidates. 'I suggest voters give the issues their own rating from one (strongly agree) to five (strongly disagree) and compare the outcomes to those of the candidates on our website. That should assist wise decision making and ensure they get the right people to represent them.”

The full results of the candidate survey and comments are on the Closing the Gap website: www.closingthegap.org.nz