Karl Tiefenbacher: Wellington businessman throws his hat in the ring to be Wellington's mayor

Business owner Karl Tiefenbacher has officially joined the Wellington mayoral race.

Speaking exclusively to Newstalk ZB Wellington Mornings host Nick Mills, Tiefenbacher announced he plans to stand as an independent candidate for the mayoralty.

He has yet to announce any policies but said his core priorities include changing the culture of Wellington City Council, keeping rates down, and stopping wasteful spending.

Tiefenbacher, who calls himself “Wellington’s ice cream guy” as the founder of Kaffee Eis, has previously run for council twice and lost.

Last year he fell short by only 45 votes to the Green Party’s Geordie Rogers in a byelection for the Pukehīnau Lambton Ward.

His campaign website is now live, with the slogan “Wellington, It’s Time!”.

“Wellington has expensive challenges ahead. As a business owner I understand it’s essential to invest wisely, with responsible and affordable decisions”, his campaign site states.

This time around he also plans to run for a council seat in the Motukairangi Eastern Ward.

His biography states Tiefenbacher was born and raised in Wellington and had “a successful career in the finance sector for 18 years” before starting cafe and gelato manufacturer Kaffee Eis.

Tiefenbacher has previously been critical about the Golden Mile project and moves to pedestrianise Cuba St.

He describes himself as a centrist.

Earlier this month, the local branch for the Labour Party confirmed it had to extend nominations for a mayoral candidate, after no one put their hand up to run for the party.

Confirmed candidates for the mayoralty include incumbent Tory Whanau, city councillor Ray Chung, predator-free champion Kelvin Hastie, Wellington Live owner Graham Bloxham, and former city councillor Rob Goulden.

Of the confirmed candidates, all but Bloxham and Whanau have previously run for the mayoralty unsuccessfully.

Diane Calvert, a third-term councillor and former mayoral candidate, is rumoured to be eyeing up running, telling the Herald this month she still hasn’t decided.

“As an independent, I’m not on a deadline set by a political party,” Calvert said.

John Apanowicz, another current councillor, said he’s still keen to run but is seeking the support of his family and will announce his plans at a later date.

Luke Pierson, a businessman and founding member of lobby group Vision for Wellington, had been rumoured to be considering a run for the top job, but has confirmed he’s not going for it.

“I can rule it out. My focus is on Vision for Wellington - which is inherently apolitical,” Pierson said.

The local election will be held on October 11.

Candidate nominations open on Friday, July 4 and close on August 1.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from news Talk set B.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Right, if we've talked about it all morning, it's drum
roll time. Joining us now for an exclusive announcement that
he is going to run for mayor of Wellington is
Cafe Ice owner Carl Teffan Barker.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
Good morning, want a nickke going great? Thank you excellent?
Tell us Why why are you going to put yourself
out there for this local body election to become mayor
of Wellington? Okay, first of all, I actually want to
be the mayor for Wellington, not the mayor of Wellington.
Subtle difference, I know, but realistically, you know, I'm an independent.

(00:49):
I'm totally independent and I not tied to any party
lines or agendas. I want to make the best decisions
for Walingtonian's and keep that at the forefront of everything
we do. And at the moment, you know, I think
political influences are having too much of an influence in
the council. What are your priorities? What are you going
to make How can you change one vote? You're six
percent one vote, as Tim Brown told us the other day,

(01:10):
So how can you make a change?

Speaker 4 (01:11):
Yeah, Okay, so that's not quite accurate. The mayor has
a little bit more going on than that. So they
effectively choose the committees that basically people are on, and
they choose their chairs of those committees, which kind of
a really big influence on how voting goes and how
things are passed. They also get to liaise directly with
the CEO. So for me, obviously, rates need to come down.

(01:31):
Our rates are getting ridiculous and it's becoming unliverable in
our city. So that's core. Obviously the reason why I'm
wanting to stand is to make sure that we can
live in our city and we can sort of afford
to go out and enjoy it. Secondly, the infrastructure. I
know everyone says that, I know it's boring, but we
actually have to get truly back to looking after the
core infrastructure over all the other nice to have. But

(01:52):
most importantly, it's about changing the culture of the council
so that the council starts working for us and starts
really delivering value for money for the rate pass.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
If you've just joined the show, we're talking to Carl
Teffan Barker, who's just announced today exclusively on this show
that he is going to run for mayor the mayor
of Wellington. Tell me, can you guarantee our listeners guarantee
that their rates are either going to stay the same
or come down under your leadership? Okay, I'm going to
target inflation at worse for our rates. First year.

Speaker 4 (02:18):
We're going to probably aim for zero rate increases, simply
because we.

Speaker 3 (02:21):
Look at aims an easy one. You aim for it,
you can receive it. I want to let our listeners
know that if they vote for you, that they guarantee
that this next their next rate bell is not going
to be any worse than the rate bell that they've
got at the moment.

Speaker 4 (02:34):
So neck, the one thing I can say is I
will fight tooth and nail to get our rates down
to zero increase next year and then inflation. I can't
make guarantees that I potentially can't keep, but what I
can say is we can only.

Speaker 3 (02:46):
Try if you how are you going to do that?
One of the disadvantage of the new new person coming
on to councilors, they've got really no idea about anything.
They've got to actually get in the pool and swim
l like hell. So how can you guarantee that without
really knowing the facts.

Speaker 4 (02:58):
Okay, so firstly, we've we've spent six months basically building
up to this moment. I know we've said that we've
been thinking about it, but realistically we've known I was
going to stand and by way, I mean the team
behind me.

Speaker 3 (03:09):
So we have big team. So at the moment we've
got people working on the standing orders. So for people
who don't know what standing orders are, they're the rules
of engagement for council. So it's the way that the
officers interact with the counselors. And at the moment those
rules are not actually fit for purpose. Standing Do you
feel comfortable that you're going to get in, get into
power and become mayor and be able to hit the

(03:29):
road running? Know what's going on? Feel your you know
we're not going to have while it's give me a
bit of time, give me a bit of time.

Speaker 4 (03:35):
Ye, one hundred percent. I'm not interested in wasting our time.
I'm not interested in the states quo. I mean, essentially,
I know you quite often talk about the fact that
you need to be on council before you become mayor.
I actually think it's quite lucky that after having one
on the night in the last by election that I
actually didn't get on on the council because the relative
is the way we're operating at the moment is not effective.
We need to change the game. We need to change

(03:56):
how we're doing it. We need to take the politics
totally out of it and actually focus on doing the
job right.

Speaker 3 (04:00):
Okay, So you mentioned the by election and a lot
of people that I speak to on the streets viewers
that you struggled to win the by election. Now you
know you've talked about running for me, and now you've
announced it. If you can't get into the council on
a by election against a very young and inexperienced how
the hell are you going to go and beat all

(04:21):
these contenders and become miraor Wennington.

Speaker 4 (04:23):
That's fair question, to be fair, on the night of
one by six hundred votes. Yes, they lost by forty
five votes on recount. If you can remember, I was
on your show prior to that election, where Bicycle basically
you said you have no show. The Green's going to
annihilate you, you can't possibly win. I think the fact
that I actually theoretically did win on the night by
six hundred votes shows that that's not true. The reality

(04:43):
is I lost that election simply because only twenty four
percent of people voted. If people don't get out and vote,
then the soft votes, if you like, are always a
danger of winning. Are you part? Are you part or
do you have connections with Vision Wellington? Are they going
to support you? I'm hoping that all the parties out there.
You know, there's a lot of groups out there that
are working towards changing our city for the better. I'm

(05:06):
keen to work with all of them. I'm not associated
with any of them. I'm not a member of any
of them, but I certainly am looking for them or
to support me. I love the Labor Party to spot
quite answer my question of a few people, I'm not
I'm not not with you, not supporting you in any
form or anyway. I believe Vision have the Some people
within Vision have made positive comments about me, but that's
to other people, that's not to me directly.

Speaker 3 (05:26):
Your political standings, I mean, can I ask you whether
you're left wing right wing centrists? Where do you think
you sit on that point?

Speaker 4 (05:32):
Yeah, I think I said probably, well, definitely center, but
probably slightly rights. At the moment, I've voted Labor in
the past, the voting New Zealand first in the past,
the voted National in the past. I really don't care
which party is in as long as there's centralist.

Speaker 3 (05:44):
If Labor approached you to be their person, would you
talk to them?

Speaker 4 (05:47):
I certainly would, you know. I mean, as I said,
I want everyone supporting me. I want to be a
myth for everyone. Golden Mile mile, Yeah, I heard you
talking about that earlier on. My views are pretty clear.
Golden Mile is a waste of money. It's poorly designed
and we can't afford it, and it doesn't really fix
the issues that we have downe Would you stop? It
would gone by lunchtime? Yep, yep, without doubt. Gold and

(06:08):
Eye would have to stop the cycleway projects I would
be putting an end to. We'd probably have to address
some of the ones that are already in place because they're
actually would you cut.

Speaker 3 (06:16):
In Aunt so some of that are actually set up
as cycle lanes right now?

Speaker 4 (06:20):
You would cut out without doubt. Glenmore Street. You know
that all the ones around Parliament, you know they're causing
more issues than what they're worth.

Speaker 3 (06:27):
Wow, Tory Farno, Ray Chung and yourself seem to be
the only ones that people are talking about. How do
you think you're going to go? What do you make
of Tori and Ray? How are you going to beat them?
Where do you think you're going to say?

Speaker 4 (06:40):
Look, you know, I'm not going to comment on the
current mayor. People can make their own choice on that.

Speaker 3 (06:44):
Ray.

Speaker 4 (06:44):
I have a lot of time for Ray. I think
he actually represents many of the things I represent. I
personally think I'll do a big job, and I'm determined.
I'm a doer. You know, I've established my own business
twenty one years ago, and I've had a financial markets background.
I understand how the city runs, and I'm not in
this for the fun of it. I'm in the of
this to make Onantington a better place.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
How are you going to do that?

Speaker 2 (07:06):
Well?

Speaker 4 (07:06):
First of all, as I said, we're going to change culture,
so you can you know, when you ask me about
the rates in you know it's just words. You can
hold me account. I'll be on your show whenever you
want me to be on your show. You can ask
me whatever questions you want, and I'll always give you
a legitimate answer. I'll explain why I've made the decisions
I've made. You can hold me to account as much
as I expect of anyone else. As I said, when
we get the standing orders right, we then get the
processes and within council right. If we get the foundations

(07:28):
of the council set. This is not a three or
six year malty. This is about setting the city up
to succeed for the next thirty years.

Speaker 3 (07:34):
Have you got any people that you know that are
going to run for council that you think will be
on your side, because I mean, we know how difficult
it will be if you get on and you'd become
mayor and you've got all the Green Council around you,
you know you're going to be banging your head of it.

Speaker 4 (07:47):
Yet, look, there's a lot of a lot of work
being done behind scenes from various groups to try and
get people running. I do know there are quite a
few very very good candidates in the stand up as independence.
That's for them to declare, not for me to jump
the gun on that or anything like that. But I'm
actually really positive that this election, if people get out
and vote and they choose independent councilor, is an independent mayor,

(08:08):
whether it be me or Ray.

Speaker 3 (08:09):
You know, I want my vote.

Speaker 4 (08:10):
Your vote first for me, race second, and then whoever
stronger will change three.

Speaker 3 (08:16):
Good luck, Thanks very much, Thanks for sticking to your word.
We asked you six or seven months ago or a
year ago if you were going to stand. You said
you wouldn't. If you would, you'd announce it on the show.
So first first tick, honesty and reliability. We'll give that
one to you. Good luck, and yeah, we'll probably hear
from you between now and the election. Carl tieffen Barker,
first person announcing live to join the race. Really, I

(08:41):
mean really, it's a three horse race, isn't it. Tory Farno,
Racheng and Carl Teffanbarker. I can't see anyone else getting
more than one hundred votes from there.

Speaker 1 (08:51):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, listen live
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