Housing shortage top priority for candidate
Better housing and employment opportunities could soon be the top priority around the council table in Rangitı¯kei.
Two candidates have made 11thhour nominations for February’s Rangitı¯kei District Council byelection.
Nominations to contest one seat in the southern ward closed on Tuesday after Jane Dunn resigned in November.
She walked away from the role after clashing with fellow councillors over the diabolical Bulls Community Centre build.
Fighting for her spot are education and employment manager Coral Raukawa-manuel and librarian Cian O’gorman.
Raukawa-manuel already sits on the council’s assets subcommittee and iwi advisory board. She now wants to be at the decision-making table.
Despite living in Marton, Raukawa-manuel opted to stand in the southern ward as her whakapapa traces to Ra¯tana and Turakina. Her parents and marae are in Ra¯tana.
She ran for the council at the 2019 local body elections, but placed seventh out of the nine candidates, with 723 votes.
Raukawa-manuel, who submitted her nomination with two minutes to spare, said she wanted to be part of the solution to housing worries in Marton.
‘‘This allows me a second chance at the pie. There’re 500 permits for houses to be built at [the] council ... and we need more for our lower socioeconomic groups.’’
Much of her role at Te Ru¯nanga o Nga¯ Wairiki Nga¯ti Apa involves placing young and unemployed people into apprenticeships.
She believed she could help more people into jobs if she made it on to the council.
She attended a recent hui about the Manawatu¯ Gorge replacement road and was told the project required 4000 workers over five years. ‘‘They need 30 per cent to be locals.’’
Raukawa-manuel wanted to see better community engagement, which had fallen by the wayside after various projects in Bulls and Taihape.
She would also be vocal on water quality problems in the region, something close to her heart.
O’gorman couldn’t be reached for comment on Thursday.