Candidates reflect on their campaigns
‘‘In this limbo time that we've got now, I desperately want us to be in Government so we can get some action on things.’’
First-time Greens candidate Philippa Stevenson said she learnt a lot during the election campaign, contesting the Waikato electorate.
She secured 1636 votes and hoped the party’s aims of clean rivers, tackling climate change and poverty will be taken into account moving forward.
‘‘In this limbo time that we’ve got now, I desperately want us to be in Government so we can get some action on things.’’
For the Waikato, resilience and sustainability are two things that should be prioritised, she said.
‘‘It cuts across things like housing, standard of life for people which I think across the board needs to be raised particularly in hard hit areas.’’
She said she felt ‘‘threatened’’ by what was happening globally in the way food is produced which could hit the farming region hard.
‘‘I fear greatly for what that could mean for the Waikato economy if we don’t move to a more progressive, resilient and sustainable way of doing things.’’
To gain that much support personally was ‘‘spectacular’’ for the Waikato regional councillor and he was happy with how he ran campaign, with campaign manager Gavin Dawson.
Despite ‘‘sadly’’ not having a Waikato representative, he’s determined to give it another go.
‘‘I was really happy at the end because I turned quite a few farmers views in the Waikato and had their support which was sort of shown by the signs in a lot of paddocks. It was quite a good feeling to know they had a gutsful of the way we’re heading and wanted a change.’’
One of the biggest let downs however was the lack of representation from other parties at the Morrinsville protest against Labour’s proposed water royalty.
NZ First leader Winston Peters was the only to show up but was ‘‘heckled’’ at the ‘‘angry throwback’’.
Husband said he didn’t have an opinion on which way NZ First should swing as long as the policy’s he stood for come through.
He thought the caucus would likely choose the party that had the most policies which aligned with NZ First.