Not your ordinary politician
He has not been in politics long and isn’t your average ‘‘political nerd’’, but he still wants to be Helensville’s next MP.
Labour Party candidate Kurt Taogaga became involved with politics at the beginning of 2016.
But it’s his life experience that makes him believe he is the right man for the job.
‘‘I feel that I’m able to move in different circles,’’ he said.
‘‘I think that my experience is what really gives me the sort of mandate to stand in Helensville and say that I can represent all these different groups that live in Helensville.’’
Taogaga said the
‘‘booming’’.
‘‘It’s really an exciting time in terms of economic development, in terms of population growth. And it’s going to come with its own set of challenges.’’
He said housing and transport were the biggest issues the electorate faced and believed Labour had ‘‘really great’’ solutions for them.
Labour had committed to building 50,000 new affordable homes in Auckland.
Taogaga said the housing crisis in Auckland was being recognised by people now because they were realising younger generations would be locked out of the housing market.
‘‘Having to save $200,000 on a deposit on a $1 million average household price in Auckland just isn’t feasible.’’
Taogaga said the party would tackle this from both supply and demand, as well as ‘‘banning foreign speculators and closing tax loopholes’’.
The transport issue would be tackled by Labour’s commitment to building light rail to Waimauku in its first 10 years, he said.
‘‘That will create a cheap, quick and highly accessible option that people can opt for if they want to get out of the gridlock on the Northwestern.’’
Taogaga said it was ‘‘no secret’’ that National Party candidate Chris Penk was his biggest competition as Helensville was a blue electorate.
But he said some people had told him the new Labour leader, Jacinda Ardern, was making them think twice. ‘‘My job is to take advantage of that.’’ electorate was now