Candidates lobby voters for Hunua
Challengers for the Hunua seat, Waikato’s northern-most electorate, believe they have a chance to take it from National’s grasp following the retirement of incumbent MP Paul Hutchison. Shaun Eade reports.
The National Party has taken every step to ensure its Hunua seat remains blue when constituents cast their votes on September 20.
It wasted no time in appointing candidate Andrew Bayly five months ago, after Hunua MP Dr Paul Hutchison decided to retire and not contest the coming general election.
Hutchison was well-liked within the community despite controversially deciding not to cross the floor and vote against the inclusion of Franklin District Council in the Auckland Super City in 2009.
The Hunua electorate includes Pukekohe, Waiuku, Clarks Beach, Awhitu, Ramarama, Bombay, Maraetai and Beachlands.
Hutchison won the seat by 61 and 65 per cent in the 2008 and 2011 elections respectively – the latter coming just two years after the super city vote.
There is no reason to believe the support will be any different for Bayly.
The 52-year-old director of strategic advisory firm Cranleigh and Tuakau’s food waste and green waste business Envirofert said he was not taking the seat for granted and was campaigning hard.
‘‘I have door-knocked 11,000 homes and have had a very positive reaction so far,’’ he said.
The economy was the key issue for Hunua locals, he said.
‘‘They know the importance of the economy for creating and maintaining jobs.’’
If he does not win the Hunua electorate, it will be an upset of mammoth proportions.
Even Bayly’s party leader, Prime Minister John Key, admitted that his seat was safe during a visit to Pukekohe in July.
‘‘We poll electorates – not Hunua because it is a waste of time, you are going to win,’’ he said. ‘‘I hate to say it in those terms but you are going to win.’’
But despite National’s dominance, it has not stopped other quality candidates standing.
Bayly’s biggest competitor will be Labour’s youngest candidate, 24-year-old Arena Williams.
While her age had been brought into question by some in community, she said it should not be an issue.
‘‘I think the question we should be asking is: Why aren’t more young people interested in politics and getting involved in their community?’’ she said.
‘‘For me, democracy is about a representative system where the people in Parliament look like us, talk like us and are embedded in the community that they represent.’’
With Hutchison’s retirement, she said there was an opportunity for others to step up.
‘‘It is a really good opportunity for other candidates to get out there and talk about what the community want for the area,’’ she said.
‘‘I think there are big pockets of the community who feel like they have not got a lot from having a very senior member of Parliament as their representative.’’
The Young Labour vice-president is highly rated by top party members who believe she has a big future in politics. This campaign will be an important learning curve before she likely contests a more competitive seat in three years.
New Zealand First candidate Jon Reeves has based his campaign around the hot-button issue of public transport.
The long-time member of the Campaign for Better Transport group has been heavily involved in bids to extend Auckland’s train line electrification to Pukekohe and have a train service running from Hamilton, through Tuakau, to Auckland. Conservatives’ Neville Hudson will be looking to build on the solid platform set by Kevin Campbell at the last election while other candidates such as ACT’s Ian Cummings, Maori Party’s Thomas Tuatu Toihau Phillips and Democrats for Social Credit’s Huia Mitchell will be hoping for a better result than three years ago when none of them polled more than 1.3 per cent.
If those candidates are to make any leeway, they will need to appeal to the large numbers of people in the electorate who do not know or do not care about the candidates and the upcoming elections.
Many people like Pukekohe’s Hayden Gillibrand, who said his key issues this election were tax reductions and restricting foreign ownership of New Zealand land, had not decided who they were voting for or even if they would vote.
The role of Auckland Council was still causing concern for people like Pukekohe Resident and Ratepayers Association member Ganges Singh.
His key issues were the power of the Auckland Council, reducing the time taken for building developments and creating better transport infrastructure to deal with the increasing population.
Former Franklin Local Board member Paul Muir agreed that transport infrastructure and speeding up the building consent process were important.
While both Singh and Muir were happy with Hutchison’s time in office, they said there was room for improvement.
Labour candidate Arena Williams wants more young people to become involved in politics and the community.
‘‘He did not want to cross the floor on the Auckland Super City and showed his loyalty to the party rather than the voice of the people, but I think under the circumstances, he did a pretty good job,’’ Singh said.
Muir said he represented the electorate well but was disappointed he did not achieve a higher role in government.
‘‘[He was] too nice to make progress in
HUNUA CANDIDATES
Candidate Ian Cummings Neville Hudson Huia Mitchell Arena Williams Thomas Tuatu Toihau Phillips Andrew Bayly Jon Reeves
Pukekohe Resident and Ratepayers Association member Ganges Singh believes the electorate’s relationship with Auckland needs to be addressed by candidates. the rat race that is central government politics,’’ he said.
The electorate boundaries have changed since last election with Tuakau, Aka Aka and Otaua being moved into Waikato and Clarks Beach shifted into Hunua from Papakura. With Hunua sandwiched between two other strong National electorates – Papakura and Waikato – the changes should not affect the outcome on voting day.
ACT Conservatives
Democrats for Social Credit Labour List ranking
9 19 21 40 14 55 15
Foot work:
National’s Andrew Bayly says he door-knocked 11,000 homes around his electorate to drum up support ahead of the election.
Singh saw no reason to believe that National would have issues maintaining its dominance in Hunua.
‘‘Ever since I have been here – since 1960 – it has always been a National [seat],’’ he said.
‘‘I think that people are very conservative in our electorate and it does not matter what happens, they support the National party candidate.’’
‘‘If Hunua goes, National is gone.’’
2011 ELECTION RESULTS
Candidate Paul Hutchison - National Richard Hills - Labour Charmaine Watts - Greens Doug Nabbs - New Zealand First Kevin Campbell - Conservatives Ian Cummings - ACT Thomas Tuatu Toihau Phillips - Maori Party Huia Mitchell - Democrats for Social Credit