Sāmoan broadcaster, former city councillor and local league legend is vying to become the first Pasifika mayor in Aotearoa.
Sports broadcaster and local body politician Fauono Ken Laban is one of four candidates vying to be the next mayor of Lower Hutt in the Wellington region.
And everywhere he goes, the message he’s hearing is the same.
“These are tough economic times for everybody,” Laban says.
“The cost of living, the rates, the cost of health insurance, the cost of general insurance, generally all of those things impact on people’s ability to be able to lead a good life.”
If he’s voted in he could become the first Pasifika mayor not just of Lower Hutt but in New Zealand.
“I am very humbled, the way that people have responded and reacted to me. People have thought politics is supposed to be a nasty business but, if it is, at the risk of sounding naive, I haven’t encountered any of it,” he says.
This isn’t his first attempt at the mayoralty having unsuccessfully stood in 2007. He’s keen to give it another go after serving four terms as a Wellington regional councillor.
“Part of our responsibility in those leadership roles is to understand, you know, regardless of whether they are rate payers, regardless whether they are voters but to create an environment where they can live a good life,” Fauono says.
The Laban name is no stranger to New Zealand politics. His sister and trusted adviser is former Labour Party MP and government minister Luamanuvao Winnie Laban.
“Our parents taught us that it is about giving back but also supporting others, the next generation, to come through and you know I am very excited and our roles really is to support them,” Luamanuvao says.
Fauono, a 68 year old former Police officer is in a league of his own. He went from leading his beloved Wainuiomata rugby league team to a championship in 1990, to becoming a television sports commentator and then onto coaching.
Now he’s even inspiring other candidates in this year’s election, people like Vatau Sagaga who is standing for the Wainuiomata Community Board.
“It is inspiring for our rangatahi, our tamaiti, to have a mayor or have leaders that look like you,” Sagaga says.
“When they look up and they see these faces there’s Ken running for mayor and there’s five Pasifika running for community board here in Wainui, when they see that, you know, they think, oh that could be us.”
For Fauono, he wants to continue the legacy of his parents who settled in Wellington in the 1950s.
“Well you know that famous Sāmoan expression, the road to leadership is paved in service, that’s how I was brought up,” he says.
“My parents, with their work in the community, their work in the church, how they supported other immigrants coming from Sāmoa; my parents were central figures in setting up churches in Wellington and in the Hutt Valley.
“As they say in life, you can’t un-ring the bell. I can’t change the way that I was brought up, I can’t change the things that I was exposed to and I can’t change the impact that it’s had on my life.”
And it’s that impact Fauono hopes to impart on his constituents if he’s elected mayor of Lower Hutt.
