From West Auckland to Māngere, political hopefuls hit the campaign trail to tackle the cost of living, healthcare, and community representation.
The Hon. Alfred Ngaro is no stranger to New Zealand politics. The former National MP and Minister for Pacific Peoples is now standing in Glendene, West Auckland, on a different ticket.
“The vaka I’m on at the moment is the New Zealand First political party and it holds my values and I believe a lot of our Christian sort of social conservative values as well.”
Ngaro was the first Cook Islander elected to Parliament in 2011. After nine years as a National Party MP, he left and re-emerged with a new party, ‘NewZeal’, in the last election.
“It’s always been a calling, not a career,” he says.
“I feel that I was always called to this in the sense that when I said to Winston, I know what my God-given gift is: it’s to be in a position of governance and to help govern a nation well.”
The Pastor and community leader is currently ranked number five on the party list, putting him on course for a return to parliament and to deliver for his local area.
“The price of food, the cost of fuel, and having to pay your power bills—those are the things that people are struggling with,” Ngaro says.
“It’s being able to go to a GP to get your children seen to, and the whole issue around housing. Those are probably the top three things here in our Glendene electorate.”
On the campaign trail for Green Party in South Auckland is award-winning artist and activist Michel Mulipola, a first-timer for the party.
“It’s strange because I’ve been part of the community all my life, so engaging with the community is just a little bit different,” Mulipola shares.
“Talking to people, doing door-knocking and phone calls has been really positive. It’s great to see our people enrolled to vote.”
Representing his hometown of Māngere for Greens, Mulipola says he wants to be an advocate rather than just a candidate.
“Everywhere I look, every person I talk to, cost of living is the utmost important issue that everyone is facing, not just Māngere, but everyone in Aotearoa,” he says.
“That’s one of the main issues I want to address as quickly as possible with Green Party policies.”
Māngere is traditionally a Labour stronghold, but Mulipola is asking locals to give his party the green light to represent them in Wellington.
“The Green Party has policies to address the cost of living bringing food, power, and fuel prices down, as well as providing tax cuts to 96 percent of New Zealanders,” he explains.
“By taxing the super-rich, we can fund healthcare and education services that our people rely on.”
With the election only days away there’s no sign of candidates slowing down as many of them, like National’s Angee Nicholas, are out hitting the streets to earn more votes.
The Cook Islands lawyer is giving politics another shot after missing out by just 131 votes in the last election when she contested the former Te Atatū electorate.
“I think coming back a second time, you feel reinvigorated,” Nicholas says.
“There’s a challenge on the campaign trail, but we know what our values are and what we stand for as candidates.”
Boundary changes mean the old Te Atatu seat is now part of the new Henderson electorate and Nicholas says she’s glad to still be able to stand in her own local area.
“What people reiterate on the doors is that things are still really tough,” she adds.
“We talk about the cost of living because it’s hitting households hard. We want to focus on fixing the basics, providing relief to families, and investing in key public services like health and education.”
Hoping to retain her seat as the incumbent Labour MP for Māngere is Lemauga Lydia Sosene, who is also aiming to give locals a reason not to move overseas.
“Priority is health, priority is cost of living, priority is putting food on the table,” Lemauga states.
“People are out of jobs, people have lost their jobs and so, whilst across the Tasman might look more favourable it’s about what’s going to happen on 7th of November.”
Lemauga entered Parliament at the last election and has served as Labour’s spokesperson for Internal Affairs and Statistics. She is utilising the remaining campaign time to reach constituents.
“Labour offers a number of solutions,” she says. “We have proven that we can govern, our leader has been Prime Minister and he can do it again. We have a fantastic cabinet so it’s important for people in Māngere to cast your vote.
