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'Turn the seat blue': National Party announces Hamilton West byelection candidate

Author
NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Sun, 6 Nov 2022, 4:35pm
Photo / Supplied
Photo / Supplied

'Turn the seat blue': National Party announces Hamilton West byelection candidate

Author
NZ Herald,
Publish Date
Sun, 6 Nov 2022, 4:35pm

Tama Potaka will be the National Party鈥檚 candidate to contest the byelection for Hamilton West, an electorate which is without a representative following former Labour MP Dr Gaurav Sharma鈥檚 resignation from Parliament.

Potaka is currently the chief executive of Ng膩i Tai ki T膩maki and previously worked as a senior adviser to the NZ Super Fund and as a general manager for Hamilton-based Tainui Group Holdings.

鈥淚鈥檓 honoured to be selected by local party members to fight the Hamilton West byelection as National鈥檚 candidate,鈥 Potaka said.

聽鈥淗amilton West has a unique chance to send a message to the Labour Government before next year鈥檚 General Election - New Zealanders need more than good intentions and band-aid solutions. They want and deserve direction, clear action and delivery.

鈥淣ational offers that plan and delivery. Only National and Christopher Luxon have a plan to competently manage the economy, deal with inflation and tackle the cost-of-living crisis hitting Hamilton families in the pocket at the checkout and through rapidly rising mortgage interest rates.鈥

Potaka said he won鈥檛 be wasting any time getting out into the community.

聽鈥淟abour won this seat by more than 6,000 votes last election but I鈥檓 determined to campaign relentlessly on the issues that matter to Hamilton West and turn the seat blue,鈥 he said.

鈥淚鈥檓 hitting the ground running and will be meeting as many people across Hamilton West as I can so I can earn the right to advocate for them.鈥

If elected, Potaka said a focus of his would be on building a stronger economy so cities such as Hamilton can benefit from more money being invested in public services such as the police.

The byelection was triggered when Sharma, who won Hamilton West for Labour in 2020, resigned from Parliament last month.

Sharma鈥檚 resignation followed his expulsion from Labour鈥檚 caucus and later the party for bringing the party into disrepute by accusing party members - including Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern - of bullying behaviour.

Ardern announced that a byelection would take place on Saturday, December 10.

Sharma will be contesting the byelection as a member of his new but unregistered party, which he says has attracted hundreds of people who are willing to financially support it.

Earlier this week, Labour President Claire Szab贸 announced聽聽as the party鈥檚 candidate for the byelection while聽聽was selected as the Act party鈥檚 candidate.

The Opportunities Party will also be contesting and confirmed聽聽as its candidate.

In other National party selections, sitting MP Simon O鈥機onnor saw off a challenge against him for the seat to be reselected as the party鈥檚 candidate in the Tamaki electorate.

It is rare for sitting MPs to face challenges - O鈥機onnor was up against Auckland Harvard-educated lawyer Andrew Grant and Sang Cho, owner of St Heliers restaurant Annabelles.

The electorate covers Auckland鈥檚 inner eastern bay suburbs - Mission Bay, St Heliers, Kohimarama and Glendowie - and was the seat of former PM Sir Robert Muldoon.

On Saturday, the party selected Suze Redmayne as its candidate in Rangitikei, where sitting MP Ian McKelvie is retiring.

Tonight the party will also select its Northcote candidate, where former MP Dan Bidios is hoping to be reselected.

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