Why should we pick you? <\/p>\n
Because I\u2019m a local. I\u2019m passionate. I love this city. I\u2019ve been a minister. I know how to get things done. I\u2019ve been a leader in other things outside of politics, so I know how to bring those things [from] that perspective to this position as well.<\/p>\n
What motivates you to get up every day for work?<\/p>\n
People. Anything to do with people motivates me, from all demographics. I love working with people. I love having the opportunity to meet people. I love those conversations. But I love being able to work towards better outcomes for everyone in this. I\u2019m passionate about this country and I want to see Tauranga thriving to be a leader in this country. We already are, but I know we can be better. So that\u2019s what gets me up every single day. <\/p>\n
What are your strengths? <\/p>\n
When people ask me this, I always go back to the fact that I love people. And I think interacting with people is something that is a real strength of mine. It doesn\u2019t matter what demographic they come from. I was principal at Merivale School. Merivale was then what we called a decile 1. So I was able to work with people and connect with people that came from some pretty traumatic backgrounds, many of them. But I will also easily go into conversations and have relationships with people that are from other demographics as well. I love diversity. So that is a real strength of mine. <\/p>\n
What are your weaknesses? <\/p>\n
Sometimes believing in myself. I have this voice that sits inside my head that says maybe I\u2019m not good enough. This imposter syndrome with a major capital I at the beginning of it. And that would be a real weakness. I\u2019ve got to stop listening to that voice. <\/p>\n
Tell me about your greatest professional achievement. <\/p>\n
There\u2019s quite a few of them. I go back to the times when I was minister and some of the pieces of legislation that we were able to get through. But one of the pieces of legislation that I got through was something that people didn\u2019t think we would get across in the order paper. <\/p>\n
When I came in as Minister of Internal Affairs, there was a bill called the BDMRR [Births, Deaths, Marriages and Relationships Registration] Bill. It had become quite controversial at select committee. I was told perhaps we should get rid of the bill. I said, let\u2019s take the controversial part and put it back to select committee, bring it back after it\u2019s been to select committee and see whether we can pass it at that stage. And we were able to pass it. And that made a big difference to a very small group of people, but it still made a big difference to their lives. It\u2019ll be something that I\u2019m always really, really proud of. <\/p>\n
Tell me about a time where you failed or made a mistake and how you handled it. <\/p>\n
So when I was in my last year of being a minister in 2023, I was taken to privileges committee. And I was taken to privileges committee in Parliament because I had given an answer in the House \u201cno\u201d, and the answer turned out that it should have been \u201cyes\u201d. It was about, had I directed officials to withhold data? And I said no, because I hadn\u2019t personally done that. But someone from my office had sent an email, one of the people that worked for the Ministry of Education. As a leader, you have to take responsibility for that. And I didn\u2019t correct the answer, and so I was taken to privileges committee.<\/p>\n
It turned out that I wasn\u2019t in contempt of the House, but they questioned the fact that I didn\u2019t follow the right procedures. And I take that on board and I said at the time, \u2018Look, I apologise, I should have done that right\u2019. It was a big issue for me personally, but how I dealt with it was to apologise when I realised that the issue had happened. Look, you can\u2019t go backwards, you can only go forwards and you have to learn from your mistakes. And that\u2019s something that I\u2019ve applied to all areas of my life. We all can beat ourselves up if we want to, but I just won\u2019t beat myself up about anything. I\u2019m just going to learn going forward.<\/p>\n
What strategies do you use to manage stress? <\/p>\n
I get really stressed. So I have that imposter syndrome voice that goes on, so I do get really stressed. But I do manage stress through mindfulness and meditation. Sometimes I forget and I get myself even more stressed, but when I get to that point, then I come back into it. I had a really terrible time in 2023 because I was also going through menopause and anxiety, which I\u2019d never really gone through anxiety before, but anxiety really came to the fore and it was pretty dark there for a while for me. What got me through was using mindfulness techniques, but also talking about it to people and being really open. <\/p>\n
And that\u2019s why I have no worries about talking about that to people now. I\u2019m perfectly fine now. I know how to manage that. I know how to deal with anxiety and I don\u2019t really feel it the same as what I was back in 2023. <\/p>\n
Where do you see yourself and Tauranga in five years? <\/p>\n
That\u2019s a good question because I am 58 now and so in five years\u2019 time, you know, I\u2019m going to be 63, but I do feel that there is a place for all demographics in this city. So I do feel that we need to encourage young people on board, but I still think that the experience is really important. <\/p>\n
So whether I\u2019m still in politics because, you know, I\u2019m at the behest of an election, so whether that happens or not, I don\u2019t know. But I still want to be giving back to this city. And that\u2019s really important. It doesn\u2019t matter whether I\u2019m going to be in politics or not, I\u2019ll be always doing my very, very best to give back to the city and to use my skills and expertise in that way. <\/p>\n
Tauranga electorate itself is right on this precipice at the moment of absolutely shining. You can see that with what\u2019s happening downtown and, you know, I went to the opening of the library, the He Puna Manawa, the other day and oh my goodness, that is like something out of this world. And I have to say that I had a few tears that were welling up because I felt like our city was growing up. <\/p>\n
And I think that there\u2019s been a little bit of negativity about what\u2019s happening downtown, but I think that we\u2019re going to see in the next five years that things start turning a corner and we\u2019re seeing that now. You know, we\u2019ve got all the infrastructure, as in aspects of the port, the big port servicing, we\u2019ve got horticulture servicing into the city, we\u2019ve got businesses that are starting to come here. So we have got so much potential and you can just see that the city\u2019s starting to realise that and grow up around that potential. So I\u2019m really excited for what\u2019s happening. <\/p>\n
What is one thing for Tauranga people your party would do in the first 100 days of Government, and how would you achieve this? <\/p>\n
Right, so it\u2019s not specifically Tauranga… but it\u2019s an impact on people, huge impact on people in Tauranga. And that\u2019s around the pay equity and the equal pay legislation around getting that back in track. Now why I say it has a huge impact is because it\u2019s only two weeks ago that I was talking to a number of people in this situation who said that their pay equity claims had been cancelled and that they hadn\u2019t had pay rises and that they were now having to go and rely on food banks and other sources of community support to just survive with their families. <\/p>\n
We\u2019re going to see that a fair pay equity settlement across particularly care and support workers is going to make the biggest difference to those people who will be able to invest that money back locally here in Tauranga. I think people forget that people who get that money invest it back into their local communities. I\u2019m really excited that we can do that. We\u2019ve got that instant $4 an hour for our care and support, that would be instant in [January] to help them and then we will be working through on getting the rest of the settlement. Investing that money back into the community will make the biggest difference. <\/p>\n
What two policies would make the most difference to people in your electorate and why? <\/p>\n
This is a cost-of-living election, and so we know that, and a health election at the same time because we\u2019ve seen the cracks that are happening. So one of them that I will talk about covers both and that\u2019s the three free doctors\u2019 visits. We\u2019re using the proceeds that are coming through from capital gains tax directly into health, so everything will go back into the health system. And one of those is around ensuring that everyone will get three free doctors\u2019 visits. That will be important because I\u2019ve been in a situation where parents have had to decide whether they take people to the hospital or to the doctor, whether they go themselves because they can\u2019t afford for them to go themselves. We need to ensure that everybody can get there and has that access to proactively keep them well so that it\u2019s taking the stress off the hospital system. <\/p>\n
The other one of course in the health system is every graduate nurse getting a job. I was experiencing the emergency department at Tauranga Hospital myself. People there are amazing, but I was waiting for six, seven hours just to be seen after I\u2019d been triaged, just to be seen. We shouldn\u2019t have it like that. And part of that when I went through and talked to people they said we just don\u2019t have the staff. So ensuring that every graduate nurse gets a job will make a big difference to our hospital and our health system. <\/p>\n
You are stranded on a desert island and can only bring one luxury item \u2013 something not vital for survival. What do you pick and why? <\/p>\n
Okay, so it would have to be, I think, strawberry matcha. I would have to take strawberry matcha. I have to have a strawberry matcha every day. I am addicted in a major way, and I love it, and I would be absolutely devastated if I couldn\u2019t get my strawberry matcha. <\/p>\n