Both events took place in 2006 while he was a general practitioner at the Waahi Health Centre in Huntly.<\/p>\n
Gilgen told Local Democracy Reporting (LDR) he travelled to Australia after the 2007 hearing \u201cto visit family and spend Christmas away from the ordeal of the previous [two] years\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was fairly traumatised and intellectually burnt out – 47 years old with [a] lost livelihood. Three teenage children … I faced financial and professional ruin.\u201d<\/p>\n
He intended to work in Australia and return to New Zealand after six months and reapply to the medical register to get back to work as a general practitioner.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs it happened, in February 2008, I couldn\u2019t locate my NZ passport. I applied for a replacement. This application was denied.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gilgen said it was the case until July 2020, during the Covid pandemic.<\/p>\n
He eventually returned in September 2020 and was subject to Covid-19 quarantine.<\/p>\n
Speaking with Local Democracy Reporting, he said he had been falsely accused.<\/p>\n
He believes his past professional conduct has bearing on his suitability for the council, but on the positive side.<\/p>\n
Raawiri Gilgen’s Gisborne District Council campaign billboard.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am happy for voters to be aware of my professional history. They were in 2004 when I successfully ran for membership on the Waikato DHB (District Health Board). My past has never been secret,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
When Gilgen was struck off the medical register for a second time, the Health Practitioners Disciplinary decision document said mitigating factors were that Gilgen undoubtedly had \u201csignificant skills\u201d and it appeared that he was \u201chighly regarded by his patients and the M\u0101ori community\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has contributed significantly, it seems, to M\u0101ori health and to his local District Health Board. The Tribunal considers that he has a lot of potential, but not as a medical practitioner at this time,\u201d the report read.<\/p>\n
Gilgen, who lives in Tokomaru Bay, said he had yet to make a definitive decision on returning to his medical practice, but had \u201cnumerous offers to work\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have retired twice now and have enjoyed the lifestyle this has afforded… postgraduate studies. Music performance and composition. Kapa haka and Te Ataarangi te reo M\u0101ori learning.\u201d<\/p>\n
He is currently completing a Master of Applied Indigenous Knowledge at Te W\u0101nanga O Aotearoa.<\/p>\n
If elected to the council, there are three points he wants to bring to the table – kia karakiatia (pray), kia murunga hara (forgive), and kia ng\u0101wari (be kind).<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019ve got to keep those things at the forefront of what we do in council.<\/p>\n
\u201cGisborne\/Tair\u0101whiti region needs to move as a community from a grievance mindset to one of gratitude. Kia kotahi t\u0101tou.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s my message regardless of the results on October 11, 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Both events took place in 2006 while he was a general practitioner at the Waahi Health Centre in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64901,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1558,19956,5205,7557,12506,42,3523,43,6662,5270,52591,32536,312,427,20705,6639,40,38,41,39,17251],"class_list":["post-64900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-been","tag-candidate","tag-council","tag-district","tag-gisborne","tag-headlines","tag-medical","tag-news","tag-off","tag-one","tag-redemption","tag-register","tag-says","tag-story","tag-struck","tag-survival","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-twice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}