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\nTararua District Council M\u0101ori Ward Councillor Keshaan Te Waaka.
\nPhoto: Supplied\/Keshaan Te Waaka\n<\/p>\n
Keshaan Te Waaka, 21, has secured the Tamaki nui-a-rua M\u0101ori ward at the Tararua District Council, unseating incumbent Naioma Chase in a close race.<\/p>\n
Te Waaka (Ng\u0101ti Hine, Ng\u0101ti Porou, Te Atihaunui a P\u0101p\u0101rangi, Tonga, Croatia) said no particular person or event pushed her to put her hand up for council – she did it because nobody in council looked like her.<\/p>\n
“The simplest way I can put it, living in this area pretty much my whole life and not seeing myself in council was super concerning, and I didn’t want another generation to go through that.<\/p>\n
“We have very little M\u0101ori in our council<\/a>, let alone rangatahi, let alone w\u0101hine, so that was really my drive.”<\/p>\n The Woodville native said it was a completely surreal feeling to find out she had made it.<\/p>\n “I wasn’t too sure how to react really,” she said. “Like, how do you act in these sort of instances?<\/p>\n “It’s definitely a first for me. I had never attended any sort of campaign event ever, so my first campaign experience was a meet-the-candidates event and the first one that I spoke at was actually in my hometown in Woodville.<\/p>\n “Very lucky and all my wh\u0101nau came along.”<\/p>\n Te Waaka said, during the campaign, she had the chance to speak with some of the district’s rangatahi, although they tended to be more informal conversations.<\/p>\n “When everyone found out I was [going] for council, the common k\u014drero amongst the rangatahi was that I was going for mayor, because that’s the only position they recognise in council.”<\/p>\n She was eventually able to explain the role she was actually gunning for – the M\u0101ori ward – but she said many of the rangatahi didn’t know what a M\u0101ori ward was.<\/p>\n “I didn’t really get too deep into it, because I know that, when somebody talks to me about a kaupapa that I’m unsure of, blabbering on can lead me to not want to get involved.<\/p>\n “I try to keep it real simple, and I guess the main k\u014drero I wanted to get across to rangatahi is that council’s for everyone and council’s for us.”<\/p>\n Te Waaka said, in order to get rangatahi more involved in local politics, council needed to go to them, not the other way around.<\/p>\n “Just going to where rangatahi already are, being at the marae, being at the sporting events, being in spaces that rangatahi see as important, that’s the most important thing. Then, second, more rangatahi in council – I think the more we start to see ourselves as leaders, the more we’re naturally going to become engaged.”<\/p>\n A perfect example of that were the likes of Tamatha Paul and Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke in parliament, she said.<\/p>\n “I’m new to all of this, so it’s all going to be a challenge. New spaces are always challenging, especially unfamiliar spaces.<\/p>\n “This is completely out of my comfort zone, although I love politics.”<\/p>\n Just being in a space that Te Waaka said wasn’t built for her would be a challenge over the next three years, but she was confident in her wh\u0101nau support.<\/p>\n