Backgrounder on Maungakiekie Electorate; Q & A with Pacific Candidates; Lotu-Iiga and Lole-Taylor

Auckland’s Maungakiekie electorate includes the suburban communities of Penrose, Ellerslie, One Tree Hill, and the Panmure Basin. It was partly redrawn in 2007 and now also includes Royal Oak, Onehunga, and Point England.

The seat is currently held by Labour MP for Maungakiekie Vui Mark Gosche who’s stepping down from politics to be closer to his family in Auckland. Vui has served as electorate MP for Maungakiekie for 8 year…winning a 6450 voting majority over his nearest rival, National’s Paul Goldsmith. The latter scored less than 10,000 votes.

Carol Beaumont, Secretary for the Council of Trade Unions, is stepping into the Labour ticket.

At the 2005 General Election, three Pacific candidates contested the electorate. The two unsuccessful candidates, Sione Tuitavake Fonua for Jim Anderton’s Progressive Party and Ned So’e for Destiny Church. Each gained less than 2 percent of votes, however, they polled higher than the Maori Party, NZ Family Rights Protection Party and Direct Democracy Party. If those Pacific ethnic votes were combined under one candidate, they would have ranked in at fourth place in the Maungakiekie election results.

Maungakiekie voter turnout at the 2005 General Election  78 %

2008 Q & A with Maungakiekie’s Pacific Candidates

At this stage we know there are two Pacific candidates standing in the Maungakiekie Electorate.  Standing for New Zealand First is Le-Aufa’amulia Asenati Lole-Taylor,  the former chairperson of Auckland’s Pacific Islands Advisory Board. On the other side is National Party candidate Sam Lotu-Iiga who’s also an Auckland City Councillor. We got straight to the point and asked each the following:

NZ First Candidate Le-Aufa'amulia Asenati Lole-Taylor

Q  How hard do you think it’s going to be to win Maungakiekie ?

ANSWER: Le-Aufa’amulia Asenati Lole-Taylor NZF

…with the sitting member Mr Gosche stepping aside, the candidates are new faces. Of the new  faces, I am the one who has worked the hardest in the Maungakiekie community. With my experience in councils, health boards and government departments, I have a better understanding of the problems facing the citizens of the electorate. I have worked hard for the Maungakiekie community in the past and I will work hard for the electorate when I am elected. If hard work is the criteria required to win an electorate vote, then I will win easily. If  experience and wisdom is required, then I will win easily.

National Party Candidate Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga

ANSWER: Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga NAT

It will be difficult but we are working hard in the community to rally support. The response has been hugely positive and we believe we have a strong chance of success. The important thing in MMP elections is the party vote and that is something we will be heavily focusing on during the campaign.

Q  Asenati, you’ll be up against a Pacific candidate standing for the National Party. What do you think his chances are?

A:  Le-Aufa’amulia Asenati Lole-Taylor NZF
In the end, the people will vote for the candidate and party policies they feel best represent their interests. I am walking the streets and knocking on doors and introducing myself to as much of the electorate as possible. When I speak, I am not speaking as a Pacific Islander but as a New Zealand citizen and a New Zealand First candidate who represents a party that, although a minor party, has accomplished so much for the people of New Zealand. Of all the parties represented in the electorate, it is the candidate for New Zealand  First that will have the strongest voice in Parliament. New members in larger parties do not have a say and will find it impossible to be an effective representative. I am the only candidate that can genuinely say, when elected the Maungakiekie people will be heard in Parliament.

Q Sam, you’ll be up against a Pacific candidate standing for New Zealand First. What do you think her chances are?

A: Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga NAT
I don’t know what her chances are. Ultimately we find out on November 8th.

Q  Why are you standing for the National Party?

A: Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga NAT
National’s values mirrors my own. Believing in the value of strong families and communities, equal opportunity for all New Zealanders, rewarding achievement and aspiration, personal security, safety and the sustainable development of our environment.

Q Why are you standing for New Zealand First? Does the media rukus and controversy around Winston Peters bother you?

A:  Le-Aufa’amulia Asenati Lole-Taylor NZF
Firstly let me say that NZ First has a proven history of achievements. I am proud to be associated with this success and to have been chosen as the Maungakiekie candidate. It has saddened me to witness the vindictiveness of certain members of parliament who have chosen to drag our governing process down to the level of third world politics.Let me be clear. This orchestrated  attack on NZ First and Winston Peters was started not to restore the integrity of Parliament but to undermine the NZ First Party with the sole purpose of winning an election. These people are seeking to gain the power of government at any cost no matter how undermining it might be to our democratic process. To intimidate law enforcement and to influence the media into fabricating stories in support of this type of gutter politics is reprehensible.

Parliament is quite rightly a forum for rigorour debate and in parliament the debate should stay. To go outside the debating chamber is the same as a child at school pimping to the teacher on other children. The word “snitch” comes to mind.

New Zealand does not need these type of people in Parliament and I am hoping the people of New Zealand will make this clear at the coming election.

More detail…Maungakiekie campaign website for Le-Aufa’amulia Asenati Lole-Taylor NZF

National Party election profile on Sam Lotu-Iiga

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