Almost four weeks out from Election Day, Tāmaki Makaurau candidates Oriini Kaipara (Te Pāti Māori) and Kerrin Leoni (Labour) faced off on the Marae Debate panel this morning to outline their visions and policies for the electorate.
The debate highlighted key issues facing voters, with housing, cost of living, relationships with mana whenua and youth advocacy taking centre stage.
Current Tāmaki Makaurau MP Oriini Kaipara (Tūhoe, Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Rangitihi) drew attention to the generation of young people missing out on foundational support.
“Our rangatahi make up a large amount of our population, not just here in Tāmaki Makaurau but right across Aotearoa and the fact that we have more than one hundred and ten thousand, fifty percent of rangatahi who are under the age of sixteen, we don’t have a legislation that enables sixteen and seventeen year olds to get their own tenancy,” Oriini says.
“There’s no more emergency housing to catch those who are homeless at the moment. We’re just moving them on, round and round in circles, creating more deprivation, punching down on the pōhara instead of creating reliable solutions,” she says.
Former mayoral candidate Kerrin Leoni (Ngāti Pāoa, Ngāti Whanaunga, Ngāi Takoto, Ngāti Kurī), emphasised relationships with mana whenua are key and backed that emphasis with her past experiences.
“I think the first thing is to have that experience of relationships with all of the iwi and I have been able to do that as an Auckland Ward Councillor and also as someone who has represented my iwi Ngāti Paoa under the Resource Management Act for our iwi previously,” Kerrin says.
Highlighting her commitment to regional representation, Leoni added that she will ensure the needs of Māori in the electorate are brought directly to the top.
“I will get in there, I will fight for Māori, I will make sure Tāmaki Makaurau is prioritised in the heir of Chris Hipkins when he becomes the Prime Minister and get more Māori housing here in Tāmaki Makaurau,” she says.
The debate provided voters with a clear look at how both candidates plan to advocate for the Tāmaki Makaurau electorate as their campaigns enter its final month.