Media Statement

Rahui Katene

Maori Party MP for Te Tai Tonga

10 October 2010

Katene Welcomes Civic Leaders Throughout Te Tai Tonga

As the MP for the biggest electorate in the country, Rahui Katene says she will have more civic leaders than any other MP to deal with and that she is looking forward to working with all of them on issues that will benefit constituents.

“I congratulate all of the mayors and civic leaders who have been elected from Rakiura to the Hutt Valley,” Maori Party MP for Te Tai Tonga, Rahui Katene, said.

Te Tai Tonga comprises of 27 of the country’s 67 city and district councils as well as four of the country’s 11 regional councils and six of the 21 district health boards.

“I’ve got a lot of people to work with and I intend to do exactly that with all of them.

“Whether we are leaders within local or central Government, we all bring with us a passion to help people so I look forward to working with anyone to achieve that.

“I also can not stress enough the importance of local body leaders working with the iwi of Te Tai Tonga, who as mana whenua and their Treaty partners share similar aspirations of taking our regions forward into the future.”

Mrs Katene said her only disappointment with the local body elections in the electorate was in relation to so few Maori people being elected.

"It is in the greater interests of the nation that serious attention is given to addressing the under-representation of Maori and that's something we intend to do through the pending constitutional review.”

The Te Tai Tonga electorate comprises all of the South Island, Stewart Island/Rakiura, the Chatham Islands, and extends into the North Island to include Wellington and parts of the Hutt Valley as far north as Avalon.

ENDS

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