I live in Henderson with my thirteen year old son and my retired father – I am very lucky to have the love and support of both of them.

I am a sixth generation New Zealander on my mother’s side, and the daughter of a Samoan/ Tongan migrant on my father’s. My father worked in the freezing works and my mother picked kiwi fruit – my mother’s parents were sheep farmers. I am proud to be a child of a mixed marriage and a very staunch working class background. The first in in my family to attend university I graduated with a Bachelor of Education.

During my working life as a teacher, literacy educator, Equity Manager and Research Manager I became increasingly active on numerous committees and networks. My active engagement in these groups fuelled my commitment to social justice, fairness and equity. It was no coincidence that during this time I also joined the Labour Party.

I am currently Labour’s spokesperson for Disability issues and Victims’ Rights and Associate Spokesperson for Social Development. I sit on the Justice and Electoral Reform committee.

As an MP I have been actively engaged in a number of issues including the funding cuts to family violence initiatives; safeguarding the rights of disability workers; the Welfare Working Group’s recommendations and its effects on children, sole parents and women in abusive relationships; the cuts to early childhood education; the alcohol reforms; the cuts to Pacific language resources and the failure of ACC to adequately respond to the needs of sexual abuse victims. I also attempted to have the 90 day Fire at Will Bill repealed

The highlight for me has been my selection as the candidate for the Waitakere electorate. I can’t imagine a better electorate to be working in and working for. Waitakere is an excellent model of innovative community responses to local issues which I look forward to becoming increasingly a part of. Some of the key local issues that have been brought to my attention are:

Access to Justice

In Waitakere there continues to be valid concerns about our community’s access to justice under the Auckland Court System review’s proposals. The Waitakere Family Court is already heralded as one of the most efficient in the country. A responsible government needs to ensure an emphasis on ‘efficiency’ does not come at the expense of access to justice in want to make sure this doesn’t happen.

Cost of Living

The soaring cost of living is inescapable. Healthy food is becoming out of reach for everyday people as wages remain largely unchanged. The queues of people at the Freestore in Henderson was testimony that people are really doing it tough in Waitakere. A frightening symptom of this is the record high rate of child poverty in NZ. I want to see a Waitakere where our most vulnerable are protected, where our workers earn a decent wage and where our young people are all learning or earning.

Education

Our Waitakere Early Childhood Centres and Educators have suffered through the past three years of funding cuts and changes. Our schools and teachers have been distracted from teaching our children, by flawed National Standards I want to allow our teachers to get on with their jobs and support them to teach according to evidence based best practice. I have not yet met one school in Waitakere that supports National Standards. Our kids need a system committed to lifting achievement. As Labours Spokesperson for Disability Issues I also understand we need a more comprehensive plan for our learners with complex learning needs. We need to be asking our communities what works and supporting those arrangements. In West Auckland Special Needs Units that give excellent support to our children are left to languish because the National government chooses to turn a blind eye to their predicament. This is not only unethical but unnecessary and costly.

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