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Parliament’s newest MP says journalists are finding her hard to pigeon-hole.
Former Waatea talk host and television producer Claudette Hauiti from Ngāti Porou and Ngapuhi makes her maiden speech this week, after coming in on the National Party list to replace Aaron Gilmore.
She says political reporters focused in on her being gay and Māori, and assumed she would be a radical.
"When they talk to me they find out that I'm actually quite conservative and the fact that I'm a Christian and I support really strong family values albeit that my family is a gay whānau – Christian, family values, strong communities are exactly what the party's about and then they find that's what I'm about too. They find it a real oddity that Māori and gay people can have the same values of everyday New Zealanders," she says.
Ms Hauiti says she brings to national politics an engagement with not just kaupapa Māori and gay issues but also the concerns of small business and flax roots communities.
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