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A south Taranaki tribal leader has put her hand up to contest Te Tai Hau a Uru for the Maori Party.
The Ngati Ruanui Kaiarataki, Debbie Ngarewa Packer could go into the race with the support of former MP Dame Tariana Turia.
Another Taranaki identity, Howie Tamati, is also seeking the job.
She says a selection battle could be good for generating interest in next year’s election.
"It’s good to have a grassroots person like myself that can mobilise the grassroots. I think it's important that we have a wide selection of people put there name in and then our Maori colleagues can see and our whanau out there can see that we need to commit and we need to fill our seats and we need to be able to make sure that we have strong representation for our issues," she says.
Debbie Ngarewa Packer says the seat is winnable because the incumbent, Labour’s Adrian Rurawhe, is invisible in the electorate.
DEBBIE NGAREWA PACKER INTERVIEW
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