August 17, 2017
Values draw Hipango to National Whanganui run
The National Party’s Whanganui candidate says it was the values of her old people that drew her to the party.
Haarete Hipango, who has a background in family and treaty law, says she was inspired to become a lawyer after attending a Waitangi Day gathering at Moutoa Gardens -Pakaitore when she was 16.
A decade later she was involved in the occupation of the gardens by the iwi.
She says it all contributed to her political outlook.
"It became clear as I got older the the values the old people raised me with in terms of being strong, being independent, about whanau, about community, about not being really relying on others, that sense of self-sufficiency, having aspirations, working hard – that aligned with National Party values," Ms Hipango says.
She says many Maori don’t realise, or choose not to realise, the huge contributions National has made to Maori, including more than 80 treaty settlements done over the past nine years.
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