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October 19, 2017
Lyndon offers voters tangata whenua option
Waatea Team
Posted On October 19, 2017
Proud tangata whenua of Aotearoa.
That's something Huhanga Lyndon from Ngapuhi and Ngati Wai is bringing to a by-election for a Whangarei District Council, which was called after Denby ward representative Jayne Golightly discovered she was not a New Zealand citizen and was therefore ineligible to serve.
Ms Lyndon, the general manager of Te Matarau Education Trust, is up against 16 other contenders for the ward, which covers the northern and northwest suburbs.
She says she is someone who can consider all perspective and see where the gaps are, particularly for communities who feel they are not well served.
"Certainly I'm excited about the challenge and think this could be a good opportunity to get diversity at the table as there is no Maori representation right now. Equally I am someone who is resident and chooses to live in the community, work in the community, and seeks to represent their voice," she says.
Ms Lyndon says the fact the by-election comes so soon after the general election means 95 percent of eligible voters are on the roll, but the challenge will be to motivate them to fill in the ballot forms and get them in the mail between when the voting packs are sent out on November 15 and close of voting on December 7.
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