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Download AudioNew Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni says she wants to be a unifier.
Commentators have suggested the Kelston MP, who is of mixed Tongan, Samoan and pakeha heritage, could be subject to increasing attacks on social media now Jacinda Ardern has left centre stage.
Ms Sepuloni says she learned early in her political career where the block function was on social media, and her family and community is also very protective of her,
The mahi needs to be done and she won’t be paralysed by those types of people.
“I’m also very much focused on trying to be a unifying figure. I am of mixed heritage and I think we need to remember we’ve got generations of people with mixed heritage and I really want to get that message out there that it’s a wonderful thing and that there is no reason a group in New Zealand should feel threatened by another and that we can be unified in the decisions we make,” Ms Sepuloni says.
Her political priorities reman the same as when she first got in to parliament – achieving fairness in areas where is doesn’t exist now, helping New Zealanders to realise their potential and supporting whanau to get ahead in the face of challenges and uncertainties, especially when it can lead to generational change.
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