June 28, 2023
Service to community Tangaere-Manuel hallmark
Labour’s Ikaroa-Rawhiti candidate says putting herself up as a candidate wasn’t what she expected a month ago – but if feels like a calling.
Cushla Tangaere-Manuel says she’s humbled by the outpouring of support she has received since announcing she would stand against incumbent Meka Whaitiri, who has switched from Labout to Te Pati Maori.
She says growing up in the small Maori community of Rangitukia and the nine years she spent as chief executive rebuilding Ngati Porou East Coast Rugby was good preparation for politics.
So too are the values instilled by her parents.
“We’d get to come to town, come to the city, to Wellington and got to K-Mart and our holidays would be cut short because we’d have to go home and mow the marae and get ready for whatever kaupapa was coming up, so service to the community is something I’m very familiar with, that my family is very familiar with,” Ms Tangaere-Manuel says.
Cushla Tangaere-Manuel