Election Candidate Profile: Roger Larkins (Conservative Party)
Tukituki Electorate
Conservative Party candidate Roger Larkins does not live in the Tukituki electorate but says that should be no handicap to his campaign.
An Australian by birth, he moved to Canterbury in 1993 and said he was first drawn to the Conservative Party when he was invited to do some polling work for the party in 2011.
"My background was in marketing and business - then I moved into market research, which I have been doing for the last 10 to 12 years.
"I was asked to poll for the party, we talked and they said we need people with similar views."
At that point, he said he decided to become a New Zealand citizen, and noted that when he looked at the different parties, while there were differences in economic policies, socially most had a very liberal focus.
"New Zealand was changing in front of my eyes - social problems were becoming worse and the solutions were making it worse."
As well as the social problems, he said he was disappointed that four citizen-initiated referenda in a row were dismissed by Parliament, and was also concerned about the lack of attention to family values.
"Family values are crucial to me - there's a lot of commentary about trying to alleviate or minimise some of the challenges for families, but I want to see it addressing the cost of living, income splitting and issues such as paying stay-at-home parents."
He said he chose to stand in Tukituki because he had been told it was an area of significant support for the party.
"When I was speaking with the leaders of the party they said we have a lot of support in Hawke's Bay, and achieved over 5 per cent in the Tukituki electorate in 2014.
"They told me if I wanted to support the party this was the best place to stand."
He said it may be a disappointment to some that he was not based here, but he noted it was not uncommon for candidates to stand in areas other than where they resided.
"I hope the people of Tukituki look at me as someone who might have the values they want reflected."
Currently working in Australia for the next two weeks due to an unexpected contract extension, he intends to spend time in the electorate in the lead up to the election.