New Labour candidate announced for Bay of Plenty

Tauranga Women's Refuge manager Angela Warren Clark is the new Labour candidate for the Bay of Plenty. Photo/Ruth Keber

Newly selected Bay of Plenty Labour candidate Angela Warren-Clark will climb the Mount with her rival, Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller.

Mrs Warren-Clark was announced as the Labour candidate competing for the Bay of Plenty seat late last week. Merivale School principal Jan Tinetti is the Tauranga Labour candidate.

Mrs Warren-Clark has known Mr Muller for years, having sat with him on a student politics council at the Waikato Student Union.

"Todd and I have agreed our campaigns will be about the policies and the parties, not about our personalities," she told the Bay of Plenty Times from her Papamoa home.

The pair planned to climb the Mount together as part of the Mt Everest Challenge, aiming to raise money and awareness for Tauranga Women's Refuge, which she manages.

Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller told the Bay of Plenty Times that he had known Angie since university days when they were both involved in politics,

"Whilst we have always been on different sides of the political spectrum, I respect her greatly. She has been a great advocate for our vulnerable women and children. I look forward to some great conversations with her during the campaign."

Like the Everest challenge, getting Labour's numbers up in the Bay of Plenty would be a "big climb too", Mrs Warren-Clark said.

But people in the community were ready for change, she said, with Tauranga being the ninth least affordable city in the world.

"Bring back the Kiwi dream of having good quality of life, a good paying job, the ability to get ahead in life, to do things like buy your own home."

The two biggest issues for her in the Bay of Plenty were poverty and affordable housing.

She said she dealt with those two issues, with the prevalence of domestic violence, in her workplace on a daily basis.

"It doesn't matter how good a society's GDP is, or how good roading infrastructure is, or how well your job is paying. If you are not safe in your own home something is fundamentally wrong."

Mrs Warren-Clark looked forward to working with Labour's Poto Williams, who is the party's associate justice spokeswoman for sexual and domestic violence.

Politics was something she had been thinking of doing for several years, she said.

"You can't make changes if you are not in the seat too."

Mrs Warren-Clark said she was looking forward to working with Ms Tinetti over next six months in the lead-up to elections. She would still be working at the refuge.

Her first public appearance as Labour candidate will be on Wednesday, when Labour leader Andrew Little will be in town.