TOP PRIORITY: Teddy Thompson at the swearing-in ceremony for the newly-elected Gisborne District Councill, at Poho-o-Rawiri Marae, with his family — Bailee (left), babyTyson, wife Sarah Homer and Chloe. Picture by Josie McClutchie
Teddy Thompson has goals — he calls them “stepping stones” — and is highly motivated.
For him, American motivator and life coach Tony Robbins is “the man”.
That extended to paying £1000 to attend a Robbins three-day seminar when Teddy was living in London.
“You come away so motivated, you make the most of every day.
“I should do another,” he says.
Setting plans, achieving goals and working hard to make sufficient money to aim for those goals has long been a habit.
“If you’re never failed, you’ve never tried.”
He seriously considered running for the council in 2019 but decided to get his home project and his finances in order.
Initially he viewed his election to council as another stepping stone — to the mayoralty.
But he has quickly reassessed, and along with partner Sarah, has agreed their three children, Bailee, 12, Chloe, 3 and Tyson, eight weeks, should be his No.1 priority.
“I want to be there as much as I can for my kids.
“I’ve seen how hard Rehette works.
“I don’t think I’ve got that amount of time.”
It was a high-profile candidacy for Teddy and he came under a spotlight he did not anticipate.
“The people writing all this stuff about me I had never met in my whole life.
“I didn’t even know who they were.
“If I’ve got an issue with someone, I’ll go and see that person.”
People were making public comments that were not true.
“How can this even happen?”
Another strong memory of the election was his campaign billboards.
He felt “out of it” when seeing his billboards, but “either you’re doing it or you’re not”.
Teddy has lived a varied and colourful life in New Zealand, Australia, Europe, Egypt, Thailand, the US and as a 17-year-old, straight out of school, living on his own in Indonesia for six months.
He’s a Gisborne born-and bred fourth generation New Zealander who decided to make his first overseas trip, as that 17-year-old, to Indonesia.
His mate and fellow traveller was the instigator of the trip as an avid surfer.
Surfing was not yet a favourite pastime for Teddy, but the trip to Bali and other destinations offered sufficient enticement.
His friend broke his leg shortly before departure, but Teddy was not deterred and off he went.
“I lived like a rock star,”’ he said
He said the equivalent of NZ50c bought accommodation and enough food for a day.
“It was drink as much as you can for 50c — it was crazy.”
Indonesia was pristine, unlike today, he said.
There were other issues.
“You get ripped off a few times, so you get street smart.
“We’re so lucky in New Zealand.”
Teddy said that in spite of his travelling, he has been “super shy” all his life.
He has used alcohol to overcome his reserved nature but says he has not drunk for eight or nine years — with one regular exception.
He always celebrates his birthday by drinking a “yardie”.
“I’m pretty good at it now — I’ve had a few practices.”
A couple of years back in Gisborne led to disappointment when Waikato University would not accept all his polytechnic papers.
Teddy went off to Auckland and found work as a mortgage broker, and later in construction management.
Unable to find accommodation — long before today’s housing crisis — for two months he lived in his car.
Gym membership meant he was able to shower.
But he didn’t consider his lifestyle an ordeal.
“Coming from Gisborne, we’re pretty rugged.”
Returning to his hometown, Teddy decided to join the police.
It had been a childhood dream.
He was posted to Auckland and worked out of Mangere, Papakura and Otahuhu for two years.
“I was loving it.
“I was 22 and pretty young. You get given a car and off you go.”
He was on a section with another recent police college graduate and a senior who had two months of experience.
“He broke his arm, and it was just me and a mate from college.”
Teddy remembers a stint of court security allowed him to follow an undercover police operation and see how “everything rolls”.
Policing, even in South Auckland, was not overly violent, he said.
“We had lots of laughs.
“If you wanted, you could get in a scuffle every day.”
But that was not his experience.
“It’s how you speak to people.”
He spent three years in London on leave without pay during his police stint.
His eclectic range of jobs included modelling.
He initially rejected the approach until told the going rate was £2500 a hour.
Sarah laments a video of his modelling days resurfaced on the internet about five years ago.
It was the amount of paperwork and looking at a computer, while working in the police, that drove him back to civvy street in Gisborne.
Back home he set himself another long-term goal — building his own house.
(In the police he had been allowed into “secondary employment” where he completed a building apprenticeship.)
But soon he was off to Western Australia, attracted by the big money on offer in the mines.
At one stage he worked 100 12-hour days straight, which would be illegal today.
“The other boys would do two weeks on and one week off and fly to Perth.”
But Teddy was out to make money.
For years he would leave the New Zealand winter to work in Australia.
Then came a decision he was to make again this year.
Life had “been on hold”.
It was time to treat family as No.1.
For the past five or six years he has worked at Gisborne District Council in a “stepping stone” to becoming a councillor.
Both Teddy and Sarah started learning Maori in another stepping stone and their daughter Chloe goes to a full immersion kura.
He loved his job at Tairāwhiti Roads.
He described it as the perfect mix between office, meetings, and being out on the road.
Asked about public complaints about the state of Gisborne roads, he replied, “There’s a limited amount in the budget”.