With his first wife Anthea, he farmed at Paranui for a number of years and they had four children together. After they divorced he married current wife Kerryn two years ago.
Always one to turn to the political pages first in the newspapers, he got the opportunity to put his political thinking into practice as Hastings mayor, a role he held for 15 years, and Local Government New Zealand, which he led for eight years.
Over the last few weeks, a concerted door-knocking campaign, with a target to reach 6000 households, has informed the main priorities for his political aspirations, he said.
A big concern was water quality, particularly river water quality.
"I have been really saddened in the last four months watching the rural urban divide over water quality - we are all in this together, it's not all the farmers' fault but we need to address the issue, bearing in mind the impact of urban activities on waterways."
Other areas of concern were housing, "we need more decent, warm, quality housing, it's that simple", encouraging job growth and water storage.
Although the Hawke's Bay Regional Council had withdrawn its support for the Ruataniwha dam, he predicted water storage would become a reality on both the Ruataniwha and Heretaunga plains.
Depending on the outcome of the Ministry of Education review of schooling capacity in the Hastings district, he said it may be that more classrooms were needed, and he was also waging a "crusade on P", he said.
"While I have not got the solutions, I'm a strong supporter of further border control measures to stop the drug getting into the country, more policing resources to tackle organised crime, and more funding for addiction and mental health services.
"The government is working on it but we still lack a facility to handle people who are really struggling with addiction."
He said he had not put a lot of thought into what he would do if he was defeated come September 23.
"I'm not stressed about losing and what I would do afterwards - I'm Christian and am a great believer in having faith that what will be will be.
"I have worked really hard the last 15 years and having a little time out if I were unsuccessful in this bid would not be a bad thing."