SPECIAL BOND: Flaxmere ward councillors Henare O'Keefe and Jacoby Poulain say they work together with a bond of trust. PHOTOS/WARREN BUCKLAND
DUSK IN Flaxmere. The air is filled with laughter and the smell of cooked sausages.
Henare O'Keefe's mobile barbecue, Tunutunu, is giving out free sausages to residents in Baker St.
The moveable feast makes appearances throughout the suburb, aiming to inject goodwill into the community whenever crime or unrest crops up on a particular street.
Mr O'Keefe is talking through a megaphone while children from the Flaxmere Boxing Academy demonstrate pad work on the road.
About 50 residents, along with local police and Maori Wardens, are listening to what he has to say.
"It's up to you to take care of each other. Take ownership and responsibility - take your neighbourhood back," he tells the crowd.
"We're taking the community back one sausage at a time," he jokes, with fellow Flaxmere ward councillor Jacoby Poulain at his side. "This is the Flaxmere we know and love."
Ms Poulain says connecting with residents face-to-face is a big part of the job.
"There's the political side of things, but there's also being in the streets. It's really important to get out and meet people. We need to be knowing what the community are feeling, in order to translate it into the chambers," she says.
To some, Ms Poulain, 31, and Mr O'Keefe, 62, may seem an unlikely duo.
Mr O'Keefe was elected in 2007 and Ms Poulain joined him in 2010, immediately replacing her mother, long-serving councillor Keriana Poulain. It was through Keriana that Mr O'Keefe first met Jacoby.
After graduating from Otago University with a law degree, Ms Poulain went to Indonesia to volunteer in a disaster relief effort, and it was there she decided to return to her home town and enter local politics. She began her career working on local boards and committees.
"Actually, it was Henare that pulled me in and said, 'Mate, you should come and serve as a youth representative on a council committee'."
She juggles her role as councillor with being the mother of a 1-year-old baby and a current board member of Hawke's Bay District Health Board and EIT. She also represents the East Coast region on the Maori committee of Local Government New Zealand.
Both Mr O'Keefe and Ms Poulain were elected unopposed. In the past, up to five people have stood for councillor.
Mr O'Keefe says their working relationship is a "bond of trust".
"It's a close relationship. It's quite a bond, really. We might not always agree, but we're always united - it's in Flaxmere's best interests that we are united.
"Jacoby's more academic - and now she's a mother she brings that to the table, too. I bring the 62-plus years of hard soul and blood and guts. It's a recipe for success."
He is modest about his long, high-profile history as a key figure in Flaxmere. When the Tomoana freezing works closed in 1994, Mr O'Keefe, who had worked there for 23 years, became a stalwart of struggling Flaxmere families.
He and his wife, Pam, have fostered almost 200 children and he has toured the world as a motivational speaker.
He was the driving force of the 2008 "Enough is Enough" hikoi, on which thousands of people marched from Flaxmere to central Hastings after a spate of violence in the suburb.
The most recent crime had been a home invasion in which his daughter was threatened and her partner badly beaten.
He is also the founder of the U-Turn Trust, a non-profit organisation which offers social services for Flaxmere residents, including a free community vegetable garden, the Flaxmere Boxing Academy and Tunutunu.
His wealth of experience means he has plenty of wisdom to share with Ms Poulain.
"We are like a father and daughter, because I want the next generation to be better than us."
Ms Poulain, who used to write a column for Hawke's Bay Today, agrees.
"I consider him a mentor. He's provided support to me over the years.
"I find it a naturally complementary relationship; we complement each other with our strengths and weaknesses. In some ways we're very similar: we both have a strong connection with the community, we're both Maori, but we're also different ages and genders. He's very evangelical, he spills it all and he inspires."
"I think our greatest asset is bringing our life experience to the table," Mr O'Keefe says. "Jacoby's a lawyer, she's young and articulate. She's the future."
But the pair do not look at Flaxmere through a rose tint; they understand there are myriad social issues in the suburb. Originally intended to be an upper-middle class area, it was built to satisfy a demand for housing in Hastings. But extensive subdivision turned it into a low income neighbourhood, with one of the highest social deprivation index values in Hawke's Bay.
"For me, Flaxmere's 24/7, it never lets up," he says. "You've got to be a mother, a father, a psychologist - that's just the way it is."
Ms Poulain says it is their job to act as a voice for the 10,000 residents, driving initiatives with limited funding and resources.
"The major challenge is we're just two voices around the council table."
But together, the councillors are making inroads as they strive to fulfil Mr O'Keefe's mantra: "Flaxmere, heal thyself."
They have a particular focus on housing and jobs.
"It's all about realising the cavalry is not coming," Mr O'Keefe says. "Empowering Flaxmere, getting it to stand on its own two feet. We want to cut the umbilical cord from the central Government. And we're looking beyond seasonal work; it doesn't cut it anymore.
"We need permanent jobs, and with workers paid more than the minimum wage."
"I always have been optimistic about Flaxmere and always will be," says Ms Poulain. "I know the strength of the people out there, and that's what drives me."
When all the sausages have been eaten, Tunutunu is packed up and trundles off down the road, leaving the Baker St residents to ponder Mr O'Keefe's message.