Tough race in Tukituki

Craig Foss' retirement as the Tukituki electorate MP opens up this election to a new face. PHOTO/FILE

After 12 years in the seat, the retirement of Craig Foss as the Tukituki electorate MP this year means that no matter what happens there will be a new face representing the region this election.

Some pundits had speculated that if Mr Foss had stood again this year, Tukituki Labour candidate Anna Lorck may have snatched the seat from him, but with Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule now in the running for National the goalposts have moved.

Running an aggressive campaign in 2014, newcomer Ms Lorck reduced the majority Mr Foss had enjoyed in prior elections, but he still won more than 50 per cent of the vote amid what was reported at the time as an increased voter turnout, and a surge in support for the right-wing minor parties.

Up against Mr Yule this year, a seasoned and well-known local body politician, it will be interesting to see what kind of campaigns the pair run, and to date there are several similarities.

While Mr Yule might enjoy a platform of support both from National voters and those who see him as being a good mayor over the years, recent issues may work against him.

Most notably, along with the Havelock North campylobacter outbreak, there's the fact he turned around on the promise he made to stay the full term when elected mayor.

Although he said he was not aware at that time that Mr Foss was going to stand down, this flip may engender a level of cynicism among voters about his personal political ambitions versus his commitment to the electorate.

There's also the unforeseen cost to ratepayers of one, if not two byelections, as a result of his decision.

Over the past three years, Ms Lorck has been visible promoting issues she sees need addressing in the electorate including a community campaign to stop water bottling consents being issued behind closed doors, pushing for clean water, and calling for a new primary school in Havelock North.

Her methods may at times, however, have positioned her as being unnecessarily combative, especially more recently towards Mr Yule who she has strongly criticised for abandoning his mayoral post.

Ms Lorck said water and leadership were the big election issues for Tukituki.

"We will never protect our water unless we change from the current thinking that's destroying it.

"The choice is crystal clear because we believe everyone owns the water."

Although the priority was secure, fresh, safe drinking water, she said water was also needed for livestock, crops and clean, swimmable rivers.

"We must stop giving our pure water away free for sale. Labour supports a levy on water bottling that would go back to the region to reduce rates and to improve the environment."

The big work ahead was in health, education and housing, which improved people's lives and social and economic wellbeing, she said.

"We must support our young people on the road to work and do far more to combat the very serious social challenges of rising family violence and the plague of P."

Ms Lorck said she would never stop working for a promised school for Havelock North and Hastings, to support kindergartens with 100 per cent funding for qualified ECE teachers, to protect local democracy and Hastings' right to grow GM-free, for building more houses for all budgets, and investing in more community police.

Mr Yule said he had a strong desire to represent the people of Tukituki as their champion, spokesperson and advocate, with his proven mayoral leadership and advocacy in Parliament set to ensure the electorate had an effective local MP.

He highlighted the strong financial strength and quality management of the economy under National and Prime Minister Bill English.

"Record low interest rates, increased house values, a strong job market and a booming local economy only happen if you have strong leadership and a plan."

That strength had allowed for announcements around extra police and investments in health, he said.

Water, land use and economic growth were priority areas.

"We must find a way to store water for irrigation on the Ruataniwha and Heretaunga Plains.

"The current concern about water bottling, the sustainability of the aquifer and river quality all need positive solutions.

"They are difficult and long-term issues, but they need to be tackled with everyone's involvement."

Methamphetamine was another issue that needed addressing, with its significant costs to society in terms of employment losses, crime, health and housing issues, Mr Yule said.

"This is the scourge of our communities - it needs to be eliminated."

Taking his second run at the Tukituki seat for the Green Party, after first standing in 2014, Hastings resident Chris Perley said the challenges Hawke's Bay was facing into the future were becoming national issues.

"Provinces are declining and it is especially hard for small rural communities.

"We now have major housing, child poverty and social equity issues, and they impact on future costs of health and law and order, poor returns to education investment, but also on the tragedy of all the talent of our people - from children to adults - not being realised."

Like people, he said the environment, especially water, was increasingly being treated as a factory "resource" to extract and take cheaply for free, or to use as a "drain" for polluters.

"This is the big business industrial approach to economic thinking, which has dominated Wellington minds for decades. It is visionless economics. It makes us poorer, and stuffs our environment so our lifestyle gets worse as well."

He said short-term "take it" thinking economics, with no interest in creative "make it" local enterprise had led to a concentration of wealth away from provinces such as Hawke's Bay.

"Nationally we have to shift off the short-term fix on commodities industrialising everything, and shift to local and value not volume."

Democrats for Social Credit candidate Dick Ryan is also standing for a second time for the seat that he first contested in 2014.

He said the "big" issues could not be addressed by any party.

"No party has any chance of substantially improving waiting lists for medical procedures, reducing robberies and car theft, or dealing with pollution of our water sources until or unless it addresses the issue of the Government paying more than $12 million each day in interest on its borrowing."

It was iniquitous that the Government of the most naturally wealthy nation on earth put the paying of interest to overseas corporate banks ahead of the welfare of its people, he added.

"This is doubly stupid given that, as the Bank of England, and our own central bank confirm, those corporate banks create the money they lend out of thin air.

"Imagine what could be done for our ailing social services, health or education with that $4.6 billion annually?"

He said that with US President Donald Trump taking that country into isolation it was an ideal time for New Zealand to move towards self-reliance.

"We should aim to be less dependent on the rest of the world - withdraw from Anzus, practise sustainable organic production, repair our fractured environment, encourage top tourism, and backpackers to help with the harvest, and use digital technology to link us all as a network nation."

Last election Waipawa dentist Stephen Jenkinson stood for the Conservative Party but said he had not yet decided whether to run again, and Act's Duncan Lennox confirmed he would not have another tilt this year.

The Mana party's nomination process only opened on March 26, and no candidates would be announced until April 30.

At this point no other parties had announced any candidates.