Local Focus: Linda Munn wants to unify Tauranga on council

We need to help whānau vote, Munn says. Made with funding from NZ On Air.

With only a week left to vote and a low turnout so far, Tauranga Council candidate Linda Munn is urging Māori to have their say.

"Do we literally physically have to go in and get them enrolled?" she said. "That can be a daunting process having to go into council and asking them how to get enrolled and how to vote."

In a video interview with Local Focus, the artist and women's refuge advocate said she's running for council after a haunting experience with an elderly man.

"I was coming with my groceries, sitting in my comfy car. Pull out of the driveway and there's a little old man with a sign asking for money and food. When I looked at him straight in the eye there was nothing there except for pure desperation.

"If that was my grandfather, I would be really upset. But people kept driving. I think the vulnerable have become invisible.

"My thing is around social housing. It's housing, emergency housing, housing our community.

"The how and the why? Well that comes down to money, the availability of it without raising any rates."

Munn was born in Christchurch but has lived in Tauranga for more than 20 years. She is well-known as one of the three artists who created the Tino Rangatiratanga flag, and for her no-nonsense approach to life.

"I will take you out and I will call you out, and that's anyone. It doesn't matter if you're Pākehā or Māori. I am what I am, and I have no personal agendas except for the betterment of all people."

Munn isn't making any promises about what she'll do if elected, because she sees that as a waste of time.

"All I can promise is I'll work really hard to get this council back up and transparent, and inject it with a bit of honesty."

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