Gisborne deputy mayor Josh Wharehinga to step down in 2025 after 11 years

Deputy Mayor Josh Wharehinga has announced he will not seek re-election for the district council at the 2025 local body elections. He says he has been "humbled and honoured" to serve his community over four terms. Photo / Zita Campbell

Gisborne’s Deputy Mayor Josh Wharehinga will not be seeking re-election at this year’s local body elections after nearly four terms in office. Speaking with Local Democracy Reporting’s Zita Campbell, Wharehinga reflects on his commitment to public service, his Kaiti ‘hood’ upbringing, his experiences in local government and his hopes for the future.

After 11 years in local government, while raising four kids as a single dad and co-parenting two, Gisborne’s deputy mayor will not be seeking re-election in 2025.

At the completion of his last term, Josh Wharehinga wants to spend time on his new truck hireage and moving business, supporting his hapū and rekindling the Tairāwhiti boxing scene.

“I love my boxing. I have been a judge for many years now and really want to focus on that for 2025 onwards,” he said.

“We haven’t had an East Coast Boxing Association tournament for a very long time.”

His choice to leave the council stems from a desire to “experience the freedom of being able to make a choice” and to create space for fresh councillors seeking election.

From having experienced an upbringing that included drugs, alcohol and gang activity while growing up in Kaiti to becoming a parent at 19, Wharehinga’s horizons are opening up as his children reach adult age.

On top of that, he feels he will leave having played his part in a council that has undergone significant transformation over the past decade ... from Wharehinga being one of the few Māori general ward councillors to there now being five Māori ward seats; from a council that supported deep-sea oil drilling to one that has worked to have that changed.

“I’m satisfied for that to be my regional contribution for the medium term,” he said.

Josh Wharehinga with his mother Maraea Cookson and brother Issachar Te Pairi at Fight For Life 2024 on December 7. Wharehinga was ring supervisor for the event. Photo / Lana Mua

Wharehinga recalls that when he first became a councillor in 2014 (after winning a by-election following the resignation of Manu Caddie), there were few councillors actively going to a marae or participating in te ao Māori world.

“That’s no longer the case ... I no longer need to occupy that space. I remember one time we were at Poho-o-Rawiri [Marae] and I jumped in line and did the haka pōwhiri ... and an uncle of mine goes to me: ‘You know what Josh? You’re probably the first-ever deputy mayor to get in that line and do that’.”

Wharehinga said he also experienced racism at the table that would never be stood for today.

Succinctly summing up his experience in local government, he said he was humbled and honoured by it.

“If you put that into context, I’m a gang-affiliated, hood-raised Māori boy ... to me, it’s huge that my community picked me.”

Not just those in his community. Wharehinga was the top polling local body election candidate for three of his four terms.

“It’s a big decision for me to step away from council to be quite honest because of that mandate that I had from the community.”

Wharehinga said coming from a lower socio-economic area like Kaiti, having had firsthand gang-related experiences, and his direct connection to rural Te Karaka (through his grandparents) gave him “a unique Tairawhiti voice”.

“Obviously, I am not a patched-up member, but growing up like that gave me a unique experience of how society treats our marginalised. That’s always been at the centre of my decision-making.”

His drive to serve came from his mother - a “God-fearing Christian woman” - and he said he was “lucky I was good at the thing society values - [academics]”.

Wharehinga is passionate about getting his “Kaiti master plan” across the line before he leaves the council, including infrastructure improvements as more housing goes up.

“In comparison to my first term, it was so hard to get anything for Kaiti. We [the council] were opening up the scours to our sewage system during a light rain ... it was happening almost every other week.

“I was going: ‘You don’t care about Kaiti’.”

That has changed over time to the point where high-level “Kaiti master plan” conversations have become a priority.

It’s a far cry from having never thought of running for local government to putting his hat in the ring for the by-election, which he admits, he did not expect to win.

“I actually wrote a rejection speech I planned to read out.”

As a single father, running for council seemed impractical, but he soon ran out of excuses as the community and his whānau got right behind him, including helping with his election campaigns.

Josh Wharehinga with his children and award at the 2011 Tairawhiti Man of the Year Awards hosted by Tauawhi Men's Centre. Wharehinga says he has always been a father first and councillor second.

“Because it was just me and my kids, I would always ask them so they would have a say ... and they said: ‘Yeah Dad, I think you should do it’.”

Wharehinga has remained a father first and councillor second.

Following his election to the council, his weekends from Friday evening onwards were scheduled family time, and if he had to attend an event, he would always ask if there was food and if his kids could come.

Wharehinga became deputy mayor after his second term and remained in that role.

“It’s truly a gig of service because as the deputy mayor, I still make less than I was getting paid at the job I left 12 years ago,” said Wharehinga, who started up a lot of small businesses and ran his own events company before committing himself fully to his district councillor role.

As a councillor, he says: “I know which parts we can influence and what comes under our jurisdiction and all the other stuff that doesn’t ... but the community doesn’t understand that ... which is okay, but it just means that when something like a Gabriel happens, everyone starts asking you ... which is a lot.

“I know there’s lots the community will look at and go: ‘You know, these things aren’t great’, but there’s lots of things that are great and that’s because of the work that goes in from councillors.”

After finishing as a Gisborne district councillor, Josh Wharehinga intends to concentrate on his new businesses, support his hapū and promote his favourite sport - boxing. Photo / Zita Campbell

Josh Wharehinga on his time in local politics

Favourite win: Changing Gisborne District Council’s official stance on deep-sea oil drilling - from supporting it to being against it.

Worst loss: The axing of rural wards in 2022. Wharehinga said: “The rationale for rural representation is exactly the same for Māori representation.”

One thing he would change: Going to the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi for funding. “Communities want to choose; they don’t want a Wellington-based formula to dictate how potholes are filled up.”

The last things he wants to get across the line: The “Kaiti master plan” and the reopening of Tauwhareparae Rd.

Did he want to be a politician growing up”: “I wanted to be a dad growing up. I did my masters (thesis) in traditional Māori fatherhood.”