Louisa Wall, Labour party, Port Waikato

Louisa Wall

Louisa Wall, 33, is the Labour candidate for Port Waikato and number 47 on the Labour Party list. She is up against sitting National MP Dr Paul Hutchison.

Current job: Policy analyst, race and ethnic relations team, Human Rights Commission. She is a former New Zealand netball and rugby representative and a Weekend Herald sports columnist.

Identifies as: An indigenous, staunchly proud, Kiwi, mainstream New Zealander.

I've just paid off my student loan of $25,000. About $10,000 was interest. What do you say to all the other goody-two-shoes who did the same?

Being responsible is not overrated. I paid my loan off contributing $100 extra each pay week on top of the automatic deduction. I was then able to save for a house and I feel my actions have helped contribute to the financially independent position I am in now.

What will Don Brash's proposed changes to the Resource Management Act mean to ordinary New Zealanders?

What National proposes to do is to forgo community consultation in major projects, to give free licence to developers, so those who are most affected have little say in what happens in their backyards. In the Port Waikato electorate the community of Awhitu Peninsula wants the proposed Awhitu wind farm development to take into account community concerns. Under National's RMA policy, the community wouldn't have had the opportunity to present comprehensive evidence and the little guy would have been shut out of the decision-making process.

What's really wrong with work-for-the-dole schemes?

So, we make beneficiaries work for the dole, then what? How will we transition people from state employment to other public and private employment? If Brash can tell Kiwis how this will be better for the country, and provide evidence that such schemes in fact decrease a person's tenure as a beneficiary - the evidence says they don't - then such schemes might have merit.

How does paid parental leave benefit the wider community?

Positive early human relationships are vital for individual and community development. How babies learn to relate to others and the world is modelled on how they are cared for and nurtured at an early age. The role of parent is demanding, fulfilling and vitally important for society. As society benefits, it should support the parental role.

What's the most pressing problem in your electorate?

Issues identified in The Portal report, which was concerned about the social and economic state of communities, remain valid. That is, rural and provincial New Zealand continue to have to cope with demographic structures in the region, such as a reducing proportion of young people, changes in educational achievements and the state of employment and unemployment. How we can make rural communities sustainable is a serious challenge.

Sling some mud: What's the biggest mistake the Opposition is making?

Kiwis are battlers and we love to punch above our weight. But we are staunchly principled and our integrity as a collective is unquestionable. I think New Zealanders are proud of Prime Minister Helen Clark for standing up to President Bush and Prime Minister Blair when they wanted us to join the "coalition of the willing". The evidence did not support their action, and in spite of self-interest that could have motivated us to go to war, we did not. If we were to ask New Zealanders if they wanted their family and community to fight in Iraq the answer would be no. So, this, I think, is a defining question in the election.

And what are they doing right?

Unlike our famous horse Kiwi, ridden by JA Cassidy and trained by ES Lupton to win the 1983 Melbourne Cup, the Nats have chosen not to come from behind in the home straight but have led around a tight bend on a fast track. They seem to be keeping their noses in front at this stage, but with the line now in sight it is up to punters to make their pick and to provide the gas to get them home. Kiwis like underdogs and Team Labour is certainly coming from behind and fighting history that says three terms is a dream, so only in time will we know if what they have done is right.