Local Focus: From McDonald's to Rotorua Council with advice from the PM, Fisher's big day

Fisher Wang was just finishing his shift at McDonald's when he got a special phone call.

"It was about 2 o'clock on Saturday and I'd just clocked out of my shift and got the phone call from Geoff Williams at Rotorua Lakes Council," Wang said.

"At first his tone wasn't too excited, so I thought 'Woah, this might be a bit of a blow' but when he said 'congratulations you're in' it was such an overwhelming feeling. I was shaking, nervous, excited. It was a whole bunch of feelings all at once."

Wang's election to Rotorua Lakes Council makes the 19 year old the second youngest councillor in New Zealand.

"Waking up that morning I told myself 'don't hype yourself up too much. If you don't get on there's so many more opportunities out there'."

But he did and the day only got better for the student who decided to run for council after finishing school.

"That night I had a call from a no caller ID. It was about 9.30pm and I thought maybe it's a scammer and almost hung up the phone but I'm so glad I didn't. When I picked up the phone and went 'hello, it's Fisher speaking' she said 'Hey Fisher it's Jacinda, how are you doing?'.

"That literally blew me over the moon. I was so surprised of the phone call and really it was such an amazing moment."

So what words of wisdom did New Zealand's youngest Prime Minister have to offer?

"She talked to me for about 15 minutes, of her experience going into parliament, into politics. And how you'll probably never get over the nervousness of these roles because there's always a new role that you'll probably get, speeches you make, there'll be a different type of nervous building up inside of you.

"She gave some good advice like give it your all, speak up for yourself and don't let others intimidate you."

Diversity was a hot topic during campaigning and Fisher says the result shows New Zealanders are ready to accept younger leaders in their community.

"It shows how Rotorua's looking forward to the future.

"I think it does show the people and community are looking after our future generations by electing someone younger. They're transitioning to a more youth focus. A younger generation of leaders.

Fisher will be putting his hand up for the sustainability, youth and tourism portfolios thanks to the people of Rotorua who voted for him.

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