"I learned a lot off him. There was nothing he hadn't already encountered, so I was very lucky."
Rurawhe chaired his Rangitīkei iwi Ngāti Apa for the 10 years leading up to its Treaty of Waitangi settlement in 2010. It was an intense time, but he is grateful for the opportunity.
He was elected to Parliament in 2014, and since 2017 has been one of the Labour Party's assistant speakers, with four shifts every week. In that role he got to know every piece of legislation, and the rules about how MPs can participate in making it.
He's 24th on the Labour list this year, and would like a ministerial position in the next government. He's also looking forward to helping more iwi in his large electorate settle their Treaty claims.
In the next three years job security will be very important, Rurawhe said. People have appreciated having the wage subsidy to keep them working.
There is huge inequity in Māori employment, he said, and the Government has invested in work opportunities that come with enabling pastoral care for young people. For some this has turned into full-time jobs.
Jobs were also kept in small and medium-sized businesses through Government low or no-interest loans. And Māori will have extra opportunities for Government contracts and procurement in the post-Covid world.
Housing was an issue last election and is again for this one. The Government will have built 6400 new state houses by the end of this year and plans another 8000 in its next term.
Labour found huge "hoops and hurdles" for getting on to the state housing list, Rurawhe said, and it removed them. As a result the list grew from 5000 to 18,000.
"We knew that would increase the number of people on the waiting list, which is exactly what has happened. It doesn't frighten us because we think it should express the truth of what's actually out there."
Other housing help will come from a scaled-up Kiwibuild, from rent-to-buy schemes and from regulation to improve the standard of rented houses.
Labour's new tax on those earning more than $180,000 a year "landed in a place where we can balance our books with the least impact on all taxpayers", Rurawhe said, and it will raise half a billion dollars. It's thanks to past finance ministers like Bill English and Michael Cullen that New Zealand has one of the best debt to GDP ratios in the western world - and is likely to stay that way.
"It's quite a balancing act and I truly believe we have got the balance right between the impact of our health response and the impact of our economic response."
