Local Focus: Hipango announces she's standing again for National in Whanganui

Whanganui MP Harete Hipango is standing again for National in this year's election. She was selected for the candidacy unopposed.

After one term in Parliament Hipango is a backbencher, with only one responsibility as spokeswoman for Māori Tourism.

The Whanganui lawyer says she was reluctant to jump into the political arena, and although it's tough, it is a privilege she really enjoys.

"I have been called to service and I am doing what I am required to do, and it's being here for our community in Whanganui," she said. "It's not an easy ride, I didn't come into it for that, it's about just helping out where I can."

Hipango intends to be the local MP for another two or three terms, saying politics has always been part of her family, growing up in Putiki.

"Our marae was thriving and active, so we would spend a lot of time just listening to the talk and as a child you don't really think that it's having much impact or influence, but it does."

Hipango's koro, Hori Hipango, was the chief of Whanganui.

"I happened to be born into a family that carries the Rangatira responsibility for Whanganui so it's always been part of who we are as Hipango whānau.

"I also have those tribal inter-relationships so I'm not only Whanganui. I'm also Ngā Rauru which is South Taranaki and I extend into Ngāti Apa which is Whangaehu."

Hipango says her political affiliations echo those of her ancestors.

"I am positioned in the National Party because that aligns very much with the values of my old people, and it is about Tino Rangatiratanga."

Confrontation at Whanganui's historical Moutoa Gardens in 1995 was a turning point in Hipango's life. As a young woman, exposed to political conflict and violence between police and Māori, Hipango decided to study law because she thought what happened was unjust.

"I worked quietly behind the scenes alongside Dame Tariana Turia, Ken Mair, Niko Tangaroa but also I was working in the courts too so I was navigating different viewpoints and I was very much a bridge in terms of those two worlds."

The MP says much has changed in the 25 years since then, thanks to young people and the education they've received. The older generation, she says, are "understandably" less receptive to a treaty partnership.

Hipango is also positive about progress made after decades of Kohanga Reo.

"They've been nurtured in that cultural context but also exposed to the mainstream education system," she said. "We have pākehā kids going through there too so they are going to be the ones that really grow and shape and nurture the face of Aotearoa. That's something I'm mindful of in the party that I'm in."

But she says there is a lot of work to undo the intergenerational trauma of the past century.

"It's not just about the physical presence and essence of the person. It's all about being enveloped with all of those other important dimensions of our worlds, so that is what Whānau Ora is about.

"We are blessed with lots of beauty in this place but within Whanganui we've got so many isolated communities as well. We may be neighbours but we are worlds apart in terms of the socio-economic demographic."

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