Destiny Church co-leader Hannah Tamaki will run in the Waiariki electorate in the 2020 general election. Photo / File
Destiny Church co-leader Hannah Tamaki will run in the Waiariki electorate in the 2020 general election. Photo / File
Destiny Church co-leader Hannah Tamaki is standing in the Waiariki electorate in the 2020 general election.
Tamaki, who leads Vision NZ, announced her candidacy in a statement today.
She said she was hoping to be the first successful woman candidate for Waiariki, while also bringing "integrity back to politics".
"I will bring long-overdue solutions to the people of Waiariki. Our First Peoples Policy, which I will outline on Thursday, will be setting the landscape for Māori economic future, lifting thousands out of social dependence to self-dependency. If Māori do well, New Zealand does well."
She would be releasing the outline of the Party's new First People Policy tomorrow at 12.30pm at the Penny Haka Gallery in Rotorua.
"Labour has had its turn, the Māori Party has had its turn, now it's my turn.
"There is a new breed of politician on the rise, one who keeps their promises and who leads a party with totally new and innovative solutions for Māori," she said.
She said she hoped to cease homelessness, child uplifts, broken homes, and inequality to "heal our homes".
Tamaki would be running against the electorate's current seatholder Labour's Tamati Coffey, as well as Rawiri Waititi for Māori Party.
In 2017 Coffey won the seat from Māori Party stalwart Te Ururoa Flavell, with a margin of 1719.
Tamaki was well-known as the wife of New Zealand's most controversial religious leader, Destiny Church Bishop Brian Tamaki.
"It just makes sense that Hannah would stand in the area that she whakapapas back to, has invested many years in and has a strong connection with," party secretary Anne Williamson said.
Hannah Tamaki and her husband Brian (left) had courted controversy in the past. Photo / File
The church leaders made headlines in March when Brian claimed that the coronavirus epidemic was a sign the world had "strayed from God" and his followers would be protected.
He said they would not be closing the churches as they were "not about to let a filthy virus scare us out of having church".
The church did end up shutting its doors over the lockdown period until May 17.
The pair had courted controversy in the past, with critics describing them as "xenophobic" and "homophobic".
In November last year, Hannah Tamaki said Vision NZ would ban "new mosques, temples and other foreign buildings of worship" if elected while criticising the New Zealand First party for not cutting migration enough.
Tamaki would be running against the electorate's current seatholder Labour's Tamati Coffey, as well as Rawiri Waititi for Maori Party. Photo / File
"I do not believe there is room in our society to allow for parallel cultures, faith or customs," she said at the time.
More recently, Tamaki was forced to publically dump her campaign manager Jevan Goulter after he posted a tirade of online abuse aimed at The Project co-host Kanoa Lloyd telling her to "show NZ what voluntary euthanasia looks like".
Waiariki MP Tamati Coffey told the Rotorua Daily Post that democracy was the contest of ideas, and the right to stand, the right of every New Zealander.
"My focus remains on maximising the recovery opportunities for our whānau and businesses to get back on their feet post-Covid-19.
"In just over 90 days, the people of the Waiariki will ultimately decide who they want to represent them as our region further responds, recovers and rebuilds from the damage to our community from Covid19."
Māori Party Waiariki candidate Rawiri Waititi said he admired anyone willing to put themselves out there for their people.
"As the candidate for Māori, my only priority is to be the voice of tangata whenua in Waiariki. That is our point of difference.
"Unfortunately, Tamati Coffey and Hannah Tamaki are tied to a colonial system that forces them to prioritise everyone else before Tangata Whenua. They can't help that – but I wish them the very best."
The Waiariki electorate includes the population centres of Tauranga, Rotorua, Whakatāne and Taupō.
It includes the tribal areas of Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi Te Rangi, Te Arawa, Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tūhoe, Whakatohea, Ngāi Tai, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairoa and Ngāti Tūwharetoa.
