Laura Rae becomes youngest Western Bay councillor

Laura Rae has been elected to the Western Bay of Plenty District Council as a Maketū-Te Puke councillor.

Laura Rae has become the youngest member of Western Bay of Plenty District Council.

Laura was one of three candidates in the by-election called following the unexpected death of sitting Maketū-Te Puke ward councillor Richard Crawford in March.

She secured the seat with 1566 votes over Bernard Holmes (663 votes) and Anthony Te Uruhi Wihapi (502 votes).

“I’m just so humbled and shocked that that many people have placed their trust in me.”

She says she will work to the best of her ability to “get what we deserve to get for this side of the Western Bay.”

Laura was elected to the Maketū Community Board in 2019 after being encouraged to stand by then-chairman Shane Beech.

She retained her position in the 2022 local body elections and was elected board chairwoman.

She says when she first got involved in local politics, it was to do something for Maketū.

“But quite quickly I realised that you need to sort of sit a bit higher to be able to make real changes and to help as many people as you can.”

She says had a lot to learn when she began, and she still has.

“I had to really try to prove my worth to people, especially being so young - it’s not normally a young people’s thing, and I am under 35.”

She says she realises from being a community board member it is far from plain sailing, but that hasn’t dissuaded her.

“It can be quite negative a lot of the time and one day you can have a very good day and the next day’s not.

She says it often feels like a fight.

“In a way that can be quite sad, that you actually have to really fight for the things you feel that we deserve, but that’s the way it is so that’s the way we’ll do it.

“Certainly nobody comes to our meetings and tells us how good we are doing - well not really.

“We’ve just got to try and showcase all the things we do do well and we can move forward from there because all the negative’s always going to be there and you can never please everybody.”

Laura says she feels it is important that people communicate with her.

“It’s all about that because I want to do the best for everybody so I need to hear from everybody.”

She was quickly congratulated by Mayor James Denyer when the provisional results were announced.

“And Bernard rang me straight way to congratulate me and I put out a message to them online saying win or lose, at the end of the day we all did well just to stand up for what we believe in and to help others to do what is necessary.”

She says she is thankful for everyone who has supported her so far.

“There are some key people, and they know exactly who they are, that have really helped me and I couldn’t have done it without them.”