Former soldier marches to council

Jeremy Harker

Wairoa District's newest councillor believes his long military career will provide valuable experience as he steps into a local politics role.

Former infantryman Jeremy Harker - who spent 26 years with the New Zealand Army including deployments to several of the world's conflict hot-spots - yesterday beat nine other candidates in a byelection for a seat on the council.

During his army career, the 46-year-old rose to the rank of colonel and was deployed to East Timor, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone and Angola. He moved to Wairoa in 2008, joined the board of primary health organisation Health Hawke's Bay last year, and last week began work as human resources manager at council-owned contracting firm Quality Roading Services.

He is married with three school-age sons.

Wairoa Mayor Craig Little said Mr Harker had previously contributed a lot to the local community and he looked forward to working with him on the council.

"He is passionate about Wairoa and it's great to have someone like him on board."

Mr Harker said the leadership skills he developed in the army would be suited to his work as a councillor.

"There's a perception that in the army you just tell people to do stuff and they do what they're told but it doesn't work like that. You have to make sure people understand what you're trying to achieve and you work out the best way to do it. It's about making sure everyone is engaged in the process."

Mr Harker received 780 votes in the preliminary results of the byelection, 368 more than the second-highest polling candidate, Carl Van der Meer. Just over 44 per cent of Wairoa's 5510 eligible voters took part in the byelection which followed the resignation of first-term councillor and local businessman Chris Joblin.