Election Candidate Profile: John Hart (Green Party)
Wairarapa Electorate
Although Green Party Wairarapa candidate John Hart was born in the far North, both his parents were born in this electorate.
"My mother was born in Featherston and my father in Pahiatua, but they didn't meet until they were both working in Kaitaia. Mum was a nurse and dad was a beef farmer. I ended up growing up in Auckland, but I always knew I'd return to the land one day and ten years ago I moved here with my partner to start our family," he said.
"I was a late starter to politics. I'd had a successful career in the IT industry and was well into my new one as a farmer before I got the calling. It was the birth of our first daughter that did it for me. When you're looking down at this tiny person, how do you not promise to do everything in your power to protect them, and the world they will inherit?"
Hart said we have urgent challenges to meet around climate change, inequality and building a rural economy which is both resilient and that works for everyone.