Candidates front up to fiery audience

At the Messines Bar and Restaurant in Featherston last night six of the seven Wairarapa general electorate candidates had three minutes each for a presentation, before tackling audience questions.

A Meet the Candidates evening in Featherston on Wednesday night proved an endurance test for some of Wairarapa's political hopefuls.

At the Messines Bar and Restaurant Ron Mark (NZ First), Ra Smith (Maori), Brent Reid (Conservatives), John Hart (Greens), Kieran McAnulty (Labour) and Shane Atkinson (Act) were allowed three minutes each for a presentation, before tackling audience questions.

The 40-strong crowd was vocal and restless from the beginning, with some grumblings at the absence of National candidate Alastair Scott, who had communicated his apologies due to attending another meeting in the north of the electorate.

A moderator read out Mr Scott's supplied speech, ignoring cries of "point of order" and other derisive calls.

Mr Atkinson, speaking first, told the audience he was pursuing the party vote. If Act became part of government, Featherston would grow with jobs, he said.

"Three directions - completing the irrigation project, treble the production of farms in South Wairarapa.

"Bring in tourism, businesses started up by private entrepreneurs.

"And decent access between Featherston and Wellington.

"We need decent rail, decent road linkages."

He said a Green-Labour coalition will do social engineering.

"A National/Act coalition will do civil engineering."

Mr McAnulty stood to applause, reminding the audience he was standing for the electorate.

"I know this region, I know its people, I know the issues you face - I'm a local." He said it was his "life-long ambition" to become the MP for Wairarapa.

Experience was not everything in an MP, he said. "You would never get fresh ideas, fresh energy."

The economy might be booming, but that was not the case in Wairarapa, "certainly not for Featherston".

Mr Hart, seeking the party vote, said he stood for clean and green farming, producing safe food for international markets.

"More than ever, it's important that we live up to the clean green brand - our future depends on it.

"National seems happy to undo all of that."

He warned the rural communities would be the hardest hit when climate change happened.

Mr Reid, also seeking the party vote, said he got involved because he wanted to stop "the social liberal agenda of the left".

The "agenda" included "prostitution as a career choice for your daughters.

"Anti-smacking - I couldn't stand that.

"Same-sex marriage was the wrong thing to do."

Calls of "stand down" came as Mr Reid called himself a "red-blooded Kiwi guy", but the crowd quietened as he said the Conservatives wanted lower tax thresholds and tougher penalties for criminals. "The liberal lunacy of the left: people getting murdered because they get let out of prison too early."

Ra Smith earned an early laugh by saying it was easy to follow after Mr Reid.

"Why vote for someone [from the Maori Party] in the general election?

"I would like to increase our community's ability in terms of saying who we are, add to the knowledge that Maori can bring to a community."

He said MMP was how parties worked together, even if they were on different sides.

He said Featherston had a big decision to make on a wastewater treatment plant.

"I think you haven't been given the opportunity by the district council to come together and look at this."

Mr Mark, firmly seeking the candidate vote, would "love to have the party vote" as well.

He offered experience, he said, as a heckler called out "retread".

Unphased, Mr Mark said he was happy to be judged on his track record, which included four years as Carterton mayor and his previous time in Parliament.

"Watch the YouTube videos, tell me if there's anything there I did, that did not represent the people of New Zealand well."

He said he served 20 years in the military, which he joined when he was 16 and rose to major.

"Carterton is rocking ahead - that's what I want to do for the entire Wairarapa.

"That includes Featherston," he said.