Key electorate: Whangarei

By BRIDGET CARTER

It has been 30 years since Whangarei returned a Labour MP and the party's candidate this time round, David Shearer, is not sure why.

He says Whangarei is a similar electorate to Labour strongholds Napier and New Plymouth, yet the northern seat has remained National for decades.

"It is a strange seat in a way because it really should be a Labour seat, but for a peculiar reason it has always been National."

Labour won 3 per cent more of the party vote in 1999, but National's Phil Heatley, who was following in the footsteps of long-time MP John Banks, won the seat.

He won 1934 votes more than his nearest rival, Labour's Denise Jelicich.

Mr Shearer believes National succeeded because of vote-splitting among the smaller parties.

In 1999 New Zealand First's Brian Donnelly, who almost ousted Mr Banks in the previous election, gained 5762 votes and Tricia Cutforth of the Alliance gained 3138.

If enough of those Alliance votes had gone to the Labour candidate instead, she would have ousted National.

The Alliance vote is expected to collapse this election because of its public infighting.

Mr Donnelly and Act's Muriel Newman are asking first and foremost for the party vote.

Mr Shearer says Ms Cutforth has endorsed him as the electorate candidate. Green candidate Calvin Green has also said he is targeting the party vote.

A South Aucklander, Mr Shearer was head boy of Papatoetoe High School and has worked as a science teacher at Auckland high schools.

He has also carried out aid work in war-torn countries for the past 12 years.

He believes there are pockets of Whangarei that have staunch Labour voters, but many are Maori, who will vote on the Te Tai Tokerau roll.

Mr Shearer says he will emphasise education in the district.

Census figures show the number of people with tertiary qualifications in Whangarei is slightly below the national average. So is the average income - $16,400 compared with $18,500.

And unemployment is higher than in the rest of the country - 9.7 per cent compared with 7.5.

"It's got real problems as well so I look at it as a real challenge," says Mr Shearer.

His rivals believe Mr Shearer, as a newcomer to a provincial New Zealand electorate, is beginning the race on the back foot in many ways.

Whangarei has been his home for only two months.

He rents in Onerahi (it has been too difficult to look for a house in the lead-up to the election, he says), and is campaigning against born-and-bred Whangarei candidates.

Mr Heatley thinks Whangarei people want local representation from a local person.

"With National, people have known their MP and their MP has known the community," he says.

In provincial New Zealand, everything is done on a one-to-one basis.

Mr Heatley, who gave up his engineering job to contest the seat in 1999, says his win was a result of hard work and being a local man.

He is running a similar campaign this election.

"We were very happy with the last campaign.

"I couldn't have worked harder."

His priorities are paying off the health board's debt, roading issues surrounding the Marsden Pt port and preventing the legalisation of cannabis.

Candidates

Tricia Cutforth - Alliance

Brian Donnelly - New Zealand First

Calvin Green - Greens

Rod Harris - Christian Heritage

Phil Heatley - National

Helen Hughes - Libertarianz

Muriel Newman - Act

Gray Phillips - United Future

David Shearer - Labour

David Wilson - Jim Anderton's Progressive Coalition

1999 Result: National (majority 1934)

1996 Result: National (majority 383)

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