Industrious NZ First candidate on foreign turf

By JULIE MIDDLETON

Barrys Point Rd on the North Shore is boy heaven. It's full of shops dealing in cars, any sort of bike, and water toys.

Men in jeans or blue overalls predominate, and the word for thank-you is either "champion", "sweet" or "cool".

Here, a middle-aged woman in a conservatively cut black jacket and skirt looks out of place.

But New Zealand First's rise in the polls means Barbara Stewart, a political unknown, could be headed to Parliament from her sixth place on the party list.

Stewart is a stranger on the Shore. Waikato-born, she lives with her husband and 12-year-old son on a lifestyle block north of Cambridge.

Her acquaintance with Auckland is limited to teaching at Otara's Hillary College in the mid 1970s, and work with East Tamaki's Quality Bakers.



Stewart, a long-time National member before she switched to NZ First in 1996, refuses to speculate on the election's outcome.

If she gets in on the list, she will leave her dairy company training job and commute between the Shore, Wellington and Cambridge.

"If it doesn't happen, I'll be back in three years."

Plenty of time to practise glad-handing. Her routine - a bit rushed and breathless - rarely varies up and down Barrys Point Rd.

"Hi, sorry to disturb you, obviously you're busy. I'm Barbara Stewart, the North Shore candidate for New Zealand First, and I thought I'd introduce myself and leave you some reading material."

She is met by blank stares but is farewelled politely. Several people mention that she is the first candidate they have seen.

At a bicycle shop, she latches onto the first person she encounters, Birkenhead athlete Mike Stobbs. She apologises when she realises he is a customer and not a staff member.

Stobbs offers some tactical advice: "She's got to stop apologising. But it's good she's getting out there."

Full news coverage:
nzherald.co.nz/election

Election links:
The parties, policies, voting information, and more

Ask a politician:
Send us a question, on any topic, addressed to any party leader. We'll choose the best questions to put to the leaders, and publish the answers in our election coverage.