KEY POINTS:
The politician facing corruption charges stands in front of a large group of factory workers.
He is slightly nervous. But as he speaks, his voice suggests otherwise and silence falls over the audience.
Taito Lemalu Phillip Field, the MP for Mangere, is on his sixth campaign trail this
year. But this time round it is different.
Mr Field is alleged to have allowed several Thai nationals to work on a number of his homes in exchange for help with their immigration issues.
Facing bribery, corruption and obstruction charges, he is now going out on his own as leader of the newly formed New Zealand Pacific Party's candidate for Mangere, having left the Labour Party amid the allegations.
Speaking to workers about the Christian-based party at the Progressive Enterprises factory in Mangere yesterday, he is firm when a man questions him about the allegations.
"Well it's not true," Mr Field tells him.
The man shakes the MP's hand firmly, accepting the answer he is given. "Yeah. It's your private life anyway," he says. "It doesn't matter."
Mr Field, who in 1993 became the first person of Pacific Island descent to be elected to Parliament, acknowledged that this year's campaign had demanded just as much hard work as the others. But at the end of the day, it all depends on the voters, he says.
"It's funny. I'll be out somewhere and someone will come up to me and say, 'Hey Taito, thanks for your help.'
"I don't remember them - when I helped them, it was at that moment and you don't see them again - but they still remember you. And that's their vote. Anyway, we'll know on Saturday."
Loud applause interrupts him as he talks passionately about the Government's "move away" from traditional values.
"We have to do away with ungodly laws - to acknowledge the word of God. We need to repeal the anti-smacking law, the prostitution law and ban abortion."
More applause follows when Mr Field acknowledges raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour is a must.
Later, at the Mangere Town Centre, several cars in the carpark sport Pacific Party flags, shoppers are keen to call out to "our man", as one elderly voter calls him, and others are quick to come up to Mr Field to show off their purple Pacific Party hats.
A young woman with a greenstone ornament around her neck strides right up to the former Government minister and embraces him like an old friend. "I'll always vote for you," she tells him. "You've done a lot for my family. Thank you."
Mr Field smiles: "People always remember."
