Mangere

Don't expect Mangere's sitting Labour MP, Taito Phillip Field, to be looking for a new job after this election.

With unchanged boundaries and an overwhelming 1999 majority of 13,047, Field is a dead cert to win. He has seven cannon-fodder candidates to beat off.

Mangere also provides a valuable fillip to Labour's party vote. More than 67 per cent of voters plumped for Labour in 1999, giving it 13,000 votes more than nearest rival National, despite the seat having the lowest turnout in the country.

The big issues for Mangere voters are jobs, social welfare, housing and health.

Fifty-two per cent of the population claim Pacific Island descent. The seat has a large refugee population and the lowest percentage of Europeans of any electorate. Mangere also has the highest percentage of unemployed of the general seats, at 14 per cent.

Overcrowding in low-cost housing has encouraged the spread of diseases such as meningitis and hepatitis. Along with such poverty-related problems comes crime, and burglary and domestic violence statistics remain high.

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