Singer aiming to strike chord with electorate

Singer, composer and now would-be MP Dalvanius Prime will campaign through song this election.

A song about kohanga reo and employment, and a ballad on the Piri Wiri Tua party, will feature in the repertoire of the entertainer, who is known for his work with the Patea Maori Club and more recently the repatriation of Maori heads in overseas collections.

"I think people are sick and tired of hearing the preaching stuff," he said.

The Piri Wiri Tua candidate plans a busking campaign with 9-year-old daughter Alishiba, who is off school for a few weeks.

The pair stopped off in Ponsonby yesterday.

Prime is standing in the western Maori seat of Te Tai Hauauru, which takes in Wanganui, Taranaki, the King Country and the Waikato.

Piri Wiri Tua - a name used by the late spiritual leader and MP T. W. Ratana - is fielding a joint list with Tuariki Delamere's Te Tawharau party and Tame Iti's Mana Maori Movement.

Today, they and Prime begin a whistle-stop bus tour around the top of the North Island, kicking off with a concert about midday at the Ratana Centre in Mangere.

Te Hauauru is held by Mauri Pacific MP Tukoroirangi Morgan, but Labour list MP Nanaia Mahuta is regarded as the front-runner. Both are from Tainui.

Prime said: "We are saying to Taranaki Maori especially and Wanganui Maori: give back the mana of our people so we can start negotiating for our people, and not Tainui Maori."

Piri Wiri Tua is not a Ratana party and is not sanctioned by the church.

"It stands for an independent Maori voice."