Act candidate stands in Rotorua

Lyall Russell

Rotorua has a new candidate in the election race with Lyall Russell running for the Act Party.

The 22-year-old made the decision to run last week and is highly focused on what he wants to achieve.

"I'm asking for people to vote for [National's] Todd McClay for MP and to give their party vote to Act," he said.

Mr Russell is a financial adviser and also works part-time at Huka Lodge in Taupo.

He said his decision to run was a "very long thought-out process".

"Personally I had to talk to a lot of my contacts, just to see whether this was the right thing to do. I talked to my family, who said, 'You don't know whether this opportunity would come back again', so it was about taking opportunities as they come.

"It really came down to the point that they [Act Party] had asked me. I had previously done work experience in John Banks' office in Wellington and got an understanding of how politics works in Wellington.

"The last election there hadn't been an Act candidate in Rotorua and I guess it's the idea of having a face people can see and relating to them. To increase the Act Party's view in Rotorua. Todd [McClay] is the one I'm championing. I think he is best suited to represent the Rotorua people and is doing a great job," Mr Russell said.

"Since MMP was introduced, there hasn't been a National Government without Act by their side. I think one of the main things on everyone's bucket list should be to run for office just once and personally I want to be a person who holds political leaders accountable and that's what Act does."

Mr Russell said his party planned to extend the three-strike law for violent crimes to burglary, which was a major problem in Rotorua. Under the law introduced in 2010 repeat criminals receive the maximum allowable sentence on their third conviction.