Merepeka Raukawa-Tait is standing for the Māori Party. Photo / Andrew Warner.
A second Rotorua councillor has put her hat in the ring to stand for Parliament in the general election.
Rotorua Lakes councillor Merepeka Raukawa-Tait will stand for the Māori Party and is number nine on the party's list.
She joins fellow Rotorua Lakes councillor Tania Tapsell, who is standing in the East Coast electorate for National.
Raukawa-Tait is also a member of the Lakes District Health Board.
If elected, it could trigger by-elections for both.
The latest 1 News Colmar Brunton poll put the Māori Party at one per cent, meaning it was unlikely Raukawa-Tait, let alone any Māori Party candidates, would be elected to Parliament unless they won electorate seats.
Today Raukawa-Tait said her Māori Party candidacy shouldn't "come as a surprise to anyone".
"I have been outspoken for many years on the inability of successive governments to move Māori from welfare to wellbeing."
Raukawa-Tait last stood for Parliament - for the Christian Heritage Party - in 2002.
She said her candidacy for the Māori Party was about using her profile to endorse the party and wouldn't be actively campaigning, although she would appear at some events.
Earlier this week, party leader John Tamihere said he didn't think 2020 would be the Māori Party's year.
"I don't agree with John on that because when I look at some of the [Māori Party] candidates, they're quite stunning," Raukawa-Tait said.
She was aware of internal discontent with the party's choice to work with National under the previous Government.
"It's always better to be inside the tent than outside the tent. There were some gains made."
One of those gains, she said, was Whānau Ora, of which she was now chairperson.
"In the MMP environment, there are compromises that have to be made."
She said she believed a Labour Government with Māori Party support could be the ideal.
"I don't see the National Party even getting anywhere this time around, so I wouldn't consider it because they're not even on the radar."
She said there had been a generation of Māori who had been loyal to the Labour Party but that was ebbing away.
"I get rather hoha, rather annoyed, with Māori who say 'I don't vote because I'm not political'.
"Don't they realise that it's all political?"
Raukawa-Tait was one of six Māori Party candidates based in Waiariki, which covers Tauranga, Whakatāne, Rotorua and Taupō.
A council spokeswoman said a by-election for that organisation would cost $120,000.
Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick said she was not surprised Raukawa-Tait was running - "having seen her speaking out on issues relating to various Māori issues over many years".
She said it was a matter for Tapsell and Raukawa-Tait to determine whether their commitments during the election period would impact their efficacy as councillors.
"Both will manage their responsibilities with care.
She was not concerned about the possibility of a by-election.
"That potential is always there and we will cross that bridge when we come to it."
The council spokeswoman said Tapsell had been absent from four council meetings since June 4, when her East Coast candidacy was announced.
When asked how much a health board by-election might cost, a health board spokeswoman said Raukawa-Tait would not be compelled by law to step down from her role on the board.
"As a result of the above, the DHB would not need to consider a by-election."
Māori Party Waiariki candidates
Rawiri Waititi - running in the Waiariki electorate against incumbent Tāmati Coffey of the Labour Party. Number two on the Māori Party list.
Hana Tapiata - number eight
Merepeka Raukawa-Tait - number nine
Tumanako Silveira - number 14
Wendy Biddle - number 18
Fallyn Flavell - number 20
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