Election 2020: Te Tai Hauāuru's New Conservative candidate Josh Morgan says families, mental health priorities

New Conservative candidate in Te Tai Hauāuru Josh Morgan is looking to focus on mental health. Photo / Supplied

Tradesman Josh Morgan has put his name in the hat to be Te Tai Hauāuru's next MP for the New Conservative Party, despite his party having a policy to abolish the seats.

Morgan, a father of five from Tokoroa, said politics were not discussed or prevalent in his household when he was growing up.

"We've come from a heck of a place, no doubt about that. A drugs and violence-based background."

Morgan decided he wanted to stand for New Conservative after seeing some of the decisions being made in Government and wanting to provide a voice for his community.

The party has a policy to disestablish the Māori electorates - the very electorate he is running to represent.

When asked about this policy and in relation to his candidacy he referred to the party's policy which says "that the separate Māori roll is dividing New Zealanders by ethnicity at the same time as dividing Māori".

The New Conservatives policies around family building particularly stand out for Morgan, who came from a broken home himself.

"Really, I'm just one person putting my hand up and helping when I can," he said.

"The building up of strengthening of families and family values and looking at the root causes behind a lot of broken homes.

"I do believe personally it does start at home. A lot of issues come from family homes that aren't in order and I do believe if you can get it right at home and bring them up in the right way, their future hinges on that."

Morgan said he was saying "Nope to Dope" regarding the cannabis referendum.

"There are a lot of other issues right at this point, regarding our Covid recovery and with the youth as I mentioned.

"There's a lot more pressing issues we should be looking into and putting money into rather than legalising cannabis.

"Of all the things we could be focusing on right now, I don't feel that should be right up there."

Morgan said mental health and depression was a massive issue around the country and needed to be address correctly.

"Where I'm living, in Tokoroa, it's really bad here. It's bad in a lot of places, but there are a lot of teen suicides and youth not knowing how to deal with that.

"I just want to support the mental health issues that are plaguing our community and try and find other ways to deal with these issues."