The political party already has a minister living in the region — its Taieri candidate Mark Patterson — and yesterday it added high-profile broadcaster and local body politician Michael Laws to its team as the candidate for Waitaki.
Mr Patterson said the recruitment of Mr Laws, a former NZ First candidate and senior strategist, indicated an increased focus by the party on this part of the country.
Party leader Winston Peters said Mr Laws would be an asset to the NZ First team and bring a wealth of experience, skills and leadership to Parliament.
Mr Laws, 69, said he was far from ready to put on slippers and put his feet up, and felt he still had much to contribute at the highest level of politics.
‘‘The more you sit on the regional council, the more you realise how frustrating it is that the decisions are made by public servants and bureaucrats in Wellington and local democracy is being thrown out the window ... it makes sense to go to Wellington, where those decisions are being made, and weigh in and make sure more of those decisions are returned to local communities.’’
Despite incumbent National Party MP Miles Anderson having a 12,151 majority, Mr Laws said he would be running a two-tick campaign, and that he was bullish about his prospects.
‘‘The National majority was inflated significantly last time by who Labour selected to run and by the fact there was a blue tide,’’ Mr Laws said.
‘‘Waitaki is one of those provincial areas which has suffered significantly from the maladies of both big government and big business and the cost of living has impacted significantly on our area ... I’m not giving up at all, I’m going to run a very good campaign in Waitaki.’’
Mr Laws lives in Cromwell, from where he appears on online streamer The Platform. He is also an Otago regional councillor, first elected in 2016.
However, his political history goes back much further than that, having been elected as a National MP in 1990 before defecting to NZ First. After leaving national politics, Mr Laws served on the Whanganui District Council as both a councillor and mayor.
