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The order of candidates in this feature was selected randomly.
Estefania Muller Pallarès – Labour
Waiheke-born to a Kiwi dad and Spanish mum and raised in Whangaparāoa from the age of three, I’m proud to call myself a Coastie.
I work for an environmental organisation, teaching in schools across our local board area and supporting community organisations. I regularly volunteer with local conservation groups and am a committee member on our community marae. I’m also an ocean swimmer and self-proclaimed policy nerd, deeply committed to our community and protecting our oceans, parks and public spaces for future generations to enjoy.
Having worked from the age of 14, I’ve gained a wide range of experience, from hospitality and water testing in the private sector to teaching, community projects and governance. I’ve washed dishes at Gulf Harbour Country Club, worked as a water treatment engineer in a male-dominated industry, and served on several governance boards and committees. These experiences have given me an understanding of a diverse range of people, workplaces and community needs and, I believe, equipped me to be a strong and effective voice for Whangaparāoa.
I’ve seen the cost of living hurt our community deeply. My main reason for stepping back into politics is a belief that everyone deserves a fair go at a good life here, from our youth to our seniors.
How well do you know the electorate?
I’ve experienced our community as a young kid, student, teacher, volunteer, committee member and now as a 29-year-old wanting to build a life here. Working across local schools has given me valuable insight into our community. Seeing firsthand the passion of our educators, alongside the highs and lows of working with hundreds of local kids, has been both inspiring and, at times, confronting. While we have a range of ages and demographics, I know that Whangaparāoa is full of people who are community-minded, love being outdoors, are very hard-working but love to kick back, and are proud to call this place home.
Why are you standing?
Because we deserve better than this. I believe we can have a thriving country and a strong economy without it coming at the cost of looking after people or our planet. As a younger person, I’m concerned about the direction our democracy and political landscape are heading. I want to see more integrity, collaboration and trust return to politics, and I believe one of the best ways to achieve that is to walk the talk.
Our community deserves a strong, active and engaged representative. I believe I can be a fresh, bold, hardworking and empathetic voice for Whangaparāoa.
Which three of your party’s policies resonate most with you?
Free prescriptions and three free GP visits, because no one should miss out on healthcare because of cost. Restoring Fair Pay Agreements and pay equity legislation, because people deserve fair wages; and democratic changes – including introducing a lobby register, reviewing the use of urgency, and restoring election-day enrolment.
If elected, what could Whangaparāoa voters expect from you as their MP?
If elected, voters can expect a proactive, accessible and collaborative local MP who listens and gets involved. I would provide more active community engagement through regular open hours at the local MP office, community meetings, outreach and responsive online communication. Local representatives need to understand how policy decisions affect people on the ground. That starts with strong local relationships, something I have already begun building.
What is the single most important thing you would like to have achieved for the electorate by the end of your next term?
My priority would be to reduce the cost-of-living pressures facing our community. We have local, well-educated seniors who worked all their lives but now rely on food banks or avoid using power during peak hours and school camps being cancelled because too many families can’t afford to send their kids.
Simply, success to me would be fewer Coasties having to make impossible choices and more Coasties meeting their essential costs, staying in our community, and building good, secure lives here.
Population growth is continuing to put pressure on local roads, public transport, health services, schools and other infrastructure. What should central government do to ensure infrastructure keeps pace?
Straight off the bat, the Fast Track legislation must change. Currently, it overrides other legislation and sidelines councils, Watercare, Iwi and community voices. Central government needs to proactively work with local government on strategic, long-term plans for housing and infrastructure, rather than imposing legislation through urgency that overrides local planning, and leaves councils and ratepayers in impossible situations. Labour believes decisions about local governance and its structures should be locally led, with strong community consultation.
What would you like to see done to improve opportunities for younger people locally, including employment, apprenticeships and affordable housing?
Labour’s policies will create more opportunities for young people to work, train and build a future locally. Labour’s Apprenticeship Boost in 2020, saw the highest level of apprenticeships on record. We will expand the scheme to provide employers $500 a month, apprentices a $1000 toolbox grant and extend to five new trades: road construction, water and sanitary engineering, personal services (like hairdressers), sales and marketing, and sports and recreation. Labour’s KiwiSaver changes will help young people save a deposit for their first home quicker, and along with building more affordable homes, this will allow more young Coasties to put down roots.
Mark Mitchell – National
I grew up on Whenuapai Airforce base where my Dad was a P3 Orion Pilot. When Dad left the RNZAF, we moved to Sunnynook.
My first job was shepherding on Weiti station. I remember clearly when the first stake went in the ground on the station for a future Penlink. It will be great to see Penlink opened next term.
At 20, I joined the NZ Police and had a 14-year policing career that I loved. Most of my service was as a Police dog handler, and on the Armed Offenders and Search and Rescue squads. On leaving Police I worked in the Middle East for 10 years, initially for the interim Iraqi government helping to establish law enforcement agencies, and then with a global logistics company where I formed a security and risk management company focused on protecting people, delivering logistics support and aid into high risk environments.
In 2011, I brought my family home with a desire to restart my public service as a Member of Parliament.
How well do you know the electorate?
I have served my electorate for 15 years. I am married to Sarah and we live in Ōrewa with a blended family of adult children, all pursuing their adventures and dreams.
Serving my community is an enormous privilege. I live here and know it well. I am the Patron of Ōrewa Surf Lifesaving Club and have been a clubby my whole life. This year I was also made an Honorary member of the Silverdale Fire Brigade. As Minister for Emergency Management, I have served alongside our firefighters at 53 States of Emergency, so to be recognised by one of my local brigades was a huge honour. Last term I served as Minister of Police, Minister of Corrections, Minister of Emergency Management and Recovery, Minister for Ethnic communities, Minister of Sport and Recreation, Minister for the Serious Fraud Office and Associate Minister for National Security and Intelligence.
Why are you standing?
I was raised in a family where public service was very important. Every parliamentary term I reflect on whether I feel I am delivering for my community at a local level and our country at a ministerial or parliamentary level.
I feel that, with the support of my local and ministerial teams, I have delivered strong results for our country that I am proud of.
Which three of your party’s policies resonates most with you?
We will make KiwiSaver compulsory and increase contributions; make enrolment at birth automatic with a $1500 Baby Boost investment kick start; provide a contribution to people on paid parental leave; and make it an employer requirement to contribute for contributing KiwiSaver members aged over 65.
Our education policy will deliver one hour maths, reading and writing a day for every student.
Our public safety policies, like the gang legislation, anti-stalking legislation and Policing Amendment Bill are making our country a much safer place.
If elected, what could Whangaparāoa voters expect from you as their local MP?
Someone who will stick by you through any challenges that are thrown at us. I have a proven track record of being a strong and effective advocate for our community, whether it be at an individual level where I have to step in to protect someone vulnerable from the power of the state, through to dealing with wider policy issues at both local and central government level that are bad for our community.
What is the single most important thing you would like to have achieved for the electorate by the end of your next term?
The opening of Penlink that I have been advocating for (and working with groups like Penlink Now on) for many years. I was proud of the delivery of the new motorway to Warkworth, which used to be part of my electorate. These big roading projects are important and improve the safety and quality of people’s lives.
Population growth is continuing to put pressure on local roads, public transport, health services, schools and other infrastructure. What should central government do to ensure infrastructure keeps pace?
Delivering economic growth, reducing debt and investing taxpayers’ money carefully and sensibly will create the funding needed to continue to invest into our country’s infrastructure. This might sound easy, but it requires ongoing discipline and good decisions to reduce our debt and get us back to a rock star economy. If we don’t do this, we won’t have the money to invest in infrastructure.
What would you like to see done to improve opportunities for younger people locally, including employment, apprenticeships and affordable housing?
Education, education, education – along with good parenting and role models – is the biggest determinant in our young people realising their potential.
We are already seeing improving education results and locally we are very lucky to have high quality principals and teachers across our schooling network, whether it be public, private or integrated. S
Sitting alongside that is increased trade training and a strong growing economy. Our economy is predicted to deliver 220,000 new jobs in the next four years.
Helena Roza – ACT
I came to New Zealand in 2015 and have built my life here as an entrepreneur, communications professional, wife, mother and grandmother.
My professional background spans journalism, television, publishing, marketing and public relations. Today, I own and manage several businesses, including a digital marketing company and an electrical services business. That has given me a very practical understanding of what it takes to employ people, manage costs, deal with regulation and keep a business moving in a challenging economic environment.
I am also on the advisory board of New Zealand’s first AI Film Festival, which brings together two areas I have always been passionate about: creativity and new technology.
My connection to the Hibiscus Coast is personal. My daughter and her family live here, so I spend a lot of time in the area. Ōrewa is one of my favourite beaches, I love Sunday mornings at the cafés around Gulf Harbour Marina, and one of my favourite Italian restaurants, Due Amici, is on Whangaparāoa Peninsula.
Community involvement matters to me too, and I have volunteered with Red Cross Meals on Wheels and Love Soup.
Outside work and politics, I love motorbikes, motorsport, history, philosophy and technology.
I believe in equal rights, personal responsibility, freedom and practical government. I also believe New Zealand should remain a country where people who work hard, take risks and contribute to their communities have every opportunity to get ahead.
How well do you know the electorate?
My connection to the electorate is personal as well as political. My daughter and her family live here, so I spend a lot of time on the Hibiscus Coast and know many of the peninsula’s cafés, businesses and community spaces. Through campaigning I have also spent considerable time speaking with residents and local business owners. The message is consistent: people love living here, but they are frustrated that infrastructure has not kept pace with growth.
Why are you standing?
I believe New Zealand needs more people in parliament who understand life outside politics. I have built businesses, employed people and raised a family here. I know what regulation, rising costs and poor infrastructure mean in the real world. I want government to focus on the basics, reward effort and personal responsibility, and give people more freedom to build their own future.
Which three of your party’s policies resonate most with you?
First, backing small business and cutting red tape. Small businesses create jobs, apprenticeships and local prosperity, yet too much time and money is lost to compliance.
Second, equal rights and merit. I strongly believe every New Zealander should be equal before the law and that public services should be based on need, not ethnicity.
Third, housing and infrastructure reform. For a fast-growing area like the Hibiscus Coast, building infrastructure alongside growth and making it easier to build more homes is essential.
If elected, what could Whangaparāoa voters expect from you as their MP?
Accessibility, visibility and straight answers. I would be in the electorate, regularly meet residents, local businesses and community groups, and take local problems directly to Wellington. I also want people to know they can actually reach me. If you call on a Friday after 5pm, I want to be the person answering the phone — not someone hidden behind layers of staff or process. I won’t promise an MP can fix everything. But I will listen, advocate strongly, follow things through and tell people clearly what can, and cannot, be done.
What is the single most important thing you would like to have achieved for the electorate by the end of your next term?
I want locals to stop feeling that population growth comes first and infrastructure follows years later. My priority would be a clear, funded pipeline for the next generation of transport, water, wastewater and community infrastructure, with measurable progress already underway.
Population growth is putting pressure on local roads, public transport, health services, schools and other infrastructure. What should central government do to ensure infrastructure keeps pace?
Government must plan decades ahead, not election to election. Penlink is essential, but it cannot be the end of the conversation. We need roads, reliable public transport, water, schools and health services planned alongside new housing, not after congestion and shortages appear. Central government, Auckland Council and infrastructure providers need to work from the same long-term plan, with clear funding, timelines and accountability. New development should also make a fair contribution to the infrastructure it requires. Growth is welcome, but growth without infrastructure simply transfers the cost to existing residents.
What would you like to see done to improve opportunities for young people locally, including employment, apprenticeships and affordable housing?
As an employer in the electrical industry, this is especially important to me. Trades should be promoted as a first-choice career, not a fallback. We need easier pathways from school into apprenticeships and employment settings that make it worthwhile for businesses to take on and train inexperienced young people.
We also need more housing supply, faster consenting, less unnecessary regulation and infrastructure that allows new homes to be built.
Young people growing up on the Hibiscus Coast should be able to build a career, start a business, rent or buy a home and create a future here – not feel that they have to leave the area, or New Zealand, to get ahead.
