Hot button issues light up Grey Power candidates’ meeting

It was a packed house when voters turned out in Ōrewa on August 25 to hear six party representatives make their case ahead of the October 14 general election.

Taking part were Whangaparāoa MP, National’s Mark Mitchell, Labour candidate Estefania Muller Pallarès, Simon Angelo of ACT, NZ First candidate Janina Massee, Jeanette Wilson of NZ Loyal, and New Conservative deputy leader Ted Johnson. All but Johnson are contesting the electorate.

The meeting, hosted by Grey Power, attracted close to 150 people, according to the organisation’s Hibiscus Coast president, Simonne Dyer, who said it was both the best-attended in years, and the one that most reflected the “divisiveness” of issues facing voters.

Judging from applause and comments from the floor, topics that generated the most feeling included vaccine mandates, abortion and gender-neutral bathrooms in public facilities. Local issues received little attention.

All candidates except for Muller Pallarès (who said she needed to do more research) supported scrapping the recently-passed Therapeutic Products Bill, contentious legislation that changes the regulation of medicines and natural health products. Several said it would undermine the homeopathic industry and only benefit “Big Pharma”.

NZ First’s Massee was first to touch on one of the most sensitive topics of the afternoon – the Labour government’s handling of the Covid pandemic.

“Never again must a government lock down our loved ones, stop our families from visiting grandparents, or attending funerals or mandate our doctors, nurses and midwives out of jobs,” she said, drawing applause.

Mitchell said National recognised there were times mandates were necessary, to reduce the risk to those in the community “most vulnerable to a pandemic”, but it had called for them to be lifted as quickly as possible.

Wilson of NZ Loyal – a new party established by anti-vaccination mandate campaigner Liz Gunn – called for a show of hands on whether people would accept another “experimental” vaccine if a new Covid variant emerged.

Muller Pallarès thanked those who raised their hands – roughly half the room – saying a willingness to be vaccinated “keeps other people safe”.

Dyer at one point asked the audience to “settle down”, acknowledging that “this is a very divisive issue”.

Johnson called the outgoing government’s treatment of the elderly “despicable”, saying people had to choose between being able to heat their homes or buy food.

Angelo said New Zealand has been “bouncing from one crisis to the next”, pointing to high mortgage rates, inflation and red tape hampering growth. His description of co-governance as “racist” drew murmurs of approval.

Mitchell voiced concern about criminal trends in the area, including gang activity in Silverdale, assaults at the Hibiscus Coast bus station, and young offenders pulling knives on staff at Coast mall.

He accused the Labour government of being “soft on crime”, citing its push to reduce the prison population by 30 percent and its repeal of  the “three strikes” legislation, which provided for maximum sentences without parole for a third offence of specific crimes. Michell said he was in line to hold the police portfolio in a National cabinet, which would bring back “three strikes” in its first 100 days.