‘It’s harder than I thought it would be’ – Tama Potaka’s first 100 days

When the new member of National’s caucus, Tama Potaka, was elected he didn’t expect to have to confront the “wettest day on record” in his former home town, nor a deadly cyclone that saw the sitting of parliament, and his first at a maiden speech, postponed.

Quickly given responsibility in the National caucus in the form of the Māori development portfolio and associate housing, Potaka says he has enjoyed his first few months in the house but that “decision-making takes longer.”

Used to the celerity of business he said that setting up his parliamentary and electorate offices and hiring staffers has consumed some of his time thus far and as a first time politician, he was getting used to it.

“It’s harder than I thought it would be.

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“There are a few more layers of decision-making than I’m used to; to sort out staff, to sort out offices, papers and how they come to you before you attend the house and other place. I also had to deal with a little birthday party for JC (Jesus Christ) called Christmas,” he said.

Staffing issues and the relationship he could maintain with Parliamentary Services, was one of the reasons the former MP for Hamilton West, Gaurav Sharma, decided to leave his party’s membership and his seat, ultimately triggering the by-election Potaka won.

A hundred days into the job, Potaka recalls that the first hurdle to clear was making it to Wellington in an attempt to give his maiden speech. On February 19, he and colleague Sam Uffindel, drove the 450 km to the Capital to attend a sitting that was cancelled because of Cyclone Gabrielle.

“Just as we were about to go to work, to Wellington, we had the floods, and then we had the cyclone all those things have worked out as a bit of a delay… We’re going to as a nation, and also as taxpayers, work out how to support the people of those locations that have gone through those tragic circumstances. A-la what happened with Christchurch.”

Hamilton West still faced other “emergencies”, albeit those of a social nature.

Recognising that the examples are outside his electorate, Potaka said: “You can’t go down River Road now and go into a dairy that hasn’t been at knife-point or at gunpoint, or some other point, in the last three months.”

When asked what he has done about the anecdotally high incidences of particularly aggravated retail crime in his first 100 days, Potaka said he was working with his party’s Police spokesperson to keep the government to account and “ensure there is an awareness of genuine honest data around ram-raids, robberies and crime.”

With the National party keen on standing candidates in Tāmaki Makaurau and Te Tai Hauāuru, Potaka said alongside existing Māori candidates for the party, more could be expected. However, he said, many potential candidates already had demanding and fulfilling roles in other sectors.

“A lot of my peers, a very talented group of people, they work in iwi, they work in private business, they work in charities, they are already driven to serve their communities… I do talk with people from time to time, it would be a late run now, there are not may selections that are left for National, but there’s an increasing number of candidates who are Māori and Pasifika.”

Potaka has also been active on the ground in the electorate, he says. Hosting constituency clinics on alternate days in the non-sitting weeks of parliament.

In Wellington, he says Chris Bishop has taken him under his wing. Natural partners given their complimentary housing portfolios. His highlight so far meanwhile? The maiden speech in which he could make his parliamentary motivations clear.

“Having the ability to present my maiden speech. Because what that did is give some insight into the drivers or the values, the tikanga in my life. It’s not that I got here because I did something. I got here with the support of hundreds of people and the values and protocols and principles they instilled in me are now brought to bear in the house… What a marvellous job!”