National’s newest MP Tama Potaka has banned his daughter from going to the dairy next door to her school because he doesn't think it's safe. He tells political editor Jo Moir that putting food on the table and being safe is what Māori care about – not political issues like co-governance.
Tama Potaka fits a lot in while he is at Parliament and prioritises exercise every single day no matter what.
When Newsroom sits down with him, he’s just returned from the gym and is demolishing a bowl of porridge with protein powder and has a piece of toast with a huge slab of butter and jam waiting for him.
His office has next to nothing in it despite him being an MP since December – he just hasn’t had time to put anything on the walls or on the bookshelves.
READ MORE: * How Hamilton West is won * Less word soup, more vision needed from Luxon * Water charges could be hiked under National's policy
Getting to the gym or out for a run each day keeps him going and he insists everyone should make time for it, even if it’s just some yoga stretching for 10 minutes.
A noisy kettle boils away right next to us as he starts chatting and insists the interview get underway.
Potaka’s story starts with him becoming the MP for Hamilton West, and what he has been surprised by since coming to Parliament.
He starts talking about River Road in his electorate – the mighty Tron he says some like to call it – and how every dairy on that road from Ngāruawahia to the Anzac Bridge in the city has been hit by aggravated robbery.
“There is not a dairy on that road that hasn’t been at the barrel of a gun or the tipping point of a knife in the last three months. There will only be one dairy left on that road very shortly … they’ve all shut down,” Potaka told Newsroom.
“Aggravated crime is up in our location despite what people say, and it’s quite in your face.
“I’ve said to my daughter, for example, you’re not allowed to go to the dairy next to Waikato Dio – you’ve got to eat the food at the school. That’s quite sad.”
“Maybe 25 percent of Māori own their own homes, that’s a shocking statistic, plus you’ve got rental challenges and people in social housing – it’s really tough out there.” – Tama Potaka
Outside of law and order and having safe communities, Potaka says the biggest concern in his electorate and more generally is the cost-of-living crisis.
As the MP in charge of the Māori Development portfolio in his party, Potaka also says the cost of living is the biggest concern for whānau and iwi.
“Look at the median Māori income, it’s significantly lower than the average general income. The cost of living is really jamming the lives of Māori, iwi, whānau, and it’s really hurting and making life difficult.
“Maybe 25 percent of Māori own their own homes, that’s a shocking statistic, plus you’ve got rental challenges and people in social housing – it’s really tough out there.”
Potaka says unless family have access to food through hunting and fishing or being able to grow their own garden, it’s difficult to put kai on the table.
One thing he says Māori don’t care about, despite the amount of media attention it gets, is co-governance.
“That’s not topical with the Māori communities I interact with; how expensive it is to live is what they’re talking about.”
Potaka has connections to Ngāti Hauiti, Whanganui, Taranaki, and Ngāti Toa, and prior to becoming an MP he worked in senior management roles at Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki, the NZ Super Fund and Tainui Group Holdings.
Asked why the National Party was wasting time and energy talking about co-governance if it’s not topical or important, Potaka said it was about responding to the Government’s narrative.
“We’ve been very firm and clear about what we believe in, but you’ll find if you listen to debates in the House, there’s an absolute fever within the Labour Government to drive co-governance arrangements through lots of different things, and we’ve had to respond to that.”
Potaka accepts there is a lot of divisiveness and disunity in communities at the moment but he says he will be ignoring it when he hits the road to campaign in the lead-up to the election.
He blames the breakdown of social cohesion on the social disconnect people experienced during Covid-19.
“That’s contributed to some of the disunity we have now – people are a little bit suspicious of each other.”
As public figures, Potaka says he and his colleagues have a job to do to be careful about the language used while ensuring there is always a platform for free and frank debate.
“What we’ve found with some of the divisiveness is they get into disrespectful language pretty quickly.”
Potaka says in his experience as a business leader, the ideal situation is to have both sides of a disagreement "equally unhappy".
“That’s when you get things done – it’s when people are unequally unhappy that’s when there’s a lot of tension.”
