Election 2020: Pasifika community gears up to vote in Labour stronghold of Māngere

Tuesday, 13 October 2020

What do Pasifika people living in south Auckland's Māngere electorate want this election?

Health, education, housing and employment are key issues for Māngere’s Pasifika voters – and support for the Labour Party remains strong.

Māngere, a south Auckland electorate with a population that is 60 per cent Pasifika, has been loyal to Labour for generations.

It is where the party gathered the most party votes in the last election, and for 43 years, it has been held by just three Labour MPs – David Lange, Taito Phillip Field and Aupito William Sio.

Māngere is an electorate with the most Pasifika voters in the country, and in the past the majority of voters have always cast their ballots for Labour.

While there is growing support for other parties like the Green Party, especially for younger voters, older Māngere voters remain loyal to the red team.

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Māngere barber Pepa Taenai has always voted Labour and thinks National is for wealthy folk.

It’s Jacinda Ardern’s compassion and leadership during the mosque attack in Christchurch and the second Covid-19 outbreak in south Auckland that is determining some Pasifika votes.

Tina Une was in Christchurch during the terrorist attack and in south Auckland when the pandemic hit, and said she saw firsthand the compassionate approach of a Labour government.

“I just like how compassionate they were throughout everything that’s happened in New Zealand,” Une said.

Labour’s Aupito William Sio has been Mangere’s MP for the past four terms.

“I think all the decisions they’ve made was for us, and even though there are some areas we are having to deal with now, overall the love is there for people and I think that’s what makes a great leader.”

Rita Anderson said she didn’t think twice about her party vote when she went to the polls early.

“Jacinda is amazing, she keeps showing that she cares, and we need leaders like that. I don’t see National doing that, caring for the people, for the minor groups, Māori and Pasifika.”

Ōtāhuhu College students and first-time voters, from left, Mark Vaili-Lilia, Madison Leilua, Saane Tupouniua, Evanis Tutunoa and Teariki Tafoa Alofa.

Tanielu Sani said his main concern was employment after losing his job during the pandemic.

He said he felt Labour Party’s wage subsidy considered all New Zealanders, especially the hard-working Pasifika community who he thinks have been overlooked by governments of the past.

“It saved my family from going days without food while I looked for another job.

“We were hit hard by the pandemic, like everybody else, but parties like National only think about the millionaires and business people.”

Madison Leilua, a new voter and a student of Ōtāhuhu College, said she hasn’t made up her mind on who to vote for but is likely to vote for the party her family supports – Labour.

Like her classmates Saane Tupouniua, Evanis Tutunoa and Teariki Tafoa Alofa, she said she isn’t confident about her vote because she doesn’t feel fully informed.

“I’ll just vote for whoever my parents vote for but next elections, once I’ve fully grasped the policies and how they affect the issues close to my heart like climate change, I’d vote differently.”

Massey University Pacific-indigenous psychologist Dr Siautu Alefaio said there is no doubt Māngere belongs to Labour.

She said while both major candidates, National’s Agnes Loheni and Labour’s Sio, are both strong community leaders, the red party’s dominance is historic and its policies are valued by the working-class Pasifika community.

“This election is a battle of the ages,” she said.

“Younger voters may pull away from their parents but the traditional Pasifika families will sway with the collective.”

Māngere resident and academic Daniel Tupua-Siliva said while Pasifika people usually vote Labour, he feels the party is taking the Māngere electorate for granted.

A staunch Labour supporter in the past, Tupua-Siliva said he changed his party vote to Green this election.

“Sio isn’t as proactive and available in the community as he was before and there are younger candidates popping up who are Pasifika and Māngere born and bred, which younger Pasifika voters can relate to.”

He said not many of Labour’s policies in the past three years have benefited Māngere's Pasifika community.

“Minimum and living wage, yes but you’ve just got to question what else they are doing for the Pasifika community.”

He said younger people are now more concerned about bettering their environment and this could influence their votes come election time.

Māngere’s Pasifika community would still like to see a Labour-led government, he said.

“Student loans, climate change, the ability to reside in Māngere and the cost of living, the environment – these are some issues that concern young people today.”

Polling day is on October 17, but advance voting started on October 3.