As the nation gears up for the 2023 General Elections, former MP and former Tauranga Deputy Mayor Larry Baldock is also declaring his candidacy for the Tauranga electorate.

The seasoned politician has chosen to run as an independent candidate, stating this means he will be better placed to represent Tauranga in Parliament.

“What we need for this city is better representation in Wellington. As an independent I will be able to do that.

“I’m focused on Tauranga and will be talking about three main issues – the transport network, housing supply, and the air quality here, particularly in Mount Maunganui where we have to deal with bad quality air.”

He says the problem with electorate MPs representing their parties is that they can’t speak up for their electorate.

“As an independent candidate for Tauranga in this election I will be free to represent these and other issues consistently without the constraint of party affiliation.

“As an independent electorate MP I will have a general debate spot with a certain number of questions and supplementary questions I can put to ministers so I can be focused on raising those issues.”

In what could be a very close election between National and Labour, and the parties aligned with them on the right and left, Larry says it could be possible that an independent electorate MP from Tauranga could play a significant role in determining the makeup of the next Government.

“If elected, my responsibility would be to get the best deal for our city as its representative. I can say what I like down there, no one is going to say ‘no we have other issues we want to talk about’. I have one issue and that’s the city I live in and represent.”

He says that it’s also an advantage that he’s been an MP, so already knows the ropes and how Parliament works.

“If I’m successful I can hit the ground running in Wellington because I have been there for three years, and worked across the parties.”

Political journey

Born in 1954, Larry and wife Barbara have three grown children and ten grandchildren with another grandchild on the way next year.

“At age 69 I feel like a 50-year-old."

Returning to New Zealand in 1996, after being involved with Youth with a Mission and spending 15 years living in the Philippines, Larry joined Future New Zealand in 1999, standing for the Tauranga electorate in that year’s general election.

In 2001, he was elected to the Tauranga City Council for the Pyes Pa ward. He also joined Peter Dunne’s United Future party becoming an MP less than a year after becoming a city councillor.

“I was number seven on the party list, I wasn’t expecting to get in.

“In 2002 with The Worm [at the televised 2002 TVNZ Leaders Debate] we went from 1 per cent to 7 per cent two weeks before the election, and I became an MP less than a year after being on Tauranga City Council.”

Despite only serving one term at Parliament with the United Future Party from 2002 - 2005, it was an exciting and influential one, as he found himself at the forefront of policy.

“That was the very first time there was ever a supply and confidence agreement with any government, which meant we could oppose certain things and negotiate certain things on the way through. We weren’t locked into cabinet, and gave support for supply and confidence for three years.”

He had eight portfolios for United Future including being spokesperson for Local Government, Environment, Energy, Transport, Fisheries and representing the Outdoor Recreation Party with recreational fishers.

“As well as spokesperson I had to deal with legislation in those areas. I did all the RMA reforms at the time, and then was on the special select committee for Foreshore and Seabed legislation, and the Fisheries Act which was the settlement for the quota for Maori fisheries.

“I had a wide range of experiences and worked jolly hard, working with Labour ministers. And with some other legislation on conscience votes I worked across the house collaborating and had a very productive three years.

“As an independent I will be able to do that again. I will still have relationships with both side of the house because there are times when they do need the vote, and there may be some legislation that doesn’t meet support with their support parties.”

He recalls how although Peter Dunne was “really only a party of one for much of his career” he still managed to have influence and represent his electorate “very well”.

“Peter Dunne managed for many decades to be a cabinet minister and to have influence on both sides of National and Labour simply as an MP. As an independent MP I will be able to do that too.”

Larry Baldock. Photo: Supplied.

Following his term with United Future, he formed the Kiwi Party in 2008, after expressing dissatisfaction with Peter Dunne’s support of the child-discipline bill.  He successfully collected 390.000 signatures against the Child Discipline Act, which forced a referendum on the issue. That year he stood in the 2008 general election, coming fourth in Tauranga, with around 5 per cent of the vote.

In 2011, previous Kiwi Party members stood for the Conservative Party, with Larry standing in the Tauranga electorate, gaining just over 4 per cent of the vote. He declined standing as the Conservative Party’s candidate in 2014 party due to disagreeing with some of the party’s policies and concerns about party leader Colin Craig’s behavior.

In 2010, Larry was elected back onto the Tauranga City Council, and elected again to the council in 2016, re-elected in 2019 and appointed deputy mayor.  He resigned as deputy mayor in June 2020 after frictions among the elected members, and the council was replaced when Commissioners were appointed by the Minister of Local Government to run the city in November 2020.

Why now?

Larry says he has been thinking about running for the Tauranga electorate again for a couple of months but wasn’t entirely convinced he should until last weekend.

“Because I don’t see Tauranga being really represented well. Out of all of the parties and candidates there are only two others seeking an electorate vote – Labour and National candidates.

“I’ve looked through all of the speeches Sam has made in the last year and there’s nothing about Tauranga. He’s speaking on things related to bills passing and perhaps related to the select committee but he won’t have any influence in Opposition. And if National win, he’d still be a backbencher MP, being 57 on the National Party list.

“Honourable Jan Tinetti is at number six on her party list and she will be going back to Parliament, but if Labour is the Government she will be too busy to give voice to Tauranga.”

Traffic congestion

“As Tauranga’s de-facto electorate MP 20 years ago, I had the opportunity to achieve a commitment from the Helen Clark-led Labour Government to a bold plan worked on by Smart Growth and the three councils at the time, to solve and future proof our transport network.

“Sadly, this was torpedoed by Tauranga’s long serving MP WInston Peters when he was defeated in the Tauranga seat by Bob Clarkson in the 2005 elections.

“Over the past 20 years I have worked hard to support positive developments in our city in both central and local government. When in Parliament I secured a commitment in 2005 to address Tauranga’s transport issues, but now we are referred to as ‘the city with the most congestion’.”

Larry Baldock, Tauranga's deputy mayor in 2020. Photo: SunLive.

He says while Tauranga may not have the most traffic congestion “when you look at Auckland” but “It’s far too much for a city this size”.

“The transport network includes cycle ways and bus lanes but you have to have roads. And the railway, as that’s freight going to and from the port. But it’s all under pressure.

“The ongoing health and prosperity of our city depends on solutions being found to address this now, not in a 30 year plan.

“Congestion areas such as Hewletts Rd and the level rail crossings for freight to the port must be addressed.  The 15th Ave corridor and Turret Road/Hairini Bridge is another bottleneck that has been waiting years for action. Many Business cases have been completed on these projects, but now is the time when we need an advocate for a partnership with central government to make sure progress is made.”

Housing shortage

Larry says an efficient and effective transport system is crucial to the opening of new areas for residential housing, to address the chronic shortage of accommodation in Tauranga.

“We have one of the most successful developments of commercial and industrial land in the Tauriko Business Estate alongside the Lakes residential development, but it was all sold several years ago.”

He says the Government is holding up the Tauriko west housing development.

“There’s 3000 houses planned to go in there for the last ten years but we can’t do a thing until State Highway 29 is upgraded.

“When you think of the growth of the Tauriko business estate, people working there could have been living in a new area of housing nearby but we can’t build it yet.

He says every bit of housing land Tauranga has needs to be made available.

“Intensification will happen in time along Cameron road when the work is done and the pipes are in, but we are still growing.”

Air quality

As well as identifying a housing shortage that is getting worse and major improvements needed to be made to state highways and the local transport network, he’s also highlighting Tauranga’s air quality issue.

“The air quality in our city is unacceptable, especially in the Mount North residential areas.

“According to Toi Te Ora Public Health’s report 13 people in Mount Maunganui are dying prematurely each year [additionally when compared with Otumoetai]. The HAPINZ study further found 107 were dying across Tauranga each year primarily from nitrogen dioxide pollution from vehicles.

“While in some areas the local economy benefits from hosting New Zealand’s largest port, in other areas we are paying a very high price in traffic congestion and pollution.

“There is sufficient wealth tied up in more than 50 per cent of the Port of Tauranga shares that we all own that should be released to deal with these issues.

“There’s nothing more conflicted than regional council owning 54 per cent of the port and not monitoring or doing something about air quality.”

Electorate not party vote

He is not after a party vote.

“I am only asking people for one vote. They can vote for whatever party they want but I’m asking the Tauranga voters to give me their electorate vote.

“I’ve had to suffer defeats and pick up and stand again and carry on, so I’m reasonably resilient, and that’s important in Wellington - that’s not an easy place.

“I am really passionate about what I do, and I like to serve and help. I do a lot of thinking about what the solutions are so that I can work through all the possibilities. I think I work well with people.”

He says generally he has functioned in politics “pretty cordially building good relationships”.

“And I don’t give up easily.

“I have solid support from my wife, we are a team. [As an MP] we have to be apart and do more travel, and my wife is 100 per cent behind what we are trying to achieve for the nation and for the city. I wouldn’t be able to do any of it without her.

“I have worked hard in both areas of government in the past, give me your vote and I will work for a better future for our city.”

A weakness of the NZ MMP system that he says has developed over the last 30 years is how the electorate MP role has diminished significantly.

“Once in Parliament they don’t get to represent their electorate. Our Parliament would be better served if there were a few more independents, it would make Parliament a better balanced mix if some of the MPS were free of party control and affiliations.

“As an independent candidate for Tauranga in this election I will be free to represent these and other issues consistently without the constraint of Party affiliation. Your voice in Wellington. I ask only for your electorate vote.”