Hamilton East & West Election Debate

Description

The Waikato Chamber of Commerce is pleased to host this important debate for the Waikato business community to hear from the Labour and National candidates for the Hamilton East & West electorates two weeks out from New Zealand's General Election.
 
Join us on Tuesday, October 3 as Labour's Georgie Dansey (Hamilton East) and Myra Williamson (Hamilton West) go head-to-head with National's incumbent Hamilton West MP Tama Potaka and candidate for Hamilton East Ryan Hamilton.
 
The debate will be moderated by Mark Bunting, former Hamilton City Councillor, and trainer, registered celebrant, writer and host of the friendliest nationwide radio show in the world on Magic Radio.
  

Candidate bios

Georgie Dansey 
Georgie is a former teacher, a union chief executive and a small business owner. She is an advocate for balancing employment rights with a thriving business and her Waikato gym was the first in New Zealand to become Living wage accredited. 
 
Serious about representing her communities, Georgie recently completed a law degree at the University of Waikato as she understands the importance of politicians being able to navigate the law in order to make change.

Georgie has lived in Hamilton for 20 years and outside of politics she likes biking and spending time outdoors with her three children.

Myra Williamson
I was born and raised in Hamilton, attending Forest Lake Primary, Maeroa Intermediate and Fraser High. At the end of Sixth Form I went to Otago University - graduating with an LLB Hons (First Class) and BA (Politics). I was a litigation lawyer before undertaking post-graduate study. I hold an LLM Hons (First Class) and a PhD in international law. I was a small business owner, starting a successful graphic design and printing business from our family home in 2005.
 
Most of my life has been spent learning, practicing or teaching law. Currently, I'm in the legal team of a local council, serving the community by working on official information, privacy and delegations related issues.
 
I want Hamilton West to be the best place to grow up, grow old, start a business and raise a family. I believe Labour is the party that can make that happen.

Ryan Hamilton
Ryan Hamilton has been selected by local party members as National's candidate in Hamilton East.

Mr Hamilton has served as a Hamilton City Councillor since 2018 and has lived in and around Hamilton for 36 years. He is also a small business owner and runs a business networking and business development group in partnership with the Waikato Chamber of Commerce.

"I can't wait to get to work earning the support of our community to be the next MP for Hamilton East in Chris Luxon's National team," says Mr Hamilton. "Families in Hamilton East are already struggling under Labour's cost-of-living crisis, with mortgage repayments, rents, groceries and other essentials skyrocketing under this government. I'm standing as a National candidate because it's the only party that will deliver results so that all New Zealanders get ahead.

"The crime we face in Hamilton has led to us being labelled the ram-raid capital of New Zealand and we need a government that will do something about the crime making workers feel unsafe and causing parents to worry about their kids when they're out in their own neighbourhoods.

"National has released plans to address the cost-of-living crisis hitting Hamilton families and crack down on the serious crime we see in the news almost every day.

"I have loved my time as a Hamilton City Councillor and believe I can make an even stronger contribution as Hamilton East's next local MP. While my Council role will continue as normal in the short-term, I will discuss with Council colleagues the most appropriate next steps and share these with Hamiltonians as we head into the campaign.

"I'm aspirational for our city and will work incredibly hard to elect a Chris Luxon-led National Government that will actually deliver on reducing the cost of living, lifting incomes, building infrastructure, restoring law and order, and delivering better health and education outcomes."

Tama Potaka 
Tama Potaka was the chief executive of Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki. Before starting this role, he worked as a senior advisor to the NZ Super Fund. He spent more than seven years as a general manager at Tainui Group Holdings in Hamilton. He played a pivotal role in many of Tainui's developments in the city and driving results for Waikato.

Tama has a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws from Victoria University and a Master of Laws from Columbia University.

Tama was first selected as the National Party candidate for the 2022 Hamilton West by-election caused by the resignation of independent MP Gaurav Sharma. On 10 December 2022, Tama won the by election with a margin of 2433.

Within his first two months in caucus, Tama was named as National's spokesperson for Māori development and associate spokesperson for housing.

Tama is married to Ariana and they have three children - Tiaria, Te Awarua and Aorangi.