Mei Reedy-Taare has been officially named as the Māori Party candidate in Te Tai Tonga. Te Kāea broke the story of the Māori Party's selection of Reedy-Taare two weeks ago. Now it's official, the questions is, does she have the goods to topple the current MP, Labour’s Rino Tirikatene.
Reedy-Taare says whānau and whakapapa are two major assets in her corner and she's in it to win it. In the last New Zealand Election, Tirikatene won the seat by almost 4000 votes but Reedy-Taare questions whether Tirikatene has done enough.
“Rino has been in there two terms now and I don't know what he's done.”
The daughter of Sir Tamati Reedy, Reedy-Taare is a former broadcaster and has links to Ngāti Porou and Ngāi Tahu. If she doesn't win the seat, she may still have a way into parliament.
Māori Party President Tukoroirangi Morgan says it's likely she’ll be high on the list, “It's is only right that she has a high placing on our list.”
Reedy-Taare now joins Tirikatene and Green Party co-leader in the race for the Te Tai Tonga seat.