by Helen Martin
List MP Marja Lubeck’s explanation of how the former Helensville and Rodney electorates have been re-zoned was of great interest to locals at a meet and greet gathering held at Te Awaroa Café in June. Helensville is now part of the new electorate Kaipara ki Mahurangi, which also includes the southern part of the Northland electorate (Te Arai, Tapora and Wellsford). This new electorate stretches south almost to Waitakere. Voters on the Hibiscus Coast and Dairy Flat from Hatfields Beach south to around Paremoremo) are now zoned for the Whangaparaoa electorate; Waitakere has joined the New Lynn electorate.
Marja explained she was not a career politician, but Labour’s success at the 2017 election saw her, as number 31 on the Party list, catapulted into the position of List Member of Parliament. With a law degree, at the time of the election she represented aviation workers in the E tû Union and had agreed to stand for Labour as a way of helping get the Party’s ideas across. “The last three years have been a steep learning 
curve,” she explained, “but to be in parliament where important decisions happen, such as the changes made to the Employment Relations Act, is hugely satisfying.”
