Pete George - Dunedin North

After a life involving family, employment, business, sport and music Pete has turned his consulting, listening and problem resolving skills to politics. He has a fresh people and electorate approach to politics, and offers voters a real choice of a new level of parliamentary representation for Dunedin North.

He has worked in IT before it was called that, as an employee and business owner, and has many contacts in businesses in Dunedin, nationally and internationally through his work as a software consultant.

Pete is well known around the country through his participation in political blogs. On rightish blogs Pete is often labelled a leftie, and on leftish blogs he’s called a rightie, so somewhere in the centre seems about right. His sense of fairness, family, common sense and pragmatism, and a wish for more positive politics, made UnitedFuture a logical choice. He is enthusiastic about what the people, principles and policies of UnitedFuture can help him deliver to people who want a steady, reliable centre party.

With his family Pete is familiar with issues facing ordinary people. His wife is working in tertiary education as a job connection coordinator. He helped his mother through the health and hospice system last year when she had cancer. He has two step-children and four young grandchildren in working families in Dunedin. His son lost his job just after his apprenticeship when F&P closed and now works in Australia. Two daughters graduated in Dunedin and went OE to find work and pay off their student loans - one is now ready to return with family when her Scottish husband finds suitable employment here.

Pete has three priority pledges:

- First 100 days, establish public polling in Dunedin to better determine voters’ views on issues that matter to them

- First 100 days, liase with the community to ensure as much as possible is done to contribute to the Green Paper for Vulnerable Children

- First 1000 days, liase with family and child welfare groups in Dunedin.

A new report released by Every Child Counts focuses on the economic and social benefits of investing in the first 1000 days of a child’s life. Pete will invest his time in the first 1000 days to help Dunedin as a city for families.

Pete George will also focus on employment and education, and with UnitedFuture offers Dunedin North a real choice of better, community orientated representation