Beyer joins Masterton contest

Nathan Crombie | 6th May 2010

Georgina Beyer has confirmed she will run for the mayoralty of Masterton.
The past Carterton mayor and Wairarapa MP _ the first transgender mayor and MP in the world _ exclusively revealed to the Times-Age yesterday she is joining the race for the town's top job.
Ms Beyer, 52, will quit Michael Hill Jeweller in Masterton where she has worked since last month and said she decided to stand after experiencing an ''avalanche'' of support and encouragement over past weeks in the wake of a Times-Age story and text poll about the possibility of her bid.
The text poll, which began before radio announcer Brent Gare confirmed his bid, showed Ms Beyer carried 63 per cent popularity among respondents while rivals Garry Daniell, the incumbent mayor, scored 23 per cent and David Holmes, a present councillor, scored 7.6 per cent.
Former Masterton mayoral contender and cancer battler Jeff Workman gave up his bid partway through the poll.
Ms Beyer said she did not have the finances to launch an extravagant campaign but on the hustings will raise issues including the prospect of council amalgamation in the region, which she supported.

She believed Masterton must be ''ready to drive'' a proposal she also supported to irrigate 30,000ha of Wairarapa farmland tipped to create up to 14,000 new jobs in the region. Other important issues were Masterton sewerage projects, and fiscal restraint in council and a return to core business.
''It wasn't the poll alone that helped me make my decision. It was the avalanche of people walking up to me and saying 'please do it, please stand' and this very positive and sincere feedback came from throughout the community _ young, old, professionals, families. I even took a call from Australia this morning urging me to run,'' Ms Beyer said.
''But more importantly, I'm confident I will build on this existing support going forward to the elections in October and believe I am the only [candidate] with the right experience, networks and knowledge regionally and politically; and the only one with a national, and international, profile,'' she said.
Ms Beyer, of Te Ati Awa, Ngati Mutunga, Ngati Raukawa and Ngati Porou, will not ''run at all on the fact I am transgender and Maori, I never have'' as ''these things are very well known and anybody who doesn't already know can read any number of books, articles or web pages to find out''.
If successful, Ms Beyer will become the first Maori mayor in Masterton and will join fellow former MPs in civic leadership including Auckland Mayor John Banks, Wanganui Mayor Michael Laws, Hamilton Mayor Bob Simcock and Rodney District Mayor Penny Webster.

Ms Beyer said she was looking for a new home in Masterton to shift to from her present home in Greytown.