Leading Maori singer, songwriter actor and short film maker Ria Hall now wants to add Mayor of Tauranga to her growing list of achievements.

Why get involved in the messy difficult world of local body politics…

It’s because Ria Hall is impatient for change and wants her people to be represented in those discussions. She wants a Maori voice at the table so why not hers, she says. She doesn’t want her people to be shut down and shut out of the dialogue.

Tauranga is a tough one - no democracy for years and it needs a game changing mayor with a difference to pull the city together and not tear it apart. Is she the person to do that?