Reti wins Whangarei

The Herald reports:

Dr Shane Reti will be the National Party’s candidate in the safe Whangarei electorate at this year’s general election.

Dr Reti was selected by a meeting of local party members in Whangarei tonight.

“National is taking nothing for granted in Whangarei. Dr Reti has strong links to this electorate and I’m extremely glad the party has selected a candidate of his calibre to contest the seat,” said Northern Regional Chair Alan Towers.

Dr Reti’s candidacy follows a career in the health sector which has taken him around the world from New Zealand to the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Middle East.

Congratulations to Dr Reti. Whangarei was won in 2011 by Phil Heatley by 12,447 vote majority. Heatley got 59.2% and Labour Party principal Pat Newman got 22.4%. Dr Reti will become an MP.

A previous Herald profile states:

He worked in general practice in Whangarei for 17 years, and was a member of the Northland District Health Board for seven years, before being awarded a Harkness Fellowship to Harvard, in 2007. …

In April this year Dr Reti was called on by the NZ Embassy in Boston to visit the city’s hospitals with NZ Honorary Consul Simon Leeming, to see if any of the dead or injured from the Boston Marathon terror blast were New Zealanders or Australians.

Dr Reti said he was to the right of centre in his political leanings, believing in strong fiscal responsibility. “But I also believe in a social safety net, so that makes me egalitarian. I also believe in reward for hard work, which makes me centre right,” he said.

Dr Reti has been awarded the QSM and appears to be both a doctor and a (provisionally registered) chartered accountant. He also has a Masters in Management from Harvard.

It seems he is also a cousin to runner Alison Roe.  TV3 has a blog from him written on the day of the Boston Marathon bombngs.