Where do the Waikato’s four election candidates stand on health and the people of the region, and how knowledgeable are they of the electorate’s history?

NZ Herald Local Focus canvassed the candidates’ views on that and more when it interviewed them recently.

The video interviews of the candidates, including Tamahere locals Philippa Stevenson (Green Party) and Tim van de Molen (National Party), are now online.

Four candidates are standing for election in the Waikato electorate that encompasses Tamahere and Matangi, two of them locals.

Journalist Philippa Stevenson, editor of Tamahere Forum, is standing for the Green Party and former farmer and rural banker Tim van de Molen is the National Party candidate.

They are joined by Morrinsville farmer Stu Husband for NZ First and South Auckland lawyer Brooke Loader for Labour.

Advanced voting has opened in the general election but for those still agonising over the decision on who to vote for help is at hand.

A number of organisations have stepped up to produce useful tools to help people navigate the welter of policies offered by political parties.

We’ve gathered the best of them here to help Tamahere and Matangi locals make an informed choice.

Tamahere and Matangi are finally to be included in the government provision of ultrafast broadband but coverage details and timing are yet to be confirmed.

The Waikato District Council today welcomed the Government’s announcement that another six of the district’s towns would get fast internet, along with mobile coverage for three more locations through the Rural Broadband initiative.

Tamahere Councillor Aksel Bech said there were two reasons to be delighted at the “good news”.

The deadline is just days away for submissions on the proposed sport and recreation facilities for Tamahere and locals are urged to have their say.

Tamahere ward councillor Aksel Bech said whatever is decided now will not be changed or re-done for decades.

“We are a fast growing community that has previously not really had many facilities,” he said.

Tamahere locals are being canvassed for their views on the number and kind of sport and recreation facilities they want at the stalled, central Tamahere recreation reserve.

The reserve, bounded by the Tamahere School and community centre grounds, Wiremu Tamihana Drive and Airport Rd, has seen very little progress in the past year.

Now the Waikato District Council has proposed two options, one with facilities that will come at no extra cost, and one with more facilities that would require a small, annual charge on rates.

A few bankers, KiwiSaver providers and investment advisers could expect ‘please explain’ phone calls Monday morning in the wake of today’s ethical investment discussion in Tamahere.

Specialist ethical investment adviser Janet Natta, of Tamahere, surprised many in the audience with the revelation that their savings or investments were unlikely to be in ethical funds.

It is a common misconception that investment funds are covered by regulations that rule out “sin stocks” such as tobacco, armaments and gambling, Natta told the Green Party-hosted event in the St Stephen’s Tamahere hall.

The long running saga of the controversial, hostel-style Hart Rd houses is having a sequel in a mortgage fraud case in the Auckland High Court.

The Serious Fraud Office has accused property developer Kang (Thomas) Huang and Yan (Jenny) Zhang of being involved in a ring that fraudulently obtained at least $50 million to buy 76 properties around Auckland and Hamilton.

The husband and wife duo, otherwise known as Gang Wang and Kang Xu, were behind the now defunct company LV Park, which developed the Hart Rd houses in Tamahere.

Author and social commentator Gordon McLauchlan brought his acute wit and humour to Tamahere today, enthralling his audience with a life’s worth of observations.

Over his lifetime, he’d seen some dramatic and desirable advances in human rights from campaigns against homophobia, racism and patronising anti-feminism, he told an audience of around 45 in the St Stephen’s Tamahere hall.

“But in that same time I’ve also seen the abandonment of the human right for people to have a decent home and an adequate income,” McLauchlan said.

It’s Plastic Free July and we can think of no better example of rubbish reduction than Annette Taylor of our sister site Number 8 Network.

“I might well put out a rubbish bag this week, the first in over a year,” writes Annette, editor of Number 8 Network.

“When Waikato District Council introduced changes to its collection a friend [that would be me: Tamahere Forum Ed] challenged us to a little friendly rubbish rivalry – who could produce the least amount of trash.