The list of new MPs from the two big parties features heaps of new and returning faces for National, and just two for Labour.

NATIONAL

Dan Bidois** (Electorate: Northcote)

Bidois is a second-time MP; he was elected in a byelection in 2018 but exited parliament in 2020, when Shanan Halbert beat him in Northcote. Now Halbert is gone and Bidois is back. Bidois has heaps of degrees including from MIT (fancy) and also trained as a butcher. 

Carlos Cheung  (Mt Roskill)

One of the most surprising electorate flips was Michael Wood losing the supposedly safe Labour seat of Mt Roskill, previously Phil Goff’s stomping ground, to Carlos Cheung. Born in Hong Kong, Cheung has a PhD in biology and his wife was previously an elected member on the local board. 

Tim Costley (Ōtaki)

Politics is a new direction for Costley, who spent 22 years in the Royal New Zealand Air Force as a pilot and officer before founding a charity that supports the families of ill, injured, killed and wounded Air Force personnel. Most recently, he held a senior position within New Zealand’s delegation to the Ukraine.

Grant McCallum (Northland)

Northland is traditionally a safe blue seat so it’s of little surprise that it swung back to National in this election, away from Willow-Jean Prime, who got in on Labour’s list. McCallum is a farmer with family ties to the National Party, who has said that the appeal of National was its economic plan. 

Suze Redmayne (Rangitikei)

Facing stiff competition from rural celebrity and Act candidate Andrew Hoggard in Rangitikei, Redmayne ran an energetic campaign that saw her take out the seat with an 8,000 vote margin based on preliminary votes.

Dana Kirkpatrick (East Coast)

Kirkpatrick’s family have lived in Tairāwhiti for four generations – she’s worked as a journalist, in local government and in the health sector. She told Charlotte Muru-Lanning that the complexities of cyclone recovery and the role of the forestry industry will be important challenges for the East Coast MP to navigate, especially as climate change causes more extreme weather. 

Catherine Wedd (Tukituki)

National Party politics runs in the family for Wedd, whose grandfather was the National MP for Whanganui from 1969-1972. The former broadcaster, journalist and marketing/PR professional turned horticultural industry executive ousted Labour’s Anna Lorck in Tukituki by promising to strongly advocate for the electorate’s powerful and wealthy farmers. In 1997, she was an Act Party youth parliamentarian.

Hamish Campbell (Ilam)

Hamish Campbell, a former cancer researcher, is now the MP for Ilam – the electorate everyone thought Gerry Brownlee and National held in a death grip until Sarah Pallet won it for Labour in 2020. Top leader Raf Manji’s 8,000 votes didn’t come close to Campbell’s 15,000. Read more about Campbell in our Ilam profile here. 

Ryan Hamilton (Hamilton East)

Coincidentally, from 2018, Ryan Hamilton spent five years on the Hamilton City Council – his first successful bid after three failed attempts – before winning Hamilton East for the National Party. On the campaign trail, Hamilton got Luxon in hot water over his positions on water fluoridation and Covid-19 mandates – forcing the National party to issue an apology on his behalf. 

James Meager (Rangitata)

Meager, a Ngai Tahu lawyer, has strong ties to both Ashburton and Timaru, the two urban centres in the agricultural electorate of Rangitata. Long involved with the National Party – he was once Michael Woodhouse’s campaign manager in Dunedin – Meager beat Labour MP Jo Luxton to take back Rangitata for his party. 

Angee Nicholas * (Te Atatū)

Nicholas has a teeny tiny lead of 30 votes over Labour’s Phil Twyford, so might be out after the specials, but in the meantime she is the MP for Te Atatū. Another young candidate, Nicholas is from the Cook Islands – she grew up in Rarotonga, then trained as a lawyer, including working for the Royal Commission of Inquiry in Abuse in Care as well as in the offices of National Party MPs. She’s also been the owner/operator of a security company providing services across Auckland. 

Paulo Garcia ** (New Lynn)

No stranger to the halls of parliament, Garcia became New Zealand’s first MP of Filipino descent when he came in off the list in 2019 after Nuk Korako resigned, then promptly lost in the 2020 election. Prior to that he had decades of experience working as a lawyer in both the Philippines and Aotearoa, eventually establishing his own practice in Garcia Law. Most notably made headlines in 2017 when he told media “I can say very categorically that I am not for abortion.”

Greg Fleming (Maungakiekie)

Greg Fleming has been active and visible in the Maungakiekie electorate all year, and his hard work was rewarded by beating rising Labour MP Priyanca Radhakrishnan in the seat. He joins the National Party’s Christian wing. Before politics, he co-founded the conservative think tank the Maxim Institute, campaigning against prostitution reform and rainbow rights. 

Cameron Brewer (Upper Harbour)

Brewer was on Auckland Council, representing the Ōrākei ward and an independent from 2010 to 2016. He then spent a term on the Rodney local board from 2016 to 2019. A former journalist, Brewer has long been involved with National and adjacent to politics, working as a researcher for the party as well as a press secretary for Jenny Shipley and John Banks. Long rumoured to be planning to run for National, he’s finally had his moment in Upper Harbour, where he ousted Labour’s Vanushi Walters. 

Vanessa Weenink (Banks Peninsula)*

A doctor with an interesting case file indeed – she’s worked as a general practitioner, an army medical officer, and even campaigned alongside Duncan Webb as a proud member of the Labour Party in 2017. “It wasn’t so much a move from Labour”, she told Stuff earlier this year, “more of a pull to National”. Also, does stunning watercolours in her spare time. 

Blair Cameron* (Nelson)

Cameron only has a 54 vote lead over Labour’s Rachel Boyack, so might be out after the specials. Nelson was held by National’s Nick Smith for absolutely ages, but the 31-year-old is a fresh face. Cameron grew up in rural Canterbury, but worked overseas, including for the International Monetary Fund – and only returned to New Zealand because of Covid. He says he loves tramping and kayaking, and has a ponytail. 

Mike Butterick (Wairarapa)

A former beef and sheep farmer turned elected representative for the mighty Wairarapa region. Originally from Canterbury, Butterick moved to Masterton in the Wairarapa over 30 years ago. Since then he has served on the board of Wings Over Wairarapa and held executive roles with both Wairarapa Federated Farmers and Wairarapa Waters Group. You may have seen him sharing a beer with rival Kieran McAnulty on election night.

Carl Bates (Whanganui)

Bates was born and raised in Whanganui; he trained as an accountant and then was involved with a variety of businesses and initiatives, in the lower North Island and also across the African continent. His grandfather was a magician. 

Rima Nakhle (Takanini)

Nakhle is a lawyer – she grew up in Sydney and moved to New Zealand, where her family is from, after university. She’s set up a community emergency housing service with her partner. She also ran in the Takanini electorate for National in 2020, emphasising the party’s crime prevention policies both times. 

Katie Nimon (Napier)

When Stuart Nash resigned, National saw an opportunity to get a new MP in the Napier seat. Nimon, who has managed her family’s bus company Nimon and Sons, is 32, and this is her second tilt at the seat, which she won by a margin of 8,100 votes. 

Tom Rutherford (Bay of Plenty)

Rutherford is 26, National’s youngest candidate, and has been mentored by former National MP Tony Ryall, who also was elected in the Bay of Plenty seat at age 26. He’s replacing former National leader Todd Muller. 

David MacLeod (New Plymouth)

MacLeod is the former chair of the Taranaki Regional Council and has supported National “as long as he can remember” according to this Stuff article. He says it’s been too long since Taranaki has had an MP in cabinet, and doesn’t simply want to sit on the back benches. He was ranked 67 on National’s list. 

Miles Anderson (Waitaki)

Waitaki, the electorate between Dunedin and Timaru and encompassing a lot of inland Otago, is a very safe National seat, which was lucky for National’s Miles Anderson, who replaced Jacqui Dean. Anderson has been a farmer for several decades, as well as being involved in Federated Farmers. He beat one of the country’s youngest candidates’, 19-year-old Ethan Reille, who was standing for Labour.  

LABOUR

Cushla Tangaere-Manuel  (Ikaroa-Rawhiti)

With a background in media, Tangaere-Manuel has been an advocate and representative on sport and rugby boards. She was CEO of Ngati Porou East Coast Rugby Union before getting selected as a candidate late after Meka Whaitiri defected to Te Pāti Māori. She had two campaign slogans: “Push for Cush” (catchy, rhyming) and “Pick me in ‘23, we’ll get more in ‘24 and we’ll thrive in ‘25!” (also rhyming but more enigmatic). As Charlotte Muru-Lanning found when writing this profile, Tangaere-Manuel also found time to sing covers in Gisborne’s only nightclub, even in the middle of a hectic campaign in an enormous electorate. 

Reuben Davidson (Christchurch East)

Davidson, who used to be a producer for kids TV shows including What Now and Brain Busters, had a lead of 1,968 votes over his National competitor in the Christchurch East seat, which was vacated by Poto Williams. Christchurch East incorporates much of the lower-income, working class areas of Christchurch, including much of the condemned Red Zone. Davidson has also worked on a community board, and ran for Labour (unsuccessfully) in the Selwyn electorate in 2020. According to his Policy.nz profile, his TV experience “has given me the skills to organise and collaborate with a diverse mix of people (and animals).” He wants to prioritise affordable and healthy homes and safety.

* close race – could yet change on special votes
** has been in parliament before (but wasn’t last term)

An earlier version of this article had Emma Chatterton, Nancy Lu and Agnes Loheni in parliament. In fact, at this point, on the preliminary vote, they narrowly miss out. Apologies.