Who’s on the ascent, who’s on the decline, and what signals does the party give about its future based on where it put first-time candidates, asks Henry Oliver in today’s excerpt from The Bulletin.
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Yesterday, the Labour party released its party list for the forthcoming election. You can read it on 1News, whose latest poll (on 19 April, so not exactly up to the minute) would give Labour approximately 47 MPs (though a recent Roy Morgan poll gave Labour as few as 32 seats).
There are some big names, familiar names, names you’ve never heard of before, and, of course, a couple of absent names. Chris Hipkins, who obviously retained his top spot, said he expected “at least 10 new people will come off the list into Parliament after the election,” in addition to the candidates expected to win electorate seats, giving Labour what he called “significant renewal” while retaining the experience of key members of the current line-up.
Winners and losers
In every list announcement there are people on the up, people on the decline, and clear signals given by the party about its future based on where it puts first-time candidates. On The Post, Henry Cooke outlines the winners and the losers of yesterday’s announcement. Definite winners are new candidates in list positions highly likely to get into parliament. These include Rakesh Naidoo, a police superintendent, at 13 (more on him shortly); Chris Flatt, a union leader, at 20; Kingi Kiriona, a member of the Waitangi Tribunal (who already made news for hinting at tax policy before its release), at 22; Sophie Handford, the co-founder of School Strike 4 Climate NZ, at 26; Max Harris, an activist and lawyer, at 29; and Warrick Cleine, chief executive of KPMG in Vietnam and Cambodia, at 30.
Potential losers include MPs and candidates in competitive seats, like Helen Wood, ranked 38 and standing in a seat she narrowly lost last election; and Craig Renney, at 51 and up for the new electorate Wellington Bays, which will have strong competition from the Greens. Michael Wood, it should be noted, is running an electorate only campaign (i.e. he is not on the list at all) in Mt Roskill, which he lost to National in 2023.
But the “biggest loser” is Greg O’Connor, the MP for Ōhāriu, who is not on the list, so will leave parliament after his electorate was dismembered and he lost the candidacy for the revived Wellington North electorate to Ayesha Verrall. O’Connor told Cooke (for a separate story) that he made the decision “over the weekend”, declining to say whether it was the result of a low placing on the list. O’Connor, who’d expressed a desire to be speaker if Labour were to win the election, said “the Labour Party list process makes the choosing of a Pope look transparent”.
Stand down
Likely future MP Rakesh Naidoo, a police superintendent, was placed on administrative leave following Labour’s list announcement. According to Andrea Vance on Stuff, Naidoo failed to inform his employer of his candidacy. Police commissioner Richard Chambers, who learned of Naidoo’s intention to stand last Thursday and his acceptance of a list spot on Sunday, said that Naidoo’s role as national partnerships manager for iwi and ethnic communities made his continued duty “untenable” due to impartiality concerns.
The Police Manual requires staff who are intending to stand for public office to advise of their intentions “as early as possible,” Chambers said. “I have not previously had any cause for concern about Superintendent Naidoo’s impartiality in his work for NZ Police. He has been a hard-working and valued staff member for many years. However, given the nature of his role, I believe it is untenable for him to continue with his current duties and that his candidacy will affect his ability to be seen as independent.”
