Bridges on life in opposition: My workload 'fell off a cliff'

National Party MP Simon Bridges. Photo/George Novak

Simon Bridges has his weekends back.

The MP for Tauranga says old ministerial workload has all but disappeared in the sudden change from being a senior Government minister under a National government to first-time opposition MP.

"The massive workload of a senior minister literally falls off a cliff," Tauranga's MP said.

"I used to get weekend bags every Friday with hundreds of pages of briefing documents that I had to get through. Now I get nothing."

The change of Government had been a "mixed blessing", he said.

He was missing the satisfaction of his ministerial roles but enjoyed having more time for his family, including pregnant wife Natalie who is due in December, and to work on local issues.

"I'm getting time in the weekends to spend with my family and to get out and about more in the Tauranga community."

First elected in 2008 - the first term of National's nine-year run, Mr Bridges has not worked under an opposition government before.

He said he was excited about flexing his skills in opposition, and the lawyer in him was looking forward to "cross-examining" the new government "to get to the truth".

The policy announcements that had come from the Government so far sounded good but there were no real details yet, he said.

Crunch time would come when it was made clear what projects National had planned for Tauranga could be sacrificed to make way for Labour's agenda.

Mr Bridges said he had backed Bill English and deputy Paula Bennett to continue leading the National party at a caucus meeting yesterday.