New Zealand First's Clayton Mitchell only found out about his party's decision 11 minutes before the rest of the nation. Photo/file
New Zealand First's Clayton Mitchell only found out about his party's decision 11 minutes before the rest of the nation. Photo/file
Tauranga and Bay of Plenty's MPs vow to hold New Zealand's new Government to account after being ousted by Labour and New Zealand First.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters announced the party's decision to form a coalition Government with Labour at Parliament last night. The announcement ended weeks ofmystery following last month's general election.
This wasn't the result of all the votes.
The decision meant Tauranga's long-standing MP Simon Bridges would no longer hold his ministerial roles in Parliament. Instead, Tauranga-based Labour list MPs Jan Tinetti and Angie Warren-Clark will form part of the new Government.
Ms Tinetti gave up her role as principal of Merivale School to pursue the Tauranga seat and Ms Warren-Clark has resigned from her role as manager of Tauranga Women's Refuge after the special votes were counted and brought her into Parliament.
Ms Warren-Clark said she had not heard from Jacinda Ardern when she spoke to the Bay of Plenty Times last night, but said Ms Adern found out the decision at 7 o'clock along with everyone else.
She said she would be flying to Wellington this morning to meet with the rest of the Labour party.
Labour list MP Angela Warren-Clark will help form the new Labout-NZ First Government. Photo/file
National Tauranga MP Simon Bridges said he was "obviously disappointed" as this was "not how Tauranga voted".
He said he was disappointed because of the strength of the National vote.
"We had nearly one in every two votes nationally and about every six in 10 in the Bay of Plenty."
Mr Bridges will move from being a Cabinet minister to a member of Opposition.
The National Party would be a strong Opposition and would be working hard to make sure gains the party made were not lost, he said.
National MP Simon Bridges for Tauranga vows to hold the new Government to account after being ousted in a massive shake up of Parliament last night. Photo/file
"We are now a healthier, more upbeat country and we don't want to lose these gains."
Despite this, Mr Bridges congratulated Jacinda Arden on becoming the new Prime Minister.
Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller was also "very disappointed".
A total of 55 per cent of the Bay of Plenty votes wanted a National-led Government "and this is not what they wanted", he said.
"This wasn't the result of all the votes. Obviously, there's very strong support for National, a clear majority in our community, but this is MMP. You have to deal with the cards you are dealt.
"Now it's for the National Party to be a vigorous opposition party to hold this Government to account.
"This is not the best outcome for the country but I do respect the process."
Like Mr Bridges, Mr Muller said he would take some comfort in continuing in his MP role for his electorate.
Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller is "very disappointed" in the result of New Zealand First's decision. Photo/file
Mr Muller said he found out the decision on television "just like everyone else".
New Zealand First Tauranga-based list MP Clayton Mitchell said he found out the final decision "about 11 minutes" before Mr Peters made the announcement.
Mr Mitchell said the decision was made by the entire caucus of his party and "it was the right decision".
"The whole of New Zealand would see the benefit of this decision for the next three years and beyond."
Mr Mitchell said his party would be "a whole lot busier" in the coming weeks as policy would have to run through the house.
