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Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Watch: Simon Bridges answers your questions

NZ Herald
27 Feb, 2018 11:14 PM2 mins to read

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National Party leader Simon Bridges answers questions on marriage equality and medicinal cannabis.

Is it okay for politicians to lie to the public? Why did you oppose the marriage equality bill? What hair product do you use?

All those questions and more will be answered by new National Party leader Simon Bridges in a live question and answer session today.

Herald political reporter Claire Trevett will put your questions to Bridges in today's interview.

Over the next couple of years, newly appointed National leader Simon Bridges will be looking to prove he can win the 2020 election.

Bridges said yesterday he would work to "modernise" the National Party for 2020 but had ruled out wide-scale reform of its policies, saying it had a strong track record on the economy.

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Bridges said he would do a reshuffle in the next fortnight – and would not be drawn on who his finance spokesperson would be.

The fate of Steven Joyce could depend on that reshuffle - Joyce has been campaign manager since 2005, and replaced Bill English as Finance Minister in 2016, but his prospects under Bridges are uncertain.

"I am confident Steven will have a strong role, should he want that. We all know his strengths in finance and the economy, but also of course in campaigning. There is a role for Steven after this. I think there is a strong one for the other candidates – Judith, Amy and Mark."

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He said his front bench would be a mix of experience and new talent.

"It's not about being radical. We can't go into the next election with the same plan we've had, we can't say to voters that nothing has changed. We need to continue to modernise and new talent will have to be part of that."

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