Election 2023: National’s Hawke’s Bay winners working in ‘good faith’ as negotiations continue

MP Catherine Wedd is changing the Tukituki electorate office from red to blue. Photo / Paul Taylor

We can’t call Katie Nimon and Catherine Wedd Members of Parliament just yet.

A month on from the general election, in which the two National Party candidates had handsome victories in the Napier and Tukituki electorates respectively, the baubles of office aren’t theirs yet.

The pair are working “in good faith”, which is another way of saying they’re not yet getting paid for roles that are still unofficial.

“There’s two terms for us: one is MP-elect, which is easier to get your mouth around, the other is qualifying electoral candidate,” Nimon said.

“So we’re acknowledged as the candidate who won, but we’re not yet a Member of Parliament until we’re sworn in and you can’t be sworn in until a Government’s formed.”

The formation of that Government appears to be gathering pace, with the leaders of the National Party, Act and New Zealand First circulating a photo of themselves undertaking coalition talks.

In the meantime, Nimon and Wedd are getting on with what they can.

That includes meetings, such as one between themselves and National Party Cyclone Recovery spokesman Chris Penk with the Hastings District Council and Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, about additional funding for silt recovery.

A letter was then sent to the caretaker Labour Government and the Silt Recovery Taskforce had an extra $10 million to play with, says Nimon.

“We’re just limited by our resources,” said Nimon, who is yet to recruit staff or secure an electorate office.

“We’re probably operating at 80 per cent, rather than a hundred, and not for want of trying.”

Wedd has wasted no time on the office front, opting for the central Hastings building formerly occupied by Labour’s one-term Tukituki MP Anna Lorck.

“It’s a really, really good office and why reinvent the wheel? Everyone knows where it is,” Wedd said.

“Parliamentary Services puts a lot of effort and money into setting these offices up - to ensure that they’re fit for purpose - and I thought ‘well, we’ll save the taxpayers some money and be practical and efficient’.

“It also takes a lot of time to set these offices up and I wanted to hit the ground running.”

Campaigning can be a hard slog, but Wedd says the months on the hustings gave her and Nimon a detailed knowledge of the issues in Hawke’s Bay, with cyclone recovery top of the heap.

“There was a resounding message that came out of Hawke’s Bay,” said.

“We were just hopeful to have a win of any kind, but to cement a margin of over 10,000 [votes], which I believe is the largest majority the seat of Tukituki has ever had, we were thrilled with.”

For now, though, without being sworn MPs, Nimon and Wedd are representing their constituents in an unpaid capacity.

“That’s all processed-based so, don’t worry, that’ll come in due course,” Nimon said.

“That’s why I say we’re operating in good faith.”

Hamish Bidwell joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2022 and works out of the Hastings newsroom.