Nanaia Mahuta: In it to win, not just to be Labour deputy leader

Nanaia Mahuta. Photo / NZ Herald

Being interviewed is apparently a novelty for Nanaia Mahuta. When I sit down in her office, the first thing she does is picks up her cellphone to take a selfie of it all.

She then tweets it: "Because otherwise they won't believe me. That I've done this interview."

@CTrevettNZH a little chat pic.twitter.com/twzZW05vZ0

— Nanaia Mahuta (@NanaiaMahuta) October 16, 2014

When she announced she was running for the Labour leadership there were claims she had not done much with her political career - or at least, was not seen to have done much. She hasn't courted the media much and they have not courted her.

Mahuta was a last-minute entry, putting her name in only after David Cunliffe pulled out. She was one of Cunliffe's supporters and had stood as his deputy in his failed bid in 2011.

Yet she says she did not consult with Cunliffe before making her decision.

Cunliffe had already given his endorsement to Andrew Little by then and did not change that after Mahuta entered. Mahuta said she had not asked him to.

She will not say whether she was disappointed Cunliffe had pulled out or whether it would have been difficult in caucus for him to stay on.

"His decision around the leadership was his. I had no influence over that."

However, she said he had faced "real challenges" in his year as leader and makes it clear they were from within Labour.

"His closest supporters understood the extent of those challenges, but he didn't let it deter him from trying to do the best job he could do to get into Government in 2014. You do what you've got to do. He was focussed on looking in front of him, but it is hard if leaders are having to look behind them as well."

She insists she is not simply positioning for deputy. "People will be assessed on their merits and ability to contribute. If I'm not successful it's up to the leader to decide."

Mahuta will almost certainly not win, meaning the second choices of her supporters will come into play under Labour's preferential vote system. She said she would decide who to advise her supporters to give their second votes to after listening to what the other candidates had to say.

"We are sitting at 25 per cent. There are huge perceptions about whether or not Labour can pull it together in the caucus. There are huge perceptions we are no longer relevant to communities."

However, like Shane Jones' run for the leadership last time round, but for different reasons, Mahuta has nothing to lose from contesting it.

It also helped Labour in a way - no longer could its leadership lineup be described as three middle-aged white men. When I say she's a gutsy woman, she replied "got to give it a whirl."

Mahuta is mother to two young children responsibilities outside Parliament with Tainui. Asked whether she'll cut some of her tribal work if she is leader, she said she is a woman "and women multitask".

"Women can do amazing things and still continue to be mums."

She said she would wind back some of the tribal work if she was leader.

Little known fact: She has tattoos of her children's names on her feet.