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Home / New Zealand

Nanaia Mahuta, Michael Wood and the other senior Labour MPs who won’t be returning to Parliament

NZ Herald
14 Oct, 2023 04:00 PM4 mins to read

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Join our Election Night live coverage with Mike Hosking, Heather du Plessis-Allan, Madison Reidy, and Shayne Currie along with a team of trusted experts as they deliver the latest election results and analysis. We will be live from the Newstalk ZB studio, NZ Herald newsroom and political party headquarters as we bring you all the results as they happen. Every candidate, every electorate, every vote.

The electoral axe has fallen over some of Labour’s most senior MPs, with the red tide of 2020 well and truly receding.

Labour won 50.01 per cent in the previous election bringing 19 list MPs and winning 46 electoral seats.

But with the election results so far, Labour is expected to lose 31 seats.

Nanaia Mahuta

Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta was the first on the chopping block, having lost the Hauraki-Waikato seat to Te Pāti Māori candidate Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke, 21, the youngest MP in 170 years.

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Mahuta was elected to the Tainui seat in 2002, entering Parliament at just 26. The electorate was renamed Hauraki-Waikato in 2008, and Mahuta has been the incumbent since.

Nanaia Mahuta was first elected to the Tainui seat in 2002. Photo / Getty Images
Nanaia Mahuta was first elected to the Tainui seat in 2002. Photo / Getty Images

Before losing, she put extra pressure on voters by taking herself off the party list, meaning if they wanted her in Parliament, they had to back her in the electorate.

Mahuta held several high-profile portfolios throughout her political career, including becoming the first female Foreign Affairs Minister, Disarmament and Arms Control Minister and Māori Development Minister.

She was also the first female MP in New Zealand to wear a moko kauae.

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Michael Wood

Former Mt Roskill MP Michael Wood will also not be returning to Parliament after losing the electorate to National’s Carlos Cheung.

Wood was plagued by scandal this year and resigned as a Cabinet minister after it emerged he had more shareholding interests in areas that clashed with his portfolios.

During his time in Parliament, Wood was the Minister of Immigration, Finance, Transport and Workplace Relations and Safety. He was also held the role of under-secretary for ethnic communities.

Wood chaired the Finance and Expenditure committee and served as member of several other committees during his time in Parliament.

Michael Wood. Photo / Dean Purcell
Michael Wood. Photo / Dean Purcell

Tāmati Coffey

Tāmati Coffey is also waiving goodbye to Parliament.

He was first elected in 2017, winning the Waiariki for Labour. He lost the electorate in 2020 to Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi - the only Labour MP to list a seat in that election, but stayed on as a list MP.

Coffey served on several select committees, including for Māori Affairs, Environment, Finance and Expenditure and Economic Development.

He was outspoken on surrogacy issues and put forward a bill to streamline changes to New Zealand’s surrogacy laws.

Coffey had announced he was leaving politics in March this year after the birth of his second child, however he decided to stay after Kiri Allan announced she was stepping out of politics.

Tāmati Coffey. Photo / Andrew Warner
Tāmati Coffey. Photo / Andrew Warner

Coffey told the Herald in March he hadn’t contemplated retirement until the birth of Taitimu five weeks early on January 25, his second child by surrogacy to husband Tim Smith.

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At the time, as he approached the end of six weeks of “baby leave”, Coffey said the time away from the daily churn of politics had its impact.

National’s Dana Kirkpatrick took out the East Coast electorate last night.

Sarah Pallett

Sarah Pallett, who came in as a first-time MP after winning Ilam in 2020, lost the electorate last night to National’s Hamish Campbell.

Pallett failed to retain the seat, which she she took in an upset win against National’s Gerry Brownlee, who had held it for 24 years.

The former midwife has been a member of the Labour Party since 2016 and previously said her priorities for the electorate were increasing services for mental health support.

Pallett was a member of the Health and Petitions select committees, deputy chairing the latter and was a member of the Parliamentary Service Commission Artworks committee.

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Sarah Pallett. Photo / Geoff Sloan
Sarah Pallett. Photo / Geoff Sloan

Anna Lorck

After three years in Parliament Anna Lorck’s days as an MP are over.

Lorck lost the Tukituki electorate to National Party newcomer Catherine Wedd.

She served as a member of the Finance and Expenditure committee as well as the Primary Production committee.

She previously served eight years on the board of Hawke’s Bay Chamber of Commerce.

During her time as MP she was accused of having a poor leadership culture by a former staffer.

At the time she said she wanted to learn “how I can work to be a better MP”.

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Anna Lorck. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Anna Lorck. Photo / Mark Mitchell


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