Peter Goodfellow re-elected National Party president

Peter Goodfellow has been re-elected National Party president. He has served in the role since 2009.

There had been some speculation before the party's conference Goodfellow might lose his place to former Speaker David Carter.

Carter lost what appears to be a leadership challenge and retired from the board effective immediately. The board will meet later this year to decide how to fill his seat.

The president is elected by the party's nine-member board, who were elected yesterday.

Sylvia Wood, Jannita Pilisi and David Ryan were all elected to the board for the first time. Stefan Sunde was reelected for another term.

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Party insiders had suggested these candidates gave Goodfellow a strong chance of retaining the leadership.

Goodfellow is known to be an enthusiastic and successful fundraiser, keeping the party's coffers full, even during difficult periods when it's been out of government. He is a man of no inconsiderable means himself, and is able to devote considerable amounts of time to the job - something someone who made a more conventional living might not be able to do.

The party conference concludes today with panels on Covid-19 and mental health.

Former National leader and Prime Minister John Key is also in attendance.

National's mental health spokesman Matt Doocey will lead the discussion on mental health, which will make an appeal to voters who feel betrayed by Labour's under-delivery on mental health.

"Sadly now, many of those who trusted Labour on transforming the mental health system can quite rightly feel let down as Labour has failed to deliver on what they promised," the speech will say.