New Green Party MP Catherine Delahunty quickly found it pays to be careful what you say after she was described as Parliament's first standup comic after election day.
The truth was more prosaic. She is a community educator working for a small education trust and the stand-up comic
was simply a throwaway line in her biography to refer to her role as MC at Green Party events.
The election was third time lucky for the 55-year-old, who lives in Gisborne. Her previous two bids to enter Parliament failed. "I wasn't going to try again after this, so it really was a make-or-break night for me."
Fellow new MP Kevin Hague, 48, resigned as West Coast District Health Board chief executive when he stood for the Greens and was always confident of making it into Parliament. Mr Hague is gay and a father. He and his partner live near Greymouth.
Number nine on the Greens' list, Kennedy Graham, will have to wait for the counting of special votes to know if he made it into Parliament. The former diplomat is an adjunct senior fellow at Canterbury Law School and a senior lecturer at Victoria University.
