National Party leader Chris Luxon’s women drought - Luxon sets 50% women goal but men got most National’s winnable seats s

National deputy leader Nicola Willis and leader Christopher Luxon. Photo / Mark Mitchell

National Party leader Chris Luxon says he would like to hit a target of 50 per cent of women in the National caucus – however, that will require a lot of heavy lifting after electorate selections delivered three quarters of the winnable electorates to male candidates.

In an interview with the NZ Herald ahead of National’s annual conference this weekend, Luxon defended the party’s selection processes, saying it had delivered more Māori, Pasifika and Asian candidates. However, most of those candidates are also men rather than women.

When pushed on the question of what gender balance he would like to have in his future caucus, he said he wanted a 50-50 split.

“Ideally I’d love to see a 50-50 gender balance. But it’s a combination of what is delivered in the electorates and what’s left over in respect of the list.”

It will be an uphill challenge for the list to get National anywhere near the 50 per cent mark after the electorate selections delivered three quarters of the winnable seats to men. Only 11 women candidates were selected in seats National has a chance of winning – compared to 33 men.

That seemed to go against Luxon’s express wish for greater diversity in the selections and instruction to the board to ensure it was more representative after the 2020 election delivered a caucus that was two-thirds male and predominantly Pakeha.

He said the gender imbalance in electorate selections would be taken into account as the party finalised its list rankings by the end of July, but conceded it would be difficult to hit the mark this election.

“My message has been clear to the board that I really want to make sure the party is representing all New Zealanders. And so, yeah, we have continued work to do and we’ll have continued work to do even after October 14.”

Addressing the imbalance through the list ranking process could also prove problematic for National, given a number of its current caucus are likely to need the list to get back in – many of them men.

The board can also choose up to five candidates for list-only positions – so far it has selected two and both are men (Gerry Brownlee and James Christmas).

Luxon said he had made it clear to the board that he wanted better diversity, as well as people with certain skills and experience.

“I know from the National Party’s history, when we’ve been more diverse we’ve been more successful. I think we’ve made great progress. Yes, there’s more to do, there will always be more to do and I will always be constructively dissatisfied about it.”

Luxon stating even an informal target is unusual for a National Party leader – the party has long been opposed to setting quotas or targets for diversity in its ranks, saying it operates on a merit basis and it was up to its local members to select the best candidate for the electorate seats and do initial list rankings.

Unlike Labour, there is no specific reference to diversity or equity representation in the parties’ selection rules, beyond a general statement that the list ranking committee “shall have regard to … the need for balance across the totality of candidates.”

National derided Labour’s previous attempts to even up its caucus including the ill-fated attempt to introduce women-only selections in some electorates in 2013. That was dubbed the “man ban” which Labour dropped in favour of a looser target of hitting 45 per cent women by 2014 and 50 per cent by 2017. It reached that target in 2020 – and now has more women than men.

National’s selections by gender:

Of National’s 69 candidates, 23 are women and 46 are men.

There are seven women standing in safe National seats, only one of whom is not a sitting MP: Rangitikei candidate Suze Redmayne. A further four women are in potentially winnable seats currently held by Labour, including deputy leader Nicola Willis in Ohariu, Katie Nimon in Napier, Catherine Wedd in Tukituki, and Dana Kirkpatrick in East Coast.

National's Napier candidate Katie Nimon and leader Chris Luxon. Photo / Warren Buckland.

By contrast there are 17 men in safe seats and 16 in potentially winnable seats.

The only category in which women candidates outnumber men are in safe Labour seats, which National has zero to little chance of winning. In those, there are 12 women and 11 men.

Of National’s tranche of new candidates, 15 men were selected in winnable seats compared to just four women.

National’s list ranking process involves each region’s delegates voting on the list rankings for the region’s candidates – done by way of preferential voting at regional conferences.

The list ranking committee then does the final list – a group consisting of the Leader, the Deputy Leader, the President, the board and 20 representatives of the regions.

That is expected by the end of July.

What to expect at the conference:

Luxon said law and order and the economy would be the focus of the conference, with a policy announcement expected in the law and order space on Sunday.

Deputy leader Nicola Willis will speak on Saturday, a speech focused on the economy although she is not expected to deliver new policy. Luxon will speak on Sunday afternoon, with a policy announcement on law and order.

Luxon said it was also a chance to get members focused on the fast-approaching election campaign.

“We want them to understand the importance of a good ground game when it’s close. We are in good heart and good shape and want them focused on October 14.”

Labour’s conference a few weeks ago concentrated heavily on attacks on National and its policies, including its plan to raise the super age. Luxon said that was up to Labour, but he would be focusing on what National was going to do.

However, he was happy to highlight the troubles in Labour since Hipkins took over, including the resignation of Michael Wood as a minister last week. “We’ve seen huge amounts of dysfunction, integrity and personnel issues. It feels like a government that is tired and out of touch and focused on itself.” He also took aim at what he described as Labour’s “abysmal” running of the economy.

Luxon heads into the conference straight from his “Back on Track” tour of public meetings, aimed at letting voters get to meet him in person and ask him questions.

National has also been rolling out policies, although the biggies of transport and infrastructure and the final shape of the tax policy was yet to come.

Claire Trevett is the NZ Herald’s political editor, based at Parliament in Wellington. She started at the NZ Herald in 2003 and joined the Press Gallery team in 2007. She is a life member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery.