Tamatha Paul is high up on the Greens' draft list. Photo / Mark Mitchell
A handful of Green MPs have been ranked so far down a draft party list that their return to Parliament will be at risk if they stay there and current polling is replicated at the November election.
But several MPs have seen their stocks rise, including Wellington Central MP Tamatha Paul, who is ranked at No 4 on the list. She successfully ran in the electorate only in 2023 and is listed 13th on the Greens’ website currently.
The list in question is formulated by Green Party delegates. They met each of the candidates at a conference and then consulted with their local groups on how they should vote.
This draft list will now go out to a vote by all members of the Greens. They’ll have a choice of staying with this ranking or listing candidates in their own preferred order. A final list will then be formed and released around April or May.
On this list, three current MPs have been listed below candidates not in Parliament at the moment.
Steve Abel, the party’s agriculture and animal welfare spokesman, was ranked ninth on the 2023 list but is now at 14.
Scott Willis, who made it into Parliament in 2023 with a ranking of 12 and has become the party’s energy spokesman, is at number 16.
Mike Davidson, the party’s newest MP, who entered Parliament after the exit of Benjamin Doyle and had a position of 19 in 2023, is down at 22.
If these positions don’t change when the final list is released, and current polling is replicated at the November 7 election, these MPs may struggle to return to Parliament.
In the latest Taxpayers’ Union-Curia poll, the Greens received 10.5%, meaning the party would win 13 seats. In nearly every reported poll over the past year, it has had enough support to secure seats in the early teens.
Candidates can be boosted between the draft and the final list.
For example, in 2023, Willis was ranked 18th in the draft list, but 12th in the final. Abel jumped from 11 to nine.
Those three MPs are ranked below some new candidates.
For example, Craig Aaron Pauling, a former Environment Canterbury chair, is at 12. Bhen Goodsir, an Auckland Pride co-chair, is listed at 13.
As the Herald reported last year, former Te Pāti Māori lawyer and prominent Treaty activist Tania Waikato is standing for the Greens. She is at 15 on this list.
Former Nelson Deputy Mayor Rohan O’Neill-Steven is at 17. Justice for Palestine spokeswoman Yasmine Serhan is at 18, and former Te Pāti Māori candidate Heather Hinemoa Te Au-Skipworth is at 19.
Louise Hutt, a former Hamilton City councillor, is at 20, while Shreejan Pandey, a Monash Energy Institute director, is at 21.
In terms of those on the up, Teanau Tuiono is ranked third, up from fifth on the 2023 final list, while Paul is fourth. She has received considerable attention this term for her views on law-and-order policies.
Hūhana Lyndon is ranked sixth, up from 10th in 2023, while Dr Lawrence Xu-Nan has made a major jump from 16th to seventh. Francisco Hernandez has risen from No 17 to No 10.
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson said this was a “strong electable list of people who represent diverse communities”. She said they are “ready for Government”.
“Aotearoa has enough for everyone to thrive, and we can build a society that works for people and planet. Only the Greens have a plan to ensure everyone’s needs are met, and nature is healthy. With more Green MPs, we will see this vision in place across the motu.”
She said: “Our diverse Māori candidates are supported by whānau, hapū and iwi, further strengthening Māori voice in the Green Party and across the motu.
“We are proud that our list reflects the importance of Māori candidates to the party.”
Co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said the list showed MPs “joined by candidates with experience spanning local government, education, law, green energy and community organising – to name just a few”.
Jamie Ensor is the NZ Herald’s chief political reporter, based in the press gallery at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office. He was a finalist in 2025 for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.