KEY POINTS:
A young Beehive staffer, Chris Hipkins, has pulled off an upset by winning the Labour nomination for the safe Rimutaka seat, ahead of a candidate favoured by affiliated unions and outgoing MP Paul Swain.
And the former editor of the Marlborough Express, Brendon Burns, has won the Labour
nomination for Christchurch Central.
Mr Hipkins, 29, works as a senior adviser to Prime Minister Helen Clark, alongside chief of staff Heather Simpson.
He is thought to have had Beehive encouragement.
Heather Simpson stood unsuccessfully for the seat in 1993 when it was called Heretaunga.
Mr Hipkins' main rival for the seat was Paul Chalmers, the 54-year-old former candidate for the Whangarei seat in 2005.
Age may have been a strong factor against Mr Chalmers with Helen Clark's internal campaign for rejuvenation of the party.
That campaign had a setback a week ago when Labour's former Epsom candidate missed out on the Napier nomination against 64-year-old list MP Russell Fairbrother, who lost the seat in 2005.
Mr Hipkins says his local connections helped - he was brought up in the Hutt Valley - as did the fact that he had been a former senior adviser to Hutt South MP and Cabinet minister Trevor Mallard.
Mr Swain took the defeat of his friend well.
He said Mr Hipkins had been a popular choice among local members and he would help him to win the seat.
"Chris is the face of modern Labour ... He represents the rejuvenation that Prime Minister Helen Clark has been calling for."
Labour holds the seat with a 8277-vote majority.
The party holds Christchurch Central with a majority of 7836. Mr Burns, a former political reporter for The Press, last night won selection from a field of nine.
He gave up journalism when he contested the Kaikoura seat in 2002 and 2005.
After his first defeat he headed a communications unit in the Beehive.
His main rivals were Megan Woods, who stood for the Progressives in the seat last election, and James Caygill, a former Beehive adviser and son of former Labour Deputy leader and St Albans MP David Caygill.
The seat is being vacated by Tim Barnett, who plans to offer himself as a list-only candidate at next year's election.
Helen Clark said: "We've had two pretty interesting selections ... The renewal process is in good heart."
