Outgoing Whanganui MP Steph Lewis say she has no regrets from time in office

Labour's Steph Lewis will be exiting Parliament after one term. Photo / Bevan Conley

Steph Lewis believes her team did all they could to win re-election but, in the end, the public wanted change.

The Labour MP lost to National’s Carl Bates by 5070 votes on election night, a dramatic turnaround from 2020 when she beat National’s Harete Hipango by 6821.

Lewis said she was “processing a lot of emotions”.

“I did as well as I could, in an election where there was a big swing against the status quo.

“There was only so much I could claw back without the party’s polls going up as well.”

She wasn’t surprised by how hard Bates had pushed his and his party’s case in the electorate.

“He hit the ground and full credit to him. I know first-hand that you can’t sustain that pace and be in Parliament at the same time.”

She hoped Bates would continue pursuing projects on which she had “done a hell of a lot of groundwork”.

One was the nearly 200 new Kāinga Ora homes on the horizon. “If we don’t end up with all of them being built in Whanganui, that I’ve worked bloody hard to get, I think the public is right to be pretty annoyed,” Lewis said.

“I’ve done the hard work on that and now it‘s a matter of just bringing it home.”

It had been “an incredibly unusual term”, at a time when the Covid-19 response was still in play.

The first 18 months were spent in and out of lockdowns and up and down alert levels.

“I couldn’t visit rest homes and I couldn’t visit a lot of schools and early childhood centres.

“Those are your bread and butter visits as an MP.”

Covid-19 restrictions meant Parliament had to be held remotely for the first time in its history.

However, visibility in the electorate had been a priority, Lewis said.

“On Mondays, I was in Whanganui and on Fridays I would spend the day in Taranaki. Saturdays would alternate between the Whanganui, Hāwera and Stratford markets.

“I was quite honest with the electorate about the deal I made with my family. With the exception of a few events, we would spend Sundays together, for us.”

While in Parliament, it was her job to be the squeaky wheel and nag ministers. “I’d like to think I was quite good at that.”

She had no regrets from her time in office. She could drive around the electorate and see things in which she had played a role, whether it was progress at the Whanganui port or Te Paepae o Aotea in Hāwera.

“Obviously, I’m still processing a lot of emotions right now.

“My priority is supporting my staff. They’ve been given 28 days’ notice so it’s not just me losing a job. It‘s a pretty stink outcome for them because they’ve worked really hard for the electorate.”

She wasn’t sure if she would return to politics but there might be time to think about that in the future.

“I won’t be running for mayor, I can categorically rule that out.”

Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.