Amidst ongoing reviews of his conduct initiated by the Prime Minister and the Ombudsman, MP Stuart Nash has announced he will not contest the upcoming election for the Napier seat and will stand down in October.
In a personal Facebook page message, he said:
“After a long family conversation and an eye to the future, I have decided to stand down from politics at this year’s election.
“Nearly six years in cabinet, nine years as the Member of Parliament for Napier and 12 years in parliament since 2008, have provided me with the most amazing opportunities to really make a difference to our country and my electorate of Napier. But it’s now time for someone else with passion and drive to step up.
“There are many many highs – and a couple of obvious lows – and I have made a number of life-long friends from both sides of the House as well as up-and-down this wonderful country. I have had the privilege of serving in the Ardern Cabinet during the darkest of days, managing crisis after crisis after crisis, while driving forward an ambitious and progressive agenda of continuous economic and social improvement and transformation. While the work has been very rewarding, and both intellectually and professionally stimulating, it has also been incredibly taxing on relationships with family and friends. It’s now time to address this balance.
“It has been an absolute privilege and a pleasure representing the people of the Napier electorate in parliament these last 9 years. Advocating for the issues that are important to good hard working Kiwi’s is something that I will miss, but will continue to do for the people of Napier until I depart, as there is still a lot to do regarding the recovery from cyclone Gabrielle and helping the next Labour candidate retain the seat of Napier.”
Casting himself as a political warrior, Nash invoked US president Teddy Roosevelt: “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena … who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming…”