Search fast-tracked to find disgraced MP replacement
It is one of the safest electorates in the country, and a queue is forming to contest the seat vacated by disgraced National MP Hamish Walker.
The one-term CluthaSouthland MP announced he would withdraw his candidacy for the seat, after his admission and subsequent apology over leaking private patient information to several media outlets.
Now the National Party stronghold, which has been renamed to Southland after boundary changes, is up for grabs. Nominations open today and close on July 17.
The new candidate will likely become the third MP since longserving representative Bill English switched to a list position in 2014.
National Party sources confirmed there has been ‘‘high interest’’ in the seat. A new candidate could be selected by the end of the month.
It is a truncated selection process, which would normally take about six weeks. The deadline for political parties to bulk nominate their electorate candidates is August 20.
Three who have previously stood for selection include Vanessa Van Uden, Simon Flood and
Mark Wilson.
Van Uden, who did not return calls, is a former QueenstownLakes District mayor and went for the role in 2017, the same year Walker won the nomination.
Walker won the seat, which is the largest general electorate in New Zealand, with a margin 14,354.
He took over the seat from Todd Barclay, who stood down at the 2017 election after a scandal over secret recordings emerged.
Flood, a former Merrill Lynch banker from Queenstown, challenged Barclay in 2016 – a rare move against an incumbent in a safe National seat.
He did not seek the 2017 nomination, citing family reasons.
Meanwhile, Wilson, a Queenstown marketing consultant who is the current electorate chair, was rumoured to be standing.
He did not return calls. Those seeking nomination will have their references checked by the National Party board. That would include whether they were members and had the support of 10 other members.
Board-approved candidates then go to a pre-selection committee for interviews. Up to five candidates would then be put through for delegates to vote.
Earlier this year Stuff reported of some disquiet between Walker and some of the electoral executive.
Those tensions surfaced after Walker apologised over a social media post in which he claimed to have door-knocked people to get petition signatures.
Walker, in his maiden speech to Parliament, said those in the electorate were not ‘‘afraid to call a spade a spade’’.
‘‘You cannot pull the wool over the eyes of a Clutha-Southlander, even if it was grown and shorn there.’’