Key staffer may seek nomination
An early frontrunner has emerged in the race to replace former prime minister John Key as MP for Helensville.
Genelle Bailey, Key’s senior support person in the electorate for almost 10 years, is being tipped as the one to watch, including by Rodney Local Board member Phelan Pirrie who says Bailey is his pick.
New campaign-style photographs have been recently uploaded to Bailey’s Facebook page and with a comment from Bailey saying ‘‘here we go’’, speculation is hot.
Bailey is not talking – declining to comment for this story. So what do we know about her? She’s been with Key for a long time and Pirrie says through this she is well informed on local issues.
Bailey is on the board of trustees for Kaipara College, along with Rodney Local Board member and husband, Brent Bailey.
Her daughter, Bianca Bailey, also seems to have a keen interest in the world of politics as she visited Parliament last year as part of Youth Parliament, shadowing Key.
Political blogger and pollster, David Farrar, says Bailey is very liked and respected within the party.
Farrar says he expects nominations for selection to the seat should open soon.
Nominations remain open for about three weeks before going to the electorate board for approval. The board may veto unsuitable candidates, Farrar says.
Once nominations close the National Party constitution requires a preselection committee is convened to check out the potential candidates.
If there are more than five nominees, and Farrar says he suspects there will be more than five in Helensville, the committee reduces the number to five.
Farrar says now is the time for nominees to be out seeking support within the electorate branches, with the aim of getting their supporters chosen as delegates to then vote for them to get the nomination at the party’s national conference.
At the electorate’s annual general meeting, which must be held before April 30, delegates are selected.
To be successful Bailey needs 50 per cent of the delegate vote.
TV personality Hayley Holt has said she is considering running for the Helensville seat.
The Helensville electorate has been a happy hunting ground for National – Key received 65.57 per cent of valid electorate votes with a winning margin of 18,287 in the 2014 election. – Fairfax NZ
Taser use unjustified, says IPCA
Police breached policy when an officer stunned a Greymouth man with a Taser, the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) has ruled. Sergeant Matthew Frost ordered a junior officer to Taser the 44-yearold man twice while the man was handcuffed in a police van but holding the door open with his foot. The IPCA report said police were called to a domestic incident between neighbours on June 20, 2015. A man had entered his neighbour’s house drunk and armed with a tomahawk because he was upset about the noise coming from a party. When police arrived, the neighbours told them the man had gone home after they had taken the tomahawk off him. Police were called back to the property at midnight and found the man and a friend sitting in a car, being drunk and abusive. After a 20-minute struggle, during which pepper spray was used on the friend, police managed to handcuff the pair and escort them to a police van. IPCA chair Sir David Carruthers said a Taser could only be used on a person who was ’’assaultive’’. ’’As the man was simply using his foot to block a door, he was not assaultive. The Taser should therefore not have been used.’’
Fatal burns inquiry stumped
Police have reached an impasse in an investigation into how a woman suffered fatal burns, after witnesses refused to tell them what happened. Amelia ‘‘Mina’’ Whatarau, 42, suffered burns to the upper half of her body at a Hawke’s Bay property on Christmas Day 2012, and died in Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital five days later. Whatarau and others had been socialising at a home in Whakatu, about 5km out of Hastings, when neighbours called police after hearing an argument, before a sudden plume of smoke erupted above the fenceline and Whatarau started screaming. Her partner was also treated for burns. Detective Senior Sergeant Dave de Lange said police were still investigating the incident and the matter was now being referred to the coroner, ‘‘but from a police perspective the investigation remains open’’. Whatarau’s family declined to comment when approached yesterday.
Teen who taunted police found
A wanted Southland teenager who taunted police online with a ‘‘thumbs up’’ emoji has been found. Lana Maree Tutty, 17, appeared in the Christchurch District Court yesterday on charges of wilful trespass and assault with intent to injure. It is understood that the charges were originally laid in the Gore District Court, and an arrest warrant was issued after Tutty failed to appear. A mugshot of Tutty was posted on the Southern District Police Facebook page on Monday, to which the wanted teen replied by posting a ‘‘thumbs up’’ emoji. The reply attracted hundreds of likes and sparked dozens of comments.
Sick hunter calls for flight home
An unwell, tired hunter who was two days away from civilisation had to call for help to get home. The 44-year-old man - and his four dogs - had spent about a week in the Raukumara Mountain Range on the East Cape. But he had a sudden onset of a medical condition on Wednesday night, and it continued through the night. The man was two days’ walk from civilisation, so early yesterday morning he set off an emergency locator beacon. Trustpower TECT Rescue Helicopter pilot Todd Dunham said that after a 40-minute flight, the man was able to be checked out at Gisborne Hospital.