‘It’s been an absolute blast’
National Party senior MP Steven Joyce has announced his retirement from Parliament, saying it has been a ‘‘blast’’ but he’s reached a ‘‘fork in the road’’.
It was brought about by his recent unsuccessful bid to become the next leader of the political party but Joyce yesterday said he did not regret his decision to stand.
He also rejected speculation his departure was triggered by news he would not be retaining his finance portfolio under new leader Simon Bridges.
‘‘It’s a bigger story for me, personally, about here we’re in a time with the leadership resolved. Was I planning on being here for the whole next 21⁄2-years and beyond?
‘‘And when you start to think about those things, you think well, actually, where am I up to and what am I doing and all those sorts of questions people do at different times in their careers,’’ he said.
Joyce, 54, confirmed he had not been offered the finance role by Bridges. ‘‘Simon has been very generous. He offered me a frontbench position and a choice of portfolios. He didn’t offer finance and that’s alright – I’m not even sure that if I’d had finance, I’d have stayed the full 21⁄2-years. If there’s going to be a change, it’s better to be now’’.
Joyce has been the party’s campaign strategist since 2005. He entered Parliament in 2008 when National stormed back into power and led the party’s winning election campaigns in 2011 and 2014.
He said he was confident that National would be fine, with plenty of people capable of stepping into the breach.
‘‘I think perhaps the most important thing that I tried to bring to the table is perhaps an understanding of what many New Zealanders are keen to see in their politicians and I’m absolutely confident the National Party will continue to see that we are the party of small businesses, of people bringing up their families, of those who are trying to strive and get ahead and that doesn’t change with any personality.’’
Joyce has been a senior minister for nearly all of his 10 years in Parliament, and gained a reputation as ‘‘minister for everything’’ when former prime minister Sir John Key took to sending him in to clean up messes such as the Novopay debacle.
He spent eights years as an effective apprentice to former finance minister Bill English, before becoming finance minister when English became prime minister. He has also held the heavyweight transport and infrastructure portfolios.
He rejected assertions that his departure was one of ‘‘petulance’’ and ‘‘no confidence’’ in Bridges.
‘‘Two things: I think if I was in a petulant mood, I’d probably go to the back benches, grow a beard and sit there fuming for a while ... That’s not my approach. This is really just a fork in the road to consider how best to approach my future.’’
He had few regrets over his time in politics, including the international headlines he made – usually as part of British comedian John Oliver’s Last Week
Tonight show, where he gained notoriety for saying he believed National’s use of the track Eminem-esque in its 2014 campaign advertisements was ‘‘pretty legal’’ and again after copping a dildo to the face from a protester at Waitangi.
‘‘I’ve had to strive very hard to get an international profile and obviously that incident at Waitangi that shall not be named is one of the ways ... I’ve done that.
‘‘Look, the whole thing has just been an absolute blast and an absolute privilege to be blunt. And yes, you have good days and bad days and tough days, but a day that you’re serving your fellow New Zealanders and you’re getting that opportunity to help them in whatever happens is actually a pretty cool thing.’’
Joyce said he would assist National from outside Parliament and ‘‘will remain a staunch supporter of the party’’. He planned to return to commercial life, and hinted he would look for exporting opportunities in the technology sector.
National’s ‘‘Mr Fix-it’’ is bowing out after a decade in politics to return to the commercial world that made him a millionaire.
Steven Joyce has been a minister for nine years and the political party’s campaign chairman for five general elections.
But his resignation comes after National failed to return to Government after three successful terms under Sir John Key and Bill English, and his own unsuccessful bid to replace English as leader.
The 54-year-old grew up in Taranaki, where he attended Francis Douglas Memorial College before heading to Massey University.
He graduated with a degree in zoology, then started a successful radio station in New Plymouth, which he and his business partners built up to become Radio Works.
Joyce resigned as Radio Works managing director in 2001, making his millions when the station was sold to Can West. He insists he’s not returning to radio when he leaves Parliament.
It was after his broadcasting success that Joyce joined National as its campaign manager from outside of Parliament for both the 2005 and 2008 elections.
Joyce entered politics in 2008 and was quickly made the minister for transport and communications. Over the years, he has held the portfolios for tertiary education, science and innovation, economic development, infrastructure and, most recently, finance.
His career has not been without controversy, most notably over the deal he signed with Auckland casino Sky City, allowing it to install an additional 230 pokie machines and dozens of gambling tables.
That ‘‘Mr Fix-it’’ nickname evolved due to his responsibilities expanding whenever he stepped in to help ministers who were struggling with their workloads.
This included the Novopay debacle, where thousands of teachers were overpaid or underpaid, and Fonterra’s wide-scale recall of dairy products after a suspected botulism-causing bacteria was detected.
International news headlines and attention did not escape him either – the most memorable of which was his Last Week Tonight appearances with comedian John Oliver.
The American TV show host went to town on Joyce after an anti-TPPA protester threw a dildo at the MP’s head in Waitangi two years ago, and again over his ‘‘pretty legal’’ remarks when he was asked whether the National Party had used Eminem-esque music for a campaign video.
While Joyce’s time as the party’s campaign chairman was mostly successful, he had struggled to shake off losing the Northland seat to NZ First leader Winston Peters in a 2015 by-election.
Later, his insistence that Labour had an $11.7 billion ‘‘fiscal hole’’ during the 2017 election campaign – a claim not supported by economists – was also a black mark on his political record.
Despite having never stood for an electorate nor contested a leadership role in the previous decade, Joyce threw his hat in the ring – at the 11th hour – to become the fifth contender in National’s recent leadership vote.
Unsuccessful in his bid and with new National leader Simon Bridges failing to return his finance ministerial portfolio, Joyce made the decision to quit the political arena and seek new opportunities.