NZ First released its party list yesterday, with a former minister, a broadcaster, a past Whanganui MP, an ex-Financial Markets Authority chair and a 1990s All Black captain among the new names in its top ten.
Leader Winston Peters stays at number one, followed by deputy leader Shane Jones, Casey Costello and Mark Pattinson.
The next three places go to newcomers who have sat in Parliament before: Alfred Ngaro, a minister in a previous government, at five, broadcaster Michael Laws at six and Harete Hipango-Brownlie at seven. Craig Stobo, who once chaired the Financial Markets Authority, is at eight and Taine Randell, who captained the All Blacks, is at nine.
Sitting MPs Jenny Marcroft, Andy Foster, David Wilson and Jamie Arbuckle follow at 10 to 13. Former Buller mayor Jamie Cleine is at 14, Western Bay of Plenty district councillor and financial planner Tracey Coxhead is at 15, and past NZ First MP Ron Mark returns at 16.
The latest RNZ-Reid Research poll puts NZ First on 10.6%, enough for 13 MPs, while a Post/Freshwater Strategy poll last month had it on 13%, enough for 16. At that level, Cleine, Coxhead and Mark would all enter Parliament.
RCR has spoken with a number of NZ First candidates in the lead-up to the election, covering issues from a proposed $100 billion sovereign wealth fund to breaking up the supermarkets, banks and energy companies.
This story has been republished with permission from RCR Bites. For news like this direct and free to your Inbox every day, go to biteme.news to sign up for RCR Bites.
If you are a media outlet interested in republishing RCR Bites stories, please contact inbox@rcr.media.
