Shanks to retire in January

Katrina Shanks has announced:

Katrina Shanks, National List MP based in Ohariu, announced today that she will not be  returning to Parliament in 2014.

have decided to take up other opportunities in 2014 and have accepted the role as chief executive of the Funeral Directors Association of New Zealand,” Katrina Shanks said.

“The funeral services sector is facing change – legislative, demographic, and societal, and the association and its members need to be in front of this change. I look forward to the opportunities and challenges the sector has to face.

Very pleased for Katrina that she has found an executive role. And she's in an industry that is recession proof 🙂

Her place in Parliament will be offered to the No 64 on National's list – Joanne Hayes.

Jo's election bio was:

Joanne was born and raised in the farming sector and is of and Scots descent. Married to Pat a farmer, they have raised two sons who have now left home. 

Graduating from Massey University in 1996 with a Bachelor of Science degree, Joanne returned to extramural studies in 2007 studying towards a Master's in Business Administration. 

Joanne has worked in a number of industries that include; education, local government, health and services yet it is her 11 year tenure in the health sector at both NGO and DHB levels that she is most proud of while adding social services and health auditing to her set of executive management expertise. 

She stood in Dunedin South in 2011, and while she did not win the safe Labour seat, National won the party vote by an unprecedented 5%.

Hayes has confirmed she will become an MP, after Paul Quinn declined again.

Incidentially with Williams and Hayes both replacing non-Maori , the number of MPs in Parliament of Maori descent is a record 25 out of 121, or 21% of Parliament. That is a significant over-representation. The makeup of the Maori MPs in Parliament is:

  • Maori 7
  • General seats 6
  • List seats 12

Very very hard to claim you need the Maori seats to continue, to maintain effective Maori representation in Parliament.

The breakdown of the 25 Maori MPs is also interesting:

  • National 9
  • Labour 7
  • 3
  • Maori 3
  • NZ First 1
  • Mana 1
  • Independent 1

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