The Herald reports:

From Hawai’i to Dipton – the new Prime Minister is quickly proving to be from a different mould than the man he succeeded.

Bill English has only been Prime Minister for a few days, but as parliament breaks up for Christmas and the new year he is already making plans for a summer holiday.

But unlike his mate John Key the destination is not a tropical paradise in the Pacific – although Southlanders might disagree.

Our new leader will spend Christmas with wife Mary and their extended family at their home in Wellington, before heading down south to the family farm in Dipton.

Claire Trevett pointed out you have to pity the DPS whose summer session has gone from Hawaii to Dipton!

Also making the trip will be fellow minister Nick Smith and former National politicians Tony Ryall and Roger Sowry, maintaining a long-standing tradition.

“We have holidayed together every Christmas for the past 25 years or so years,” English said.

A great friendship.

A very interesting profile and partial interview by Bevan Hurley on Mark Taylor. Some extracts:

Despite all of the derision he copped over the years, Mark John Taylor hated being mocked.

He couldn’t stand being referred to as the “bumbling jihadi”, and would complain about being mercilessly teased by Stuff commenters.

Oh dear. Poor petal.

During his first few months Taylor tells me in Facebook messages that he is committed to waging jihad and will die a martyr. He spouts against the NZ Security Intelligence Service (“What does NZSIS stand for? Nonsense Zionist Staff internet stalking”) and makes anti-semitic jokes about John Key’s parentage.

What a surprise – he is a racist.

I email back: “Can you tell me a bit about how you’re getting on over there? Everyone here in New Zealand is keen to know more about your life over there.”

Taylor responds: “5 requests as follows:

“1. I only talk in person, not online.

“2. You need to get a letter of protection from the lslamic State officials. Example: The German Writer was able to come here.

“3. I require a fee of no less then 500,000USD about my story here

“4. All confidential information remains confidential or classified.

“5. I check the final editing and make the final decision on the story.”

Totally delusional.

Taylor was getting grief in the comments section of the Stuff story about his exploits teaching with puppets: and he wasn’t happy. Example: “Good ole New Zilind. Every other western country is dealing with the problem of their own hardcore extremists going over to IS, and we give them Frank Spencer”.

Frank Spencer – what a great comparison. Well done that commenter.

“Remember if you make any more stories about me or your work coworkers from Fairfax.

“It won’t be 5 million dollars US, it’ll be 20 million dollars US I be wanting !

“Remove all the articles about me. That includes all other articles written by Stuff.co.nz in the past 7 years.

“And I forget this email, but if you don’t do it, I see you in a Court of Law in New Zealand with your Fairfax CEO and your lawyers INC!

He’s almost a parody of himself.

Paul Buchanan, of 36th Parallel Assessments, is in no doubt that Taylor was a naive stooge. If his time isn’t up already, the end is nigh.

“He might try to reach out to western intelligence agencies and try to secure safe passage. But I doubt that because he seems rather thick.”

An astute analysis!

An interesting tidbit that I discovered recently is Attorney-General Chris Finlayson has recommended to the Governor-General for appointedment every single member of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, bar the Chief Justice.

Here is the breakdown for each court:

• Supreme Court – Finlayson has appointed five Justices. CJ Elias (appointed by Shipley) retires in 2018 so Bill English may get to appoint her replacement.
• Court of Appeal – Finlayson has appointed all 10 Justices
• High Court – Finlayson has appointed 26 Justices, 14 were appointed under Labour. The Chief HC Judge was made a Judge under Labour but made Chief under Finlayson

Quite unusual to have one Attorney-General appoint all but one Justice of the two top courts. This is partially a reflection of the fact we have a retirement age for judges (unlike the US) but also that Finlayson has been Attorney-General for so long.

The longest serving AGs since 1930s have been:

1. Rex Mason 17 years
2. Ralph Hanan 8 1/2 years
3. Chris Finlayson 8 years
4. Paul East 7 years
5. Jim McLay 6 years
6. Clifton Webb 5 years
7. Geoffrey Palmer 5 years
8. Margaret Wilson 4 1/2 years

So Chris is likely to become the second longest serving AG next year. I doubt anyone will ever bear Rex Mason’s record.

USA Today ranks the eight films”

1. Episode V
2. Episode IV
3. Episode VII
4. Episode VI
5. Rogue One
6. Episode III
7. Episode II
8. Episode I

My list would be different. I’d go:

1. Episode IV – something magical about the original, maybe seeing it as a 10 year old
2. Episode VII – loved it and the new characters
3. Episode VI – liked the happy ending
4. Episode V – a great film but a filler
5. Episode III – some great battle scenes
6. Episode I – young Anakin slightly better than older Anakin
7. Episode II – I guess the arena scene was okay

Stuff reports:

National will not stand a candidate in the by-election to replace outgoing Labour MP David Shearer, leading to claims the party is “running scared”.

Prime Minister Bill English has also confirmed the date for the by-election, with voters going to the polls on February 25. However, Labour has repeated its calls for an early election to instead take place.

Announcing the date, English said National would not stand a candidate as it was focussed on winning the 2017 election later in the year.

Jacinda will obviously win the seat easily. Not only has no Government ever won a seat off an Opposition in a by-election, but this is Labour’s third safest seat in the country. Only Mangere and Manukau East had bigger majorities for them. Add in their most popular MP, Jacinda Ardern, will be the candidate and why would National give Jacinda five weeks of headlines!

The seat has always been held by Labour MPs since it was created. In fact only three MPs have represented it since 1947. They are:

• Warren Freer for 34 years from 1947 to 1981
• Helen Clark for 28 years from 1981 to 2009
• David Shearer for 8 years from 2009 to 2017

Jacinda is aged just 36 so she could well represent the seat for 30 years or so. I expect she will spend some of that time as Prime Minister, as Clark did.

AP reports:

The Electoral College was devised at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. It was a compromise between those who wanted popular elections for president and those who wanted no public input.

The Electoral College has 538 members, with the number allocated to each state based on how many representatives it has in the House plus one for each senator. The District of Columbia gets three, despite the fact that the home to Congress has no vote in Congress.

To be elected president, the winner must get at least half plus one – or 270 electoral votes. Most states give all their electoral votes to whichever candidate wins that state’s popular vote. Maine and Nebraska award them by congressional district.

The AP tried to reach all of the electors and interviewed more than 330 of them, finding widespread aggravation among Democrats with the electoral process, but little expectation Trump would be derailed.

Some Democrats have argued that the Electoral College is undemocratic because it gives more weight to less populated states. That is how Hillary Clinton, who got more than 2.6 million more votes nationwide, lost the election to Trump.

This is incorrect. It is true that less populated states have more weight because each state has two senators (and hence two electoral college votes) regardless of size. The number of House Reps (and further electoral college votes) is proportional to population.

Let’s say you had electoral college votes strictly proportional to population of states. You’d do this by taking two votes off each state.

If so Trump would still have won with 246 EC votes and Clinton 190.

The reason Trump won despite getting fewer votes is because most states allocate their votes on a first past the post basis. Clinton won massive majorities in some large states but lost narrowly in many other states.

HDPA writes:

He won’t admit it, but Peters is said to want a go at the prime ministership. I’m told he wouldn’t even demand half the parliamentary term. He’d settle for a year.

It’s not as mad as it sounds. It happened in Israel after their elections in 1984, when the leaders of the two coalition parties each had half the term being PM.

The question is which party is desperate enough to give it to Winston?

It’s not hard to settle on Labour. Three terms in opposition is a long time. It’s said Peters prefers Labour anyway because everyone in National from the backbenchers to Key has been smart to him.

There’s certainly no way National would make Peters PM. But Labour? If it means not doing a 4th term in Opposition and Little gets to be PM for two years?

Would the Greens support a Prime Minister Peters?

If National gets say 45% and Peters 12% there is no way Peters can demand to be PM.

But what say Labour gets 26%, Peters 12% and the Greens 11%?

Winston’s long held dream may come true.

How did my semi-serious 2016 projections go. It’s scoring time. They were:

Audrey Young writes:

Backbencher of the year goes to first-term National list MP Chris Bishop. He has had luck in getting private member’s bills drawn from the ballot but unlike many in the ballot, his are meaningful bills.

And because of his bill, live organ donors will be compensated 100 per cent for loss of income for up to three months.

Another bill addresses some technical anomalies that allowed an award-winning book Into the River by Ted Dawe to be subject to an interim ban for six weeks in 2015.

Essentially the bill will offer the President of the Film and Literature Board of Review other options.

He has huge promise although it is unlikely the new Prime Minister would promote a first-term MP to a ministerial post in his reshuffle on Sunday.

Well done Bish.

There is, however, only one contender for Politician of the Year, John Key for the sheer audacity of his exit after eight years in office, and for the kind of Prime Minister he was.

No surprise.

Received by e-mail:

Kia Ora, My name is Sasha Perry, mid 2015 I performed on the Good Morning Show and shared the TVNZ green room with John Key.

John Key just starts talking in my direction saying “You know if you’re doing well, you should look into Mossack Fonseca.” Or “Invest into Mossack Fonseca.” I did not remember the Fonseca part just the Mossack part because it sounded like “Ballsacks” and anyone who has spent time with John Key would understand why my brain did that.
 
By now I’m totally looking the other way because I don’t care about money or White Prime Ministers who don’t return Maori Land back to Maori. Bedside’s the point, but just so you get what the “Conversation” was like. After seeing I had no interest in what he was saying, John decides to name drop. “My friend Donald Trump…” He said his whole name like that was going to impress me in some way. “My Friend, Donald Trump, got me onto them years ago.” Or something, along those lines, John said. I, being whangai to a lot of Maori houses growing up, just replied, “This is Maori land, give it back,” “History will only remember you as a racist thief.” Something along those lines, and carried on with my life. I never thought about that day again, my performance wasn’t much to write about, and I never think about John Key, until a couple of days ago…
 
I was watching an episode of “Democracy Now”. Which I had never seen before, but the show has been around for 20 years so you can decide if it can be trusted or not. Up comes an insert about the “Panama Papers.” In Democracy Now, they mention the lawyer firm or investment firm, Mossack Fonseca.
 
Mossack Fonseca, the same name John Key had spoke at me.
 
I googled it.
 
Wikipedia told me, The Panama Papers is a bunch of leaked files showing how some rich and heads of state, haven’t been paying taxes. It’s probably a lot worse than that, but surely if John Key is involved, there would be enough evidence to have him held accountable for ripping off the people of Aotearoa?
 
So I googled to see if John Key and, or Donald Trump where named in these files. Both names came up linked to the files. I then googled to see if John Key had been in anyway questioned by the New Zealand media about his involvement. John Key was accused of being involved and he was able to say it was a mix up with the Cook Islands.
 
What?
 
I guess I would like to know.
 
A. Why is John Key saying he has left politics for family, when it is obvious he is running away from this scandal that has already forced the resignation of other leaders around the world? Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson, Iceland’s Prime Minister resigned as did Prime Minister Joseph Musca of Malta.
 
B. Why did our media help him hide his theft?
 
Ok thanks heaps for your time. I have no idea how these things are meant to be written but if someone could please explain this all to me, because all I can see is our illegal English government ripping off Maori, and the people of Aotearoa, while the media helps make that happen.
 
I can’t remember what episode we were on but this is a link to our performance and on the episode John was defending touching a little girl’s hair. TVNZ should have records that will confirm that we were in the green room and adjacent hallway at the same time.

This is a huge scandal obviously. It is like the Moment of Truth but even bigger. Key and Trump and Mossack Fonseca. I can’t wait for the Nicky Hager book!

This may be my favourite photo of the year. It is the English family with the Governor-General (and husband) at Bill English’s swearing in as Prime Minister.

Photo by Simon Woolf.

Feel free to enter your favourvite captions below.

Stuff reports:

Less than three months after becoming Wellington’s deputy mayor, Paul Eagle is eyeing up a seat in Parliament.

Eagle said he was considering calls from Labour Party members to contest Rongotai, the Wellington electorate seat long held by the party’s deputy leader, Annette King. …

Eagle lives in Island Bay and was raised in Wellington’s eastern and southern  suburbs.

Labour leader Andrew Little, who lives near Eagle in Island Bay, previously said he was considering running in Rongotai but had not made a final decision.

A source within Labour  said that the replacement of John Key, the MP for Helensville, with list MP Bill English as prime minister was a game-changer for Labour.

There was now less pressure on Little to contest an electorate as National’s leader was also without one, the source said.

I’m told it is not at all clear that Little could beat Eagle for the nomination. Eagle is very popular locally. It would be fatal to Little to seek an electorate nomination as leader and fail, so I suspect he will not stand now.

The excuse will be that English is list only but English of course has shown he can win an electorate. Little has failed twice in New Plymouth.

Also if Little is list only, there is a non-trivial chance he won’t get back to Parliament as on the Roy Morgan poll Labour would get only 28 MPs and they hold 27 electorates. If they picked one one more electorate Little would be out on that poll.

Reflecting on the reshuffle, some things are becoming clearer:

• The increase in Cabinet to 21 is temporary. It will revert to 20 when McCully and Parata leave
• Two new Ministers may get appointed in May
• It seems Coleman will not get Foreign Affairs, but probably Mark Mitchell. So in May Kaye and Mitchell take over from Parata and McCully, and Mitchell moves into Cabinet.
• Bennett becoming Minister for Women suggests she will be used to target the female vote.
• Bridges picking up Communications as well as Economic Development was unexpected but suggests it is seen as a core economic portfolio
• Amy Adams becoming Minister for Social Investment is a huge vote of confidence from English and suggests she is next in line to be Finance Minister. Also giving her Social Housing and HNZC is big.
• Smith’s remit is now on construction and building, rather than wider housing issues
• Collins picking up Revenue could be significant. She has a strong commercial background and could bring her formidable arsenal to bear on multinationals minimising their tax in New Zealand
• Dean and Bennett’s promotions means ever MP from the class of 2005 has now been made a Minister

News.com.au reports:

WHITE supremacist Dylann Roof has been found guilty on all charges in the racially motivated killing of nine black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina. …

The 12 jurors deliberated for just under two hours before finding Roof guilty on all 33 charges. He showed no emotion as the verdicts were read.

The sentencing phase of the mass shooter’s trial is set to begin on January 3.

Roof has indicated he will serve as his own lawyer as prosecutors pursue a death sentence. …

A self-confessed nationalist, Roof has admitted he hates black people and wanted to start a race war. He told police he wanted to kill African-Americans because he believed they raped white women on a daily basis.

In a videotaped two-hour confession shown in Roof’s trial last Friday, he laughed several times and made exaggerated gun motions as he recounted the massacre. He explained that he wanted to leave at least one person alive to tell what happened and complained that his victims “complicated things” when they hid under tables.

The killer told the FBI he chose the church after discovering online that it was the oldest black church in the South, and there probably would not be any white people there. He had thought about attacking drug dealers, but was worried they might fight back.

“I killed them,” Roof told agents after they arrested him in Shelby, North Carolina, with the gun used in the shooting in the back seat of his car. As he talked more, he chuckled and said, “Well, I killed them, I guess.”

Hard to think of a better candidate for the death penalty than someone who guns down people in a church.

The full announcement and list are here.

Key details are:

Promoted to Ministry

• Alfred Ngaro, List MP
• Mark Mitchell, MP for Rodney
• David Bennett, MP for Hamilton Easy
• Jacqui Dean, MP for Waitaki

Out of the Ministry

• John Key
• Hekia Parata (on 1 May)
• Murray McCully (on 1 May)
• Sam Lotu-Iiga
• Craig Foss
• Jo Goodhew

Promoted from outside to inside Cabinet

• Paul Goldsmith
• Louise Upston

Promoted up the rankings significantly

• Paula Bennett up 3 from 5 to 2
• Simon Bridges up 4 from 9 to 5
• Michael Woodhouse up 8 from 17 to 9
• Nathan Guy up 3 from 15 to 12
• Paul Goldsmith up 6 from 25 to 19
• Louise Upston up 4 from 24 to 20

Gone down the rankings significantly

• Nick Smith down 3 from 12 to 15

Portfolio changes

• Prime Minister from John Key to Bill English
• Deputy PM from Bill English to Paula Bennett
• ACC from Nikki Kaye to Michael Woodhouse
• Associate ACC from Paul Goldsmith to Jacqui Dean
• Building and Housing becomes Building and Construction for Nick Smith
• Children to Anne Tolley
• Associate Children to Alfred Ngaro
• Civil Defence from Nikki Kaye to Gerry Brownlee
• Commerce and Consumer Affairs from Paul Goldsmith to Jacqui Dean
• Communications from Amy Adams to Simon Bridges
• Community and Voluntary Sector from Jo Goodhew to Alfred Ngaro
• Corrections from Judith Collins to Louise Upston
• Economic Development from Steven Joyce to Simon Bridges
• Associate Economic Development to Nathan Guy
• Education (likely) from Hekia Parata to Nikki Kaye on 1 May
• Associate Education to Louise Upston
• Energy and Resources from Simon Bridges to Judith Collins
• Ethnic Communities Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga to Judith Collins
• Food Safety from Jo Goodhew to David Bennett
• Finance from Bill English to Steven Joyce
• Associate Finance from Paula Bennett and Steven Joyce to Simon Bridges and Amy Adams
• Associate Foreign from Todd McClay
• Associate Health from Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga and Jo Goodhew to Nicky Wagner
• HNZC from Bill English to Amy Adams
• Associate Immigration from Craig Foss to David Bennett
• Infrastructure to Steven Joyce
• Associate Justice from Simon Bridges to Mark Mitchell
• Land Information from Louise Upston to Mark Mitchell
• Local Government from Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga to Anne Tolley
• Associate Local Government from Louise Upston to Jacqui Dean
• Ministerial Services from John Key to Bill English
• National Security and Intelligence from John Key to Bill English
• Novopay from Steven Joyce to Hekia Parata (and made part of Education)
• Pacific Peoples from Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga to Alfred Ngaro
• Associate Primary Industries from Jo Goodhew to Louise Upston
• Regulatory Reform from Steven Joyce to Paul Goldsmith
• Revenue from Michael Woodhouse to Judith Collins
• Science and Innovation from Steven Joyce to Paul Goldsmith
• Associate Sport from Murray McCully
• Associate Social Development from Jo Goodhew
• Social Housing from Paula Bennett to Amy Adams
• Associate Social Housing to Alfred Ngaro
• Social Investment to Amy Adams
• Tertiary Education from Steven Joyce to Paul Goldsmith
• Tourism from John Key to Paula Bennett
• Associate Tourism from Paula Bennett to Nicky Wagner
• Associate Transport from Craig Foss to David Bennett
• Women from Louise Upston to Paula Bennett
• Small Business from Craig Foss to Jacqui Dean
• Statistics from Craig Foss to Mark Mitchell
• Veterans’ Affairs from Craig Foss to David Bennett

In one sense a reasonably significant reshuffle, even though it could have been bolder. When the second tranche takes effect in May 2017, then it will be quite a different look to the past.

English flagged that it is likely Nikki Kaye will take over Education from Hekia Parata in May, and I presume take her front bench No 11 spot.  Who will take over McCully is less obvious as there is no Associate Foreign Affairs but my guess would be Coleman gets it and Woodhouse in turn gets Health. Time will tell.

After 1 May, there will only be nine out of the original 27 Ministers remaining from the 2008 Key Ministry. That is significant renewal – two thirds new by the end of the third term.

An interesting read at The Spin Off by Danyl Mclauchlan on John Key. I don’t agree with everything thing he says, bit it is one of the better pieces of analysis out there.

The Herald reports:

Four major real estate agencies have been ordered to pay close to $10 million combined for price fixing.

Barfoot & Thompson, Harcourts, LJ Hooker and Ray White appeared in the Auckland High Court this morning over their conduct in response to Trade Me’s change from a monthly subscription fee to a per-listing fee for properties advertised for sale on its website.

The Commerce Commission alleged that the agencies breached the Commerce Act by agreeing a planned industry response to the changed pricing model.

The commission said parties agreed that vendors would have to pay the listing fee to have their property advertised on Trade Me, and that the agencies would not commit to any preferential or discounted listing fees with Trade Me.

Justice Paul Heath today ordered Barfoot & Thompson to pay $2.575 million, Harcourts $2.575m, LJ Hooker $2.475m and Ray White $2.2m.

Bayleys was also subject to the agreement but that case was settled earlier this year after the firm agreed to pay a $2.2m penalty.

That’s a pretty large fine. Big enough for sure to discourage such behaviour in future.

Trump’s Cabinet is almost all done now. The appointments to date are:

1. President – Donald Trump
2. Vice-President – Mike Pence, Governor of Indiana
3. Secretary of State – Rex Tillerson, CEO of Exxon Mobil
4. Secretary of the Treasury – Steven Mnuchin, former investment banker
5. Secretary of Defense – James Mattis, retired four star general
6. Attorney General – Jeff Sessions, Senator from Alabama
7. Secretary of the Interior – Ryan Zinke, Representative from Montana
8. Secretary of Agriculture
9. Secretary of Commerce – Wilbur Ross, investor and billionaire
10. Secretary of Labor – Andrew Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurants (Carl’s Jr)
11. Secretary of Health and Human Services – Tom Price, physician, Rep for Georgia’s 6th, Chair of House Budget Committee
12. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development – Ben Carson, retired neurosurgeon
13. Secretary of Transportation – Elaine Chao, former Secretary of Labor
14. Secretary of Energy – Rick Perry, former Governor of Texas
15. Secretary of Education – Betsy Devos, chair of alliance for School Choice, philanthropist
16. Secretary of Veterans Affairs
17. Secretary of Homeland Security – John Kelly, retired four star general

And Cabinet level officials are:

• White House Chief of Staff – Reince Priebus, Chair of the RNC
• Ambassador to the UN – Nikki Haley, Governor of South Carolina
• Administrator of the EPA – Scott Pruitt, Attorney General of Oklahoma
• US Trade Representative –
• Director of Office of Management and Budget –
• Chairman of Council of Economic Advisers –
• Administrator of the Small Business Administration – Linda McMahon, former CEO of WWE
• National Security Adviser – Michael Flynn, retired three star general

It is usual to have one or two people from the other party in an administration. It will be interesting to see which Democrats, if any, accept an appointment to a Trump Cabinet.

Stuff reports:

Former Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae has been appointed the next High Commissioner to the UK.

Foreign Minister Murray McCully announced the appointment of the lieutenant on Friday. 

Mateparae will replace former cabinet minister Sir Lockwood Smith, who has been in the role since 2013.

McCully said the appointment “underlines” the significance of New Zealand’s relationship with the UK. 

The worst kept secret in Wellington.

It is a sort of role reversal. Sir Jerry goes from representing the Queen in NZ, to representing NZ to the Queen!

The Herald reports:

The Maori Party has opposed the latest legislation to overhaul Child Youth and Family as risking creating a “stolen generation” of Maori children.

Legislation that last night passed its first reading will clear the way for the second stage of major state care reforms that will replace CYF with a new Ministry for Vulnerable Children, Oranga Tamariki.

The law now prioritises placing a child with a member of their family or wider hapu. If that’s not possible, officials must try to place the child with someone of the same tribal, racial or cultural background.

The overhaul says that should happen where practicable and reasonable, but removes the priority and puts emphasis on placing the child in a safe, loving home.

There is empirical evidence the current law is not working. The reason is simple. If a child’s immediate family are so dysfunctional that the child needs to be removed from their care, well it is often the case that the wider extended family also has significant levels of dysfunction.

The current law forces CYF to effectively place within the extended family.

The proposed change does not remove the desire to have a child stay within the extended family. It just makes it a secondary consideration to the overall safety of the child.

Make no mistake the current law has failed miserably. We have the highest levels of child abuse in the world almost and without this change, there will be little improvement.

But look at the hysteria from some MPs:

Maori Party co-leader Marama Fox hit out at that change in her speech in Parliament, saying it undermined the Government’s claims of a “child-centred” approach.

With respect the proposed law change is to make the welfare of the child the first priority.

Green Party MP Marama Davidson labelled the legislation racist.

Wanting children in the safest possible home is racist.

Labour’s spokeswoman for children Jacinda Ardern said removing the priority to place children with whanau or wider hapu was a “massive step backwards”.

Again if the immediate family is dysfunctional the wider family is often dysfunctional also. If they are not dysfunctional then of course the child will go to them, but there have been numerous cases where the neglect has continued.

The current law says that staying within your family and hapu and even race is the most important thing above all others. This is a one size fits all approach. The proposed law says that having the child safe and loved for is the most important thing above all others. Often there will not be a conflict between the two, but sometimes there is, and when there is you should do what is best for the child.

The Herald reports:

Longstanding Labour MP Annette King will stand as a list-only candidate in 2017 – a step that opens up her Rongotai seat for Labour leader Andrew Little should he decide to stand there.

King told the Herald that after 24 years she had decided “with some sadness” not to stand in the electorate again in 2017.

Regardless of party politics, Annette has been a very effective and dedicated MP for the Rongotai electorate and will be missed as their local MP.

She hoped to be health minister in the next Labour government and would stand on the list, but it was possible she would leave if Labour was still in Opposition.

Little, a list MP, has lived in the Rongotai electorate for years and said he would consider standing in the seat.

“Up until now it was an attractive option as leader of the party to remain list because you get drawn all over the country. Being tied to an electorate, particularly if I’m campaigning to win it for the first time, creates an extra workload.

“But given I live in the electorate, I know many of the people, it is at least something I should give consideration to.”

I think the major consideration is that on some polls (such as last Roy Morgan) Labour was on the verge of getting no List MPs, which would mean Little would not get back to Parliament unless he wins an electorate seat.

So I think it is highly highly likely he will seek the Rongotai nomination.