Finance Minister Nicola Willis Not Standing For Electorate Seat At Election

Monday, 22 December 2025, 5:28 pm
Article: RNZ

Russell Palmer, Political Reporter

Finance Minister Nicola Willis will not be standing for an electorate seat at the next election.

At the last election, Willis campaigned for the Wellington electorate of Ōhāriu, which was narrowly won by Labour's Greg O'Connor with 17,565 votes to Willis' 16,305.

The electorate will next year be split into the new seats of Kenepuru and Kāpiti, which replace Mana and Ōtaki.

In a statement, Willis - who is also National's deputy leader - told RNZ it had nothing to do with a potential step away from politics.

"Absolutely not. I intend to be a Minister of Finance in a National-led government that delivers significant change for the better.

"It's my view that I'm no different from Grant Robertson, Bill English or Michael Cullen who all came to the same judgement.

"Campaigning on the list won't mean that I'm campaigning any less. I'll be campaigning very, very hard because I believe that the future of New Zealand would be put at risk by the election of a Labour led government."

She said she would campaign across New Zealand to re-elect a National government.

"I am honoured to have the support of the National Party Board to campaign across New Zealand to help re-elect a National Government focused on fixing the basics and building the future," she said.

Willis said the economy was growing again and inflation had come down as a result of the government's plan.

"We cannot take our recovery for granted. Labour have been clear - their plan is to tax more, borrow more, and spend more, leaving us worse off and jeopardising what all Kiwis have worked so hard for.

"With the economy recovering, exports at a record high and a new planning system on the way New Zealand is in safe hands under a National Government.

"I'm looking forward to supporting Christopher Luxon and National MPs and candidates around NZ to campaign for and win the Party Vote at next year's General Election."

Labour's Ayesha Verrall - who will be campaigning for Wellington North - said she was not surprised by the move.

"Nicola Willis has made deep cuts to public services and infrastructure projects that have really hurt the Wellington economy. I'm not surprised she's unwilling to put herself forward in front of local voters.

"A lot of people are hurting in Wellington as a result of her government's bad decisions to cut public sector workers, and that's had flow-on impacts throughout the local economy.

"The economic recession has hit our hospitality and retail sectors hard as well, and Nicola Willis promised commandments to get public sector workers to work in the office would fix those problems, but they've had absolutely no impact whatsoever."

Willis said that was "ridiculous, and actually quite mean-spirited commentary".

"They know that I am very committed to a growing Wellington, with our government having supported the city's film industry expanding, Wellington Hospital, committed to a new Mt Vic tunnel, significant roading development in Melling.

"We are a party that wants to see Wellington thrive, and we're also realistic about the fact that to hire the nurses, doctors, teachers and frontline service people that we need, we can't always be expanding the back office.

"That is a message actually in my experience the Wellington public service understand: they want to do their jobs as efficiently for the taxpayer as possible."

She said the changes to working-from-home rules had made the policies clearer, and had a positive effect for young people and those new to workplaces so they could get "face time" with colleagues and bosses.

O'Connor has said he intends to continue his political career, but will not challenge Labour colleague Barbara Edmonds.

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