New Zealand First’s cadre of rehomed politicians shared a similar message at the party’s annual conference: we didn’t change, our former parties did.
Former ministers have joined the New Zealand First tent as the party looks to tally a historic result at the 2026 election, including former Labour cabinet minister Stuart Nash and National Party minister Alfred Ngaro.
With so many veteran candidates, NZ First will have to choose which former politicians will enjoy a new seat in Parliament and which current MPs may have to give theirs up. These decisions are predicated on the party’s electoral success, but if polling data and the mood in the room are any indication, they will have to be considered ahead of November 7.
For many in the room, NZ First is a second home – one woman said the event feels like a family reunion. Some are lifelong supporters, veterans of the party’s 33 years, and at this year’s annual conference they were joined by others who recently jumped ship.
Candidates and representatives attribute the party’s recent success to the failures of other parties. They say woke ideologies and globalism have encroached on the traditional values of the large parties, and their voters are turning to New Zealand First for some common sense.
It’s not limited to voters; NZ First’s embrace of the slew of former politicians from both sides of the aisle who have been attracted back to politics by the reinvigorated party. The issue of balancing the arriviste veterans with current ministers responsible for the party’s recent allure will bring its own stresses.
Labour MP Stuart Nash has been confirmed as a candidate. Former Labour minister Rino Tirikatene is a recent new member, although he was not at the event. It was the first event attended by Dover Samuels, another former Labour minister, as a delegate.
NZ First has pulled from the blue pool, as well; former National MPs Michael Laws and Alfred Ngaro have joined as candidates, followed by Harete Hipango-Brownlie.
Hipango-Brownlie’s time in Parliament coincided with that of Ngaro and Nash. “None of us imagined that one day we’d be riding under the same banner,” she said.
“I’m proud to ride with Winston Peters,” she said. “It’s our first rodeo and it’s only just beginning.” She says her pivot to the party was not a result of a change in her values, but a shift in where those values belong.
Hipango-Brownlie remembered seeing Peters walk amongst the Parliament encampment, which was a lightbulb moment for her. “Perhaps the parties we once rode with drifted away from the values that first inspired us to join them,” she said.
Ngaro gave the room some reassurance: “You’re not just a small party, you’re a big party”. He said the room’s headcount matched the turnout of the last event he attended in this venue: a National Party meeting.
Ngaro recognised the feeling in the room as one of excitement. He compared it to a National Party fundraiser he attended as “just some guy down the street”, in which he used his chance to bless the food to tell then-Prime Minister John Key and MPs their policies were “uninspiring” and didn’t resonate with the average Kiwi.
Ngaro said bigger parties had lost their way and connection with everyday people, which was what brought him to NZ First. Like Hipango-Brownlie, he said his pivot wasn’t waka-jumping, it was “following the values that are true to who we are as Kiwis”.
Nash said these values, which he described as “the old Labour Party values” are what he hopes to bring to Parliament. “Like other former ministers – as mentioned, my mate Dover Samuels, the Honourable Shane Jones – we didn’t leave Labour; Labour left us,” – a refrain he repeated a handful of times.
NZ First’s list setting process will be challenging. At its best showing, in 1996, NZ First won 17 seats. Even if it hits that level again in November it might struggle to welcome all these new members into Parliament without cycling out a handful of current MPs.
Peters says he avoids getting involved in the list formation. “If I was to show preference like that, it means that their list system doesn’t work. It means that people aren’t treated fairly.”
