default-output-block.skip-main
National | Labour Party

Mahuta and Davis move up in new Labour party list

Annette King has been named as Labour's deputy leader under Andrew Little.  Kelvin Davis has also come away as one of the hot favourites following the announcement of the party's new list.

There are pros and cons.

The pro is that both Nanaia Mahuta and Kelvin Davis are on the Labour Party front bench.

However, the downside is there is just the two of them in Labour's list of 17 MPs.

No doubt many people will also be upset to see Louisa Wall has been demoted from her spot at No.12.

As for the Māori MPs who won Labour its Māori seats, they are still new and although they've won the mandate of their electorates, they still have work to do to win over their parliamentary colleagues.

The announcement of Labour's new list was hijacked by the fire alarm.

The new leader claims that's because the list is hot and Nanaia Mahuta would certainly agree having moved up to No.4, while Kelvin Davis has taken a major leap to the front bench at No.8, up from No.18.

“This is a great honour for me.  I was just happy being back within the Labour Party and this is the cream on the cake,” says Kelvin Davis.

Carmel Sepuloni is leading the way for the Pacific Island vote coming up from the backbench to No.7.

Su'a William Sio has also jumped three spots and is now at No.11.

However, despite those high rankings, it ends there.

So two Māori and two Pacific MPs have made the party's list of 17.

Louisa Wall meanwhile has been demoted from No.12 to now being unranked.

So, Labour's Māori MPs returned six of the Māori seats to the party.  That was rewarded with two of the 17 seats on the list.

“This is a good result.  We are one party and as our leader said, some go up and others go down, some will be happy, others not so much,” Kelvin Davis explains.

Flavour of the month Kelvin Davis certainly isn't about to rock the boat, but alarm bells may yet be raised by Labour's Māori supporters.