Politics
Q and A

New MP intake heavy on farmers, light on unionists

October 29, 2023

With special votes still to be declared after the election, a few seats are still up in the air.

The new parliamentary intake of MPs is heavy on farmers and professionals, but light on unionists and manual workers.

With special votes still to be declared, a few seats are still up in the air.

But National's improved performance has led to an increase in representation for constituents the party has typically reflected.

Political scientist Bryce Edwards has researched the backgrounds of MPs, to analyse what that says about our political leadership.

He told Q+A's Whena Owen the 2023 intake is very diverse relative to decades past.

"It's browner, it's more female, it's younger, it's less straight, so it's more broadly reflecting the demographics of New Zealand," said Edwards. "But of course it's also more business, it's more professional, it's more managerial, if you like.

"So you didn't see many teachers, nurses, manual workers, like you did in the 20th century."

In the last parliamentary term, ACT MP Mark Cameron described himself as the only working farmer in Parliament.

But this time around, he'll be joined by party colleague and former Federated Farmers president Andrew Hoggard, as part of a wider group of seven farmers becoming new MPs.

Many of those are from National, and Edwards said this reflects an effort by National to reconnect with a traditional base.

"National had become disconnected from its base, it wasn't bringing into politics its traditional constituency. So National over the last three years has really done an amazing job to re-orientate itself, to rebuild."

On the current numbers, 18 out of 121 parliamentarians will have some kind of farming or agricultural background.

Local government is also proving to be a fertile training ground for aspiring MPs, with seven of the new intake having local government roles in their background.

"Increasingly we're seeing a lot more councillors, or party activists essentially, going into local government first as a stepping stone, as a way of learning politics, and then going into parliamentary politics," said Edwards.

"It does feel like we're having a big qualitative shift towards more careerists in politics."

There is also strong representation of scientists in the new intake, with seven new MPs having a scientific background.

A handful of lawyers have also been elected, but not as many as in the 2020 intake, which was dominated by new Labour MPs.

"Labour like the other parties have really professionalised in the past three or four decades. So this is a problem when you have a party that traditionally wants to represent their constituency of ordinary, working class, lower socio-economic people," said Edwards.

"But they're bringing in people from law backgrounds – the last Labour caucus had 14 lawyers."

There are a few surprises and unique personal backgrounds among the new intake.

National's Ōtaki MP Tim Costley starred in a viral video as an air force pilot, and also had a stint working for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

Labour's Reuben Davidson had a long stint producing beloved children's TV show What Now.

And the Green Party's Steve Abel is a veteran conservationist who has protested from the tops of trees threatened with the chainsaw.

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