Incoming MPs Blair Cameron and Chris Flatt on why they entered politics
National's Blair Cameron, who defeated Labour's Rachel Boyack in Nelson, and Labour's Chris Flatt, who is entering Parliament as a list MP, have spoken about what led them into politics. The two appeared together on RNZ Morning Report's Political Panel, and RNZ also published an interview with them. A list MP enters Parliament from the list of candidates a party ranks in advance, rather than by winning an electorate seat.
Cameron grew up in Methven. He worked at Princeton University and at the International Monetary Fund, and returned to New Zealand in 2020 to settle in Nelson. He missed out on the seat at the last election by 26 votes.
Cameron said he got involved in politics because he was frustrated with some things going on in government. He said he wanted to be the best MP for Nelson. He also said that at a meeting he attended, none of the young people present said they wanted to stay in Nelson after finishing school.
Flatt was raised in Papatoetoe and now lives in Cambridge. His parents came to New Zealand in the 1960s. He lived in Finland while on exchange, and later worked in Australia in the union movement before returning to New Zealand.
Flatt was the National Secretary of the Dairy Workers Union. He said that changes to pay equity, and attacks on work rights by the coalition government, pushed him to enter politics directly.
