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National Party deputy leader and campaign chairman Gerry Brownlee says the party had an “absolutely shocking year” before Labor’s biggest victory in 50 years.
Talking to TVNZ Questions and Answers On Sunday morning, fresh after also losing the Ilam electorate he had held since 1996, Brownlee refused to compromise in one way or another regarding his political future.
He said it had been a bad year for National with scandals involving several MPs, including Andrew Falloon and Michelle Boag.
“We’ve had a shocking year, absolutely shocking, from the beginning, and you can go back even further with the fallout from Jami-Lee Ross.
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“You can’t have that kind of thing happening all the time and then continue to happen during a campaign and hope you get an amazing result. I think Judith was put in a terrible position, she took it on and she has done a great job. “
He also said that his own comments questioning the government’s handling of information about the coronavirus was “a big mistake on my part.”
“It wasn’t really intentional, it was being a bit frivolous and it was presented in a way that was quite understandable and shouldn’t have happened.”
He said the party had a “very good campaign” on the ground, despite many distractions.
Steven Walton / Stuff
According to the first results, the national deputy director and current deputy of Ilam, Gerry Brownlee, is in trouble.
“It cannot be understated how much a herding instinct was adopted behind the whole Covid-19 thing, and I mean this without wanting to take anything away from the success of our opponents.”
As for his own future, Brownlee did not compromise.
“That’s for you to think about in the next few days.
“We are obviously going to take a look in the coming days on how we will restructure to be an effective opposition.
There would also be an internal discussion about what went wrong, he said.
“If there is any particular guilt in my way, then I have to use that.”
Speaking at his party’s election night event in Christchurch, Brownlee said the results were “certainly very sobering” but showed that no one was entitled to a seat.
“I had other responsibilities and that took me away a lot. Look, I’m not going to make a big deal since … the voters make the decisions, ”he said.
JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON / Stuff
Sarah Pallett of Labor receives a phone call from Gerry Brownlee granting Ilam.
He felt that national leader Judith Collins campaigned “extremely well”, and the campaign of party candidates across the country was “as good as he has ever seen.”
“It has been difficult to raise some of the issues that we think voters should consider for what they want in the next three years,” he said.
“It is what it is. It’s one of those things, it happens in politics.”
He does not think he will take the Ilam electorate for granted, and will not comment on whether he will still go to Parliament, on the list.
“I have lived in [Ilam] my whole life so that’s not going to change and it’s a huge part of Christchurch.
“Let’s see what the final party vote looks like tonight and what the mix of MPs entering is.”
Brownlee is best known in Christchurch for his time as the minister of earthquake recovery, and his legacy, both positive and negative, comes down to the city’s residential red light district and the rebuilding of the city center.
He once referred to former Christchurch mayor Sir Bob Parker as a “clown” for comments about possible rate increases and accused critics of the reconstruction of “whining and complaining.” His public tolerance for dissenting opinions was never high.
