‘Good riddance’: what voters think of Jami-Lee Ross retiring from botany career

By Katie Doyle of RNZ

Jami-Lee Ross is pinning his hopes of returning to Parliament on the fate of Billy Te Kahika in the seat of Te Tai Tokerau.

The disgraced former National Party deputy announced this morning that he will not be standing in Botany, the seat he has held since 2011.

Ross’s Advance New Zealand Party has teamed up with Billy TK’s controversial New Zealand Public Party, and their electoral fortunes now depend on whether they get 5% of the vote or the seat from Far North Maori.

In the 2017 elections, as a National Party deputy, Ross won Botany’s seat with more than 60 percent of the vote.

But since then, he has had a spectacular fight with National, leaving the party but remaining in Parliament as an independent MP to represent his Auckland electorate.

He is also awaiting trial on voter fraud charges brought by the Serious Fraud Office.

He had been preparing to contest the seat again, against Christopher Luxon of National and Naisi Chen of Labor, but this morning he changed course and retired from the race.

Botany voters are not overly upset by the news.

“Fantastic and good for him … He’s disappointed us a lot over the years, so I think it’s time to go,” says one man, adding that Ross had no chance of winning.

Another voter said, “Him, I’m not very impressed with him, his morale and the things he’s done.”

Another said he didn’t think Botany’s people would be disappointed by Ross’s withdrawal.

Advance NZ’s association with the New Zealand Public Party is what, according to Ross, led him to drop out of a botany career.

Ross, who says he will now be second on Advance NZ’s list, wants to focus on the party’s national campaign so that Te Kahika, who will be number one on the list, can focus on winning Te Tai Tokerau.

“So we had to make a call, which one of us is the person who runs hard in an electorate seat, which one of us is the one that runs the campaign across the country and unites the team, so I’m effectively assuming that Billy is. energetic and works hard on [Te] Tai Tokerau, is a fighter who will take the fight to the Labor Party there, “says Ross.

Botany is a sure national seat: In 2017, National won 60 percent of the party’s votes.

Ross is convinced that he did not abandon Botany’s career because he did not like his chances of winning.

“This turned out to be a three-way race, Labor candidate Naisi Chen is strong and hard-working, the National Party obviously has support here too, but still, I have name recognition and a 10-year career record as a local MP. I couldn’t. put in the time to campaign effectively. I wanted to campaign nationwide with Advance New Zealand so I had to make a difficult call, I had to make that decision. “

Political commentator and former National Party staff member Ben Thomas disagrees, saying the botany is far from fringe – it’s royal blue.

Says Ross is saving face before a big loss.

“Jami-Lee Ross himself said that Botany was turning into a three-way race. That wouldn’t be the first fantastic claim he’s made in the last year and a half since he left the National Party.”

In a statement, National Party candidate Christopher Luxon, whose face is dotted on billboards across Botany, said he was focused on people in his constituency.

He wanted to remain a strong advocate for botany and the National Party, he said.

– RNZ