National caucus elects Shane Reti as their deputy leader, Judith Collins remains leader

Shane Reti has been elected National Deputy Leader.

In a statement, Judith Collins also confirmed that she too was re-elected as leader and the couple were elected unopposed.

They were selected by caucus after a meeting of almost two hours.

The portfolio allocations are still being worked out, but they will most likely be announced tomorrow afternoon. In the re-shuffle, Collins said people will be “quite surprised.”

In a media showdown this afternoon, Collins said he has been interviewing all the MPs, asking where they see themselves within the party.

She asked everyone to talk to her about professional development as well.

She said that she and Reti are friends and work “very well together.”

“The best way forward is to focus on what we have to do,” he said.

Collins said that at some point, “Dr. Shane would make an excellent leader of the National Party.”

He said the two biggest issues right now are related to Covid-19 and the economy.

Reti said he was “very proud” to have the support of Collins and the caucus to get the job done.

He said the caucus sees him as a safe pair of hands. He compared himself to Bill English as deputy director: the “engine room” behind the leader.

He said some MPs approached him a few weeks ago to say that he should raise his hand for the deputy leadership.

On diversity, he said he ranks on paper on his merits but is proud to be Maori.

He said the composure National has in defeat is the composure it will need for National to win in 2020.

Reti said he decided to run for deputy leadership two weeks ago. About Collins, he said: “She is the leader of my dreams.”

In an earlier statement, Collins said she was “delighted” with Reti’s appointment.

“He is a smart, hard-working MP with all the necessary skills to be an effective leader. His detailed examination and prosecution of the government’s handling of Covid-19 helped improve the response of New Zealanders.”

He added: “It is an enormous privilege to be reconfirmed as the leader of the National Party,” Collins said.

“I am looking forward to leading a strong, united and focused Opposition that will benefit all New Zealanders.”

The National Party Caucus also voted for two Whips, with Matt Doocey selected as Senior Whip and Maureen Pugh selected as Junior Whip.

“National MPs are excited about the upcoming term of office,” Collins said.

“We owe it to the people of New Zealand to provide a strong and effective Opposition as we navigate the tough health and economic issues that lie ahead, and this is exactly what National will do.”

Gerry Brownlee announced last week that he would not seek re-election as deputy leader.

Speaking to the media before the caucus meeting, Collins would not say who his deputy would be.

“I think the caucus is very happy with what I have been doing, but also the party needs stability and must move forward.”

According to the party constitution, the caucus votes on the leadership after each election.

Who is Shane Reti?

Reti, or Dr. Shane, as Collins called him during the campaign, shares something rather bleak in common with Brownlee: They both lost generally safe national seats in these elections.

On election night, it appeared that Reti had just entered Whangarei, with preliminary results showing a margin of 164 votes.

But after the stages were counted, Reti had lost by 431, the closest margin in this election, to Emily Henderson of Labor.

This is a far cry from the margin of 13,169 that he won when he first entered Parliament in 2014.

Brownlee lost the Ilam seat he had held since the seat was created in 1996.

Reti, 57, had more or less kept his head down between then and earlier this year and didn’t have much of a national profile until Covid-19 hit the shores of New Zealand.

Even then, he took a backseat to then-National health spokesperson Michael Woodhouse before being promoted on Collins first re-shuffle.

After that, he was one of National’s main players.

He went from No. 31 on Simon Bridges’s list to No. 17 under the leadership of Todd Muller, shortly after being raised to No. 13 in another Muller shakeup, before being catapulted to No. 5 under Collins.

Reti used his medical expertise to criticize the government for its performance on Covid-19 and to challenge Health Minister Chris Hipkins for the decisions he made.

His approach in the House was more clinical than political.

Speaking to the Herald a few months ago, he said his role was the two C’s: “Criticize and collaborate.”

Having studied at Auckland Medical School, Reti practiced medicine in Whangarei for 16 years and served three terms on the Northland District Board of Health.

He then worked in the United States for seven years, became a Harkness Fellow at Harvard Medical School, and worked at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, a Harvard teaching hospital.

In his inaugural address, he said he was born in a state palace, the eldest of five siblings in a working-class Maori family whose father had dropped out of school at 14 and his mother at 15.

He described an important event from his childhood that he said had shaped his attitude to life, including an example of institutional racism.

“In my student years, I usually studied during the day and at night cleaning commercials with Dad, vacuuming floors, cleaning toilets and dusting blinds,” he said.

“One year I asked the administrator if I could sit not five subjects but six subjects, like all my friends. I remember the answer: ‘No, Shane. You are a Maori boy. You will do five.’

He said his internal response was a call to arms: “Good. I’ll show you.”

His external response was to win the English award that year.

“No, not six subjects for me. They still allowed me to sit only five. But many years later, when I was promoted to assistant professor at Harvard, I think I made my point,” he told deputies at the time.

“I won, but many Maori did not. Maori educational aspirations should never be limited by the preconceptions of others.”