While she was unsuccessful in her Port Waikato electorate race, Costello was ranked highly on the party’s list at number three below leader Winston Peters and deputy leader Shane Jones.
Costello is now a Cabinet minister with ministerial responsibility for Customs and Seniors while holding several associate ministerial roles.
In June last year, Ikilei had a spat with Education Minister Erica Stanford over a reference to the Treaty of Waitangi relating to the duties of school boards.
The legislation downgraded the priority placed on school boards to give effect to the Treaty while establishing educational achievement as the highest priority.
However, Ikilei alleged Stanford was sneaking a “radical” Treaty of Waitangi clause into legislation, despite the clause previously existing in the legislation.
Stanford replied, criticising Hobson’s Pledge for whipping up “hatred”, “frothing at the mouth”, and “spouting complete and utter garbage, lies”.
Adam Pearse is the Deputy Political Editor and part of the NZ Herald’s Press Gallery team based at Parliament in Wellington. He has worked for NZME since 2018, reporting for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei and the Herald in Auckland.