A ministerial advisor has been selected as National’s candidate for Kaipara ki Mahurangi, filling the safe blue seat left open after incumbent Chris Penk quit politics amid a failed party leadership challenge. <\/p>\n
Jessica Rowe, a former journalist and foreign policy officer who currently advises Social Development Minister Louise Upston, has been confirmed as the party’s candidate.<\/p>\n
The electorate opened up last month when Christopher Luxon survived a confidence vote in his leadership<\/a>, stripped Penk of all his portfolios and revealed the MP had launched the challenge. Penk announced hours later that he would not seek re-election.<\/p>\n Rowe was raised on her family’s farm in Riverhead and attended Coatesville Primary School, with lifelong ties to the electorate, according to a party-supplied biography.<\/p>\n “Jessica’s family run a century-old haberdashery business based in Auckland. Jessica also has business interests in New Zealand wool and property. This has given her a strong appreciation of the challenges that small businesses in New Zealand face.”<\/p>\n The Opposition claimed Chris Penk was hung out to dry by the real instigators within National. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n She began her career in journalism before completing a Master’s in Global Diplomacy and worked at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, where she focussed on Asia and the Pacific.<\/p>\n Rowe said she was honoured to represent the party in her home community.<\/p>\n “I am excited to get to work, meeting locals across the electorate to re-elect a National Government and to be Kaipara ki Mahurangi\u2019s next National MP,” she said.<\/p>\n “It is an honour to represent National in my community \u2026 with the economic recovery underway, now is not the time to place more costs on Aucklanders.”<\/p>\n Kaipara ki Mahurangi is a suburban and rural seat stretching across the northern reaches of the Auckland region, from the Northland border down to northwestern satellite towns.<\/p>\n The candidate was also previously a private secretary to the foreign, climate change and energy ministers. She has also been a board director of the Student Volunteer Army.<\/p>\n Christopher Luxon says dissident minister Chris Penk had to go but refuses to give caucus vote count. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n Rowe said in an online profile she worked as a television journalist and producer for more than a decade before moving into foreign affairs, in outlets across New Zealand, Australia and the US. She has previously worked on TV3 programmes locally.<\/p>\n Rowe was also engaged to Ben King, the chief executive of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.<\/p>\n How the safe seat came open<\/p>\n Penk, who held Kaipara ki Mahurangi for nine years, was sacked as a Cabinet minister last month after Luxon confirmed the MP had triggered that morning’s confidence vote by launching a leadership challenge. It was the second such vote in four months.<\/p>\n The MP then announced his exit from politics that evening. <\/p>\n “I have reflected on my political future with my family tonight, and have decided I will not seek re-election,\u201d he said in August.<\/p>\n “It has been a privilege to serve my community of Kaipara ki Mahurangi for the last nine years, and I am proud of the progress I have contributed to as a minister this term.<\/p>\n The National MP denied making calls on behalf of Erica Stanford. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n “However, I have decided it is time for me to seek other opportunities to serve New Zealand.”<\/p>\n Penk said he continued to back Luxon and the party. <\/p>\n It was widely speculated at the time that Penk \u2014 a Cabinet newcomer \u2014 was agitating on the issue of party leadership on behalf of other senior colleagues.<\/p>\n Rowe’s selection follows weeks of speculation over the seat, which has widely been considered a safe National Party electorate. <\/p>\n