Six years out of Parliament made new Whangarei-based NZ First list MP Pita Paraone feel like "a kid in a toy shop" when he stepped back into national politics.
Mr Paraone, who was a NZ First list MP from 2002 to 2008 when he lived at Pakuranga, Auckland, became an MP again after the September 20 general election, riding the wave of the party's success in increasing its share of the party vote.
He was No8 on the party's list with NZ First's 8.85 per cent of the party vote nationally - from 6.59 per cent in 2011 - seeing it bring 11 MPs into the house.
Nowhere was the party's support more evident than in the three Northland electorates - Northland, Whangarei and Te Tai Tokerau where it polled close to 15 per cent - and Mr Paraone was proud that the party's messages resounded with Northlanders. The campaign strategy of NZ First leader Winston Peters - a fellow Northlander - was to focus solely on the party vote.
Mr Paraone said he and the rest of the party had worked hard to lift the party vote, with Mr Peters visiting Northland twice during the campaign, including a whistle-stop tour that included Kaitaia, Kaikohe, Kerikeri, Kawakawa and Paihia the Thursday before the election.