Amalgamation vote takes back seat to rugby

Labour MP Stuart Nash ran last year's election campaign on a "No to amalgamation" ticket. Photo / Ben Fraser

Napier MP and prominent anti-amalgamation campaigner Stuart Nash will be overseas playing rugby during the final days of voting in September's amalgamation referendum.

When postal voting closes and the preliminary result of the region-wide poll is announced on September 15, Mr Nash will be in Europe with a group of other MPs taking part in the Parliamentary Rugby World Cup.

Mr Nash ran last year's election campaign on a "No to amalgamation" ticket and has again peppered the region with anti-amalgamation billboards over the past few weeks.

He said being out of Hawke's Bay in the final days of the voting period would not undermine the campaign and "we'll be going incredibly hard until then".

He would cast his own vote before jetting to Europe, "don't worry about that", he said.

The Parliamentary rugby tournament runs from September 10 to 23 - overlapping with the real Rugby World Cup - and Mr Nash said he believed the parliamentary team's itinerary included attending one RWC event: The opening game at London's Twickenham Stadium on September 18.

New Zealand MPs on the parliamentary tour are personally paying $2500 towards the cost of the trip, with other costs met by corporate sponsors, including Air New Zealand.

"This isn't a serious delegation to solve world peace - it's just a bunch of old guys trying to re-live past glories," 47-year-old Mr Nash said.

"It's not particularly pretty rugby but it's a lot of fun."

Other MPs on the parliamentary team are Labour's Kelvin Davis, Peeni Henare, and Damien O'Connor, and National's Paul Goldsmith, Mark Mitchell, Alfred Ngaro and Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga.

Seventy-year-old New Zealand First leader Winston Peters is part of the team in a non-playing "media manager" role while parliamentary staff and family members are also involved.

"There are a number of countries that are represented and it's a fantastic opportunity to meet parliamentarians from other countries over a beer after a rugby game," Mr Nash said.