Editorial: National Party finally has a candidate to contest Napier seat

Andrew Austin, Editor of Hawke's Bay Today.

Finally the National Party has a candidate to contest the Napier seat in the upcoming elections.

The question is whether they have left their nominee, David Elliott of Havelock North, with not enough time to fight Labour's Stuart Nash, who has served the electorate well this last term.

Mr Elliott, who beat Napier businesswoman Deborah Burnside for the nomination at the weekend, is an unknown quantity in political circles and was recently beaten by Hastings mayor Lawrence Yule for the National Party nomination for Tukituki.

It certainly was an interesting decision for Mr Elliott to try his luck in Napier, where at this stage he is up against Mr Nash and young Green Party candidate Damon Rusden.

Apparently Mr Elliott was reluctant to put his hat in the ring for Napier after losing to Mr Yule because he did not want to be rejected again.

Word is that National Party President Peter Goodfellow encouraged him to compete, so don't be surprised if Mr Elliott also features fairly high on National's list for the elections. That means that even if Mr Nash beats him, he could still find himself in Parliament.

From what I have heard, Mr Elliott is quite strong on policy and will be keen to stick to the issues. You can read some of his views in a story in today's paper.

Whether or not he is robust enough to handle the hurly burly of politics, especially against a streetwise opponent like Mr Nash, will soon become clear.

He will also have to fight the perception that he is an outsider being parachuted into the electorate. You can expect Mr Nash, who is Napier through and through, to hammer Mr Elliott about that.

It is time for David Elliott to show what he has to offer the people of Napier.