Bunkle will not seek re-election

By VERNON SMALL, deputy political editor

Alliance list MP Phillida Bunkle is to quit Parliament, saying party politics "are not my bag".

Ms Bunkle announced her decision not to seek re-election yesterday, the day before Parliament was due to rise for the July 27 poll.

She had supported Deputy Prime Minister Jim Anderton as leader after the Alliance split, but decided not to run for either the Alliance or Mr Anderton's new party.

"The mandate I had was to support the policies I was elected on and to support the stability of the Government. So that's why I stayed where I was," she said.

"I feel I'm the only one of the 13 who came to Parliament in 1996 [with the Alliance] who is in exactly the same position they were elected in. Everybody's left me.

"It is some kind of record of parties departing," she said with a laugh.

Ms Bunkle said she wanted to move on to more productive work, but would not say where.

"I am looking at some leadership in gender issues overseas at the moment."

She said her politics were the same as when she came to Parliament - "red, green and brown".







Ms Bunkle was stood down as a minister in February last year after a scandal over her claims for an accommodation allowance, and was not reinstated.

Broadcasting Minister Marian Hobbs, who was stood down over a similar issue, was reinstated.

Ms Bunkle said she was not willing to "inflame the situation" or lay blame over the matter.

"I accepted that it was politics. I learned a lot."

Reviewing her achievements, she said she was almost solely responsible for getting the concept of sustainability included in the economic development bill, and for putting gambling on the political agenda.

"New Zealand would not be GE-free now if I hadn't been in Parliament."

Ms Bunkle, 57, came into Parliament as a Green MP but stayed with the Alliance after the Greens split away.

She said she did not regret that decision because the Greens had not accepted the need for a large state involvement in health and education, preferring a highly devolved model.

"The regret that I have, and that has played a role in my decision [to go], is that I haven't had any role in health policy for two years," said Ms Bunkle.

She is due to give her valedictory speech today.

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