Maggie Barry eyes North Shore seat

Maggie Barry. Photo / Supplied

Having missed out on the National Party's nomination to contest the Botany byelection, Maggie Barry is eyeing retiring Defence Minister Wayne Mapp's safe North Shore seat.

Beaten by Auckland councillor Jami-Lee Ross for the Botany candidacy, the broadcaster yesterday said she remained committed to National and was "pursuing options".

She had yet to decide whether she would prefer to stand on the party list or in an electorate at the November 26 general election.

"There are some lovely seats that are coming up so it's really a matter of seeing whether the people on the ground like me and I feel I have something to offer them," she said.

However, she confirmed she was doing "due diligence" on a couple of electorate seats and would make a decision within a month.

Ms Barry, who lives in the Mt Albert electorate, has links to Coromandel and Northland, where the pending retirement of Sandra Goudie and John Carter leave those National-held seats available to new candidates.

However, given that Auckland was now her home, "that's the obvious place to start and the North Shore's not that far away and is a very attractive prospect".

Dr Mapp, an MP for 14 years, held the North Shore seat in 2008 with a 14,574 vote majority but has said he will stand down at the next election citing family reasons and the desire to properly pursue a different career.

"The fact that it's come up, and the timing, is fortuitous," said Ms Barry.

Labour has already selected North Shore resident and IT professional Ben Clark as its candidate.