Embattled National MP Barbara Kuriger facing challenge in safe blue seat

Embattled MP Barbara Kuriger is facing a challenge in becoming the National Party candidate for the Taranaki-King Country electorate at this year’s election.

It has been confirmed to the Herald that Kuriger’s bid to contest the electorate she has held since 2014 will be challenged by secondary school teacher Brian Winter, who is also seeking the candidacy - set to be decided on April 20.

According to his LinkedIn page, Winter was the policy chair of the party’s youth wing between 2017 and 2021.

In October, Kuriger resigned from her Agriculture, Biosecurity and Food Safety portfolios due to a “personal dispute” her family was in with the Ministry for Primary Industries.

Kuriger had accepted the conflict of interest, National leader Christopher Luxon said in a statement on October 14.

“I discussed this with Ms Kuriger and she accepts that this is a significant conflict of interest and the failure to recognise it and to take steps to manage this conflict has been a serious lapse of judgment,” Luxon said.

“On this basis, Ms Kuriger felt it appropriate to resign from her portfolios.”

National MP Barbara Kuriger and National leader Christopher Luxon. Photos / Mark Mitchell

Kuriger’s son Tony was in 2020 convicted of animal cruelty offences, relating to charges from 2016 and 2017 when he was a sharemilker on a farm in Hukanui, north of Eketahuna.

Kuriger said in a statement in October that her family had been in a dispute with the Ministry for Primary Industries “over events that occurred in 2017″.

“This has created a blurred line with my portfolio responsibilities and in order to continue to support my family, I am stepping aside,” she said.

“Although the dispute is, for me, a personal matter which I have endeavoured at all times to keep separate from my professional role, I accept there has been a conflict of interest which I should have recognised sooner, and managed.”

As a result of an investigation involving the Ministry for Primary Industries into Kuriger’s son, more than 20 cows were euthanised while others had amputations as a result of lameness.

The Taranaki-King Country electorate has been won by National since its inception in 1996.

Kuriger first won the seat in 2014 and held it for the two following elections, most recently beating Labour’s Angela Roberts by more than 3000 votes.