Green MP Eugenie Sage to retire at next election

Green MP Eugenie Sage. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

Green MP and former Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage will not be standing at next year’s election.

By then she will have served 12 years as a Green MP.

Colleague Jan Logie, who was also first elected in 2011, has already announced she won’t be seeking re-election next year.

Sage was Conservation Minister from 2017 – 2020 and Minister for Land Information. She is based in Christchurch.

Sage announced her decision tonight on Facebook but made her decision some time ago, well before the furore over the entrenchment clause in the Three Waters reform bill.

She sought to strengthen public ownership of water assets by requiring a 60 per cent vote for any change to that part of the Water Services Entities law, instead of a simple majority. The Labour Government reversed its support for Sage’s amendment and the Green voted against the bill altogether.

Announcing her decision, she said: “What continues to energise and inspire me is the vision for change and the commitment and determination of individuals and community organisations, iwi and hapū outside Parliament - whether it is their practical work trapping rats, stoats and possums and controlling weeds to help native plants and wildlife thrive; advocacy for zero waste, pushing for better care of our oceans or changing the way we farm to avoid water pollution. "

Part of being an MP was to take that vision and identify how best to reform the law and Government policies, programmes and spending to do better for people and the planet.