Napier MP Stuart Nash sits down with wife Sarah to reflect on the past two weeks, and his plans for the future. Photo / Warren Buckland
Stuart Nash walks into his Napier office, fresh from a massage, ready for his first at-length interview since he became embroiled in scandal. Hawke’s Bay Today editor Chris Hyde reports.
Politics, eh.
When Stuart Nash was pushing through gun reforms after the March 15 terror attacks, he got death threats.
When he was championing the need for widespread Covid vaccination, the feedback became so toxic he feared for the mental health of his staff.
But when it was revealed he’d breached the Cabinet manual three times, including updating donors with private details of a meeting, he got 450 emails.
Their tone was suddenly very different. Suddenly Nash had, in his own words, “fan mail”.
He and his wife Sarah have strolled around Napier and been out to dinner over the past week and have not had a single negative interaction.
Nash says the support, even in the face of a scandal that could well cause further headaches yet, is because it came after years of hard toil.
That, and the fact people in the provinces don’t buy into “gotcha politics”.
“This is my safe place,” he says of Napier.
“It’s out of the madness of the beltway which is Wellington, and back to reality.
“People are more real, they’re concerned about the issues that are important.
“I think the Napier electorate ... they’re not too concerned about ‘gotcha politics’.
“That tends to be a Wellington game. It’s unfortunate.”
GOING ‘BACK TO BASICS’ IN NAPIER
After Prime Minister Chris Hipkins sacked him, Nash has extra time to help the people and place he loves.
Six years of Cabinet responsibilities required regular 100-hour weeks. Now he’s got six months to give something similar as Napier MP.
After that he’ll retire.
“I had five really busy portfolios that took me around the country,” Nash says.
“I didn’t have enough time to spend in Hawke’s Bay.
“Now I’m going to be here Mondays and Fridays and the weekends.
“I’ll go back to basics, where I started, and that’s advocating really hard on the issues of people that live here.”
Of particular importance is cyclone recovery. Nash knows and has met many of the people who “lived in paradise before a wall of silt came through and destroyed their dream” on February 14.
He’s still a senior MP who can lend a hand on important decisions in that space, the most important of which at a Government level is managed retreat. And he’s determined to keep fronting up to public meetings.
“Our regional territorial authorities and central Government have to come up with a solution that will make Hawke’s Bay a better place,” Nash says.
“It’s difficult to have a vision for that, when people are still wondering ‘am I going to be allowed to go back home?’
“The Government’s working through this in a way which has integrity and transparency, but we know we’ve got to get it right.
“Because if we don’t get it right, then either you end up in court, or people are aggrieved.”
PROCESS V EXECUTION
Nash says he prided himself on reading everything that came onto his desk as a minister.
His work week started at 6am on Monday and often ended on Friday night. But on Sundays, his reading to prepare for the week started at 8am and finished at midnight.
“I tried to take Saturdays off. I tried to take Friday evenings off. It didn’t always work out that way,” Nash says.
“My view is when you’re in this position, it is a privilege and a pleasure and you’ve got to give it 100 per cent. And if you’re not prepared to give it 100 per cent then you shouldn’t be here.”
Nash won’t answer questions about the specifics of any of his scandals at the moment.
But he’s prepared to admit his approach to politics was shaped by crises - a pandemic, a terror attack, a volcanic eruption and a cyclone, and the constant lurch from one to the other.
“I wonder, looking back and reflecting on some of the things that have got me into trouble, they’ve been because I’m so execution focused - you want to get stuff done and you need to get it done now,” Nash says.
“And sometimes, I’ve worked incredibly hard and been a little frustrated by the process.
“The process is really important and if you circumvent that process, then you can end up in trouble.
“But it’s always been a really fine balancing in my whole political career of just getting stuff done but ensuring there is integrity of process.”
LIFE AFTER POLITICS
Nash, who first ran for Labour in Epsom in 2005, came into Parliament as a list MP in 2008, fresh from the business world, and he’s planning to go back there again.
He and wife Sarah had a long conversation four months ago about his future, well before the scandal broke.
“We do this every Christmas before an election,” he explains.
“I’m 55 now, 56 at the time of the election.
“If I had done another term, then I would have been 59. For guys like me and my profile, it’s very difficult to build a new career at that age. It tends to be more about governance roles.
“But the conversation we were having was that at 55, there was time to build a new career, new challenges, and I’m really, really looking forward to that.”
He’s coy on what sort of employment opportunities he’s been offered so far, but they’ve been “very interesting conversations”.
THE THINGS HE’S PROUD OF
There’s plenty that Nash will look back on fondly, but the first achievement that rolls off his tongue, interestingly, is his work to increase the number of police in Napier.
The help he was able to give Wairoa during the Provincial Growth Fund’s days fills him with pride too: “I think Wairoa got more money than any small provincial town anywhere in the country.”
Pulling off the aquatic centre at Mitre 10 Park in Hastings, reopening the now-cyclone-ravaged Napier-Wairoa line and upgrading school facilities also stand out locally.
And he has particular praise for his MP Support of eight years Cherry Taylor who’s helped him handle the queries and concerns of hundreds of people who have walked through his office doors on Tennyson St.
But he doesn’t expect, or want, to be remembered. Not for good deeds or mistakes.
“My philosophy around politics has always been that politicians are forgotten 10 minutes after they exit this stage and I expect no different.
“No one will know the name Stuart Nash in 12 months’ time.
“But the legacy that the Ardern government has put in place I think is a really powerful one and I’m really proud to have played a small part in it.”
HOW’S HE HOLDING UP?
It’s worth remembering that when Nash won the Napier seat in 2014, taking the place of National MP Chris Tremain, he had flipped what was a 9000-seat majority when he arrived on the scene in 2008.
To build trust, Nash showed everyone his quirky side - the “Stuart Nash” emblazoned fire truck that he drove to work was a prime example of his wife Sarah’s nous for good publicity.
But politics has changed a lot since then, he says. The rise of the “keyboard warrior” on social media and the rampant spread of misinformation during the height of Covid have been game-changers, he says.
“I’m reasonably resilient. My view is the vast majority of people who type this stuff are cowards. Very rarely will they approach you on the street.”
So how’s his resilience after two weeks of scandal?
“It’s been tough, but I always believe that out of adversity comes opportunity and I absolutely believe this now.
“I’m looking forward to the next phase of my life. I’ve had a fantastic life so far. It’s had its ups and downs and challenges. But goodness me, it’s been fantastic.”
He has a special word for Sarah, saying it would have been impossible to get through his political career without her.
Then, as he shares some final words, his voice catches. There are no tears from the man once referred to as the “Minister of Muscles”, but he does briefly have to compose himself.
“You will never get support from everyone no matter what you try to do.
“But if you know in your heart that you’re doing the right thing, that allows you the strength to keep going forward.
“To the people of Napier. Thank you very much for putting your faith in me.
“It really has been a pleasure. I just loved it.
“I really did. Every single day.”
“Police cannot rule out the possibility of further arrests and charges.”