KEY POINTS:
Ousted MP Judith Tizard says she needs time to think before deciding on her future away from Parliament.
Auckland Central MP since 1996, the Labour candidate lost the electorate race by more than 1000 votes to a newcomer, National's Nikki Kaye - and cited a changing demographic and shift to the right among the factors.
At 38 on Labour's list, she will not return to Parliament unless some of the party's senior list MPs quit.
Ms Tizard, also the MP for Panmure for six years from 1990, said she would not be rushed into new plans.
"As I have always said, good MPs have a hundred other things that they would be very happy doing," she told the Herald. "I will look at my options and take my time. I will spend time with my family."
Ms Tizard - whose parents Bob Tizard and Dame Cath Tizard are well known in political circles - said there was "bound to be" more of the family coming into power.
"We come from a family that take the view that if you don't try to make a difference, then we don't have the right to complain."
She held various portfolios as an MP including consumer affairs and was a junior minister in transport and the arts but received criticism for her now-defunct role as Minister for Auckland Issues.
Ms Tizard said yesterday she was proud that during her 12 years in the seat the Government had taken Auckland seriously, a shift she described as a "huge change".
She named the North Shore busway, Royal Commission of Inquiry on Auckland Governance and an ongoing programme of roading and public transport projects among major highlights: "We will see Auckland transformed and we will be a much more effective region."
Buying back pensioner housing sold by Auckland City Council was another achievement.
