February 10, 2014 1:00pm by David Farrar

The race for Hunua heats up

Hunua is one of the safest seats for National in the country. Retiring MP Paul Hutchison got 66% of the vote in 2011 and the Labour candidate just 17%, giving a majority of 16,797.

With Hutch retiring, many good people are already seeking the nomination. An additional candidate has just announced they will join the race:

Auckland banker, Seby Reeves, has announced he will be putting his name forward to contest the selection of the Hunua candidate to represent the New Zealand National Party at the General Election later this year.

Mr Reeves is 33 and lives in Auckland with his wife Julie and young son.

Born in Wellington, Mr Reeves attended Scots College where he became Deputy Head Boy and Captain of the 1st XV. He has degrees in Law and Commerce from Victoria and Otago Universities.

Between 2006 and 2011, Mr Reeves and his wife lived in London where he was a senior lawyer for a large international law firm and HSBC’s investment banking division. Mr Reeves is currently a Manager in ANZ’s Commercial & Agri banking division.

Mr Reeves is the son of former National MP Graeme Reeves and has been active in the National Party for several years including being a member of the National Party’s Candidate College.

Mr Reeves says, “I am passionate about New Zealand and its politics and absolutely committed to representing the people of Hunua in the next National led government.

I believe I have the skills to be a strong MP and a firm advocate of Hunua issues.”

I don’t know Seby, but do know his father Graeme well. He was one of only two National MPs to hold the Miramar electorate. Labour has held it from 1946 to the current day (now Rongotai) except for Bill Young 1966 to 1981 and Graeme from 1990 to 1993.

I will always have a soft spot for Graeme as he did NZ politics a great public service. He was the MP that initiated the caucus petition to suspend Winston Peters from the National caucus in 1992.

It will be interesting to see who else stands for Hunua. I’m aware of two other declared candidates at this stage.