Three selections

Audrey Young writes:

Labour has selected lawyer and board member Arena Williams as its candidate for Manurewa, a seat currently held by Louisa Wall.

Wall announced on Friday she would be withdrawing from the contested selection to seek a place on Labour’s list only after a negotiation with party president Claire Szabo.

No surprise as Williams is backed by Robertson. Williams (and her partner) are both former student union presidents.

Labour has also selected Barbara Edmonds to stand in Mana, a seat currently held by Labour’s Kris Faafoi who is going on the list only.

Edmonds is a specialist tax lawyer, and mother of eight. She has worked in the public and private sector in insurance and tax law and was seconded from Inland Revenue to work for ministers of revenue including Judith Collins.

Collins tweeted her congratulations to Edmonds on her selection. Edmonds is currently an adviser in Stuart Nash’s office.

Being a parent to eight kids and a specialist tax lawyer is impressive.

National selected sheep and beef farmer Mike Butterick as its Wairarapa candidate.

The seat is currently by Alistair Scott who is standing down at the September 19 election.

Butterick is the meat and wool chair of Wairarapa Federated Farmers and is part of the Wairarapa Primary Skills Leaders group.

If Butterick wins he’ll be the first sheep and beef farmer for a while. Scott and Creech had vineyards while Hayes and Beyer didn’t have agricultural backgrounds.