The electoral axe has fallen over some of Labour’s most senior MPs, with the red tide of 2020 well and truly receding. 

Labour won 50.01 per cent from the previous election bringing with it 19 list MPs and winning 46 electoral seats during the red wave of 2020. 

But with the election results so far, Parliament and Labour are expected to lose 31 seats. 

Nanaia Mahuta 

Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta was the first on the chopping block, having lost the Hauraki-Waikato seat to the youngest MP in 170 years. 

Te Pāti Māori’s 21-year-old candidate Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke took out the electorate. 

Mahuta was first elected to the Tainui seat in 2002, entering Parliament at just 26 herself. The electorate was later renamed Hauraki-Waikato in 2008, and Mahuta has been the incumbent since. 

Nanaia Mahuta was first elected to the Tainui seat in 2002. Photo / Getty Images 

Prior to losing, she put extra pressure on voters by taking herself off the party list, meaning if they wanted her in Parliament, they had back her in the electorate. 

Mahuta held several high-profile portfolios throughout her political career, including becoming the first female Foreign Affairs Minister, Disarmament and Arms Control Minister and Māori Development Minister. 

She was also the first female MP in New Zealand to wear a moko kauae. 

Michael Wood 

Former Mt Roskill MP Michael Wood will also not be returning to Parliament after losing the electorate to National’s Carlos Cheung. 

Wood was plagued by scandal this year and later resigned as a Cabinet minister after it emerged he had more shareholding interests in areas that clashed with his portfolios. 

During his time in Parliament, Wood was the Minister of Immigration, Finance, Transport and Workplace Relations and Safety. He was also held the role as under-secretary for ethnic communities. 

Wood chaired the Finance and Expenditure committee and served as member of several other committees during his time in Parliament. 

Michael Wood. Photo / Dean Purcell 

Tāmati Coffey 

Tāmati Coffey is also waiving goodbye to Parliament. 

He was first elected in 2017 after winning the Waiariki for Labour. He lost the electorate in 2020 to Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi - the only Labour MP to list a seat in that election, but stayed on as a list MP. 

Coffey served on several select committees, including for Māori Affairs, Environment, Finance and Expenditure and Economic Development. 

He was outspoken on surrogacy issues and put forward a bill to streamline changes to New Zealand’s surrogacy laws. 

Coffey had announced he was leaving politics in March this year after the birth of his second child, however decided to stay after Allan announced she was stepping out of politics. 

Tāmati Coffey. Photo / Andrew Warner 

Coffey told the Herald in March he hadn’t contemplated retirement until the birth of Taitimu five weeks early on January 25, his second child by surrogacy to husband Tim Smith. 

At the time, as he approached the end of six weeks of “baby leave”, Coffey said the time away from the daily churn of politics had its impact. 

National’s Dana Kirkpatrick took out the East Coast electorate last night. 

Sarah Pallett 

Sarah Pallett, who came in as a first time MP after winning Ilam in 2020, lost the electorate last night to National MP Hamish Campbell. 

Pallett failed to retain the seat, which she she took in an upset win against National’s Gerry Brownlee who had held the seat for 24 years. 

The former midwife has been a member of the Labour Party since 2016 and previously said her priorities for the electorate were increasing the support and services available for mental health support. 

Pallett was a member of the Health and Petitions select committees, deputy chairing the latter and was a member of the Parliamentary Service Commission Artworks committee. 

Sarah Pallett. Photo / Geoff Sloan 

Anna Lorck 

After three years in parliament Anna Lorck’s days in Parliament are over. 

Lorck lost the Tukituki electorate to National Party newcomer Catherine Wedd. 

She served as a member of the Finance and expenditure committee as well as the Primary Production committee. 

She previously served eight years on the board of Hawke’s Bay Chamber of Commerce. 

During her time as MP the Labuor MP was accused of having a poor leadership culture by a former staffer. 

At the time she said she was “how I can work to be a better MP”. 

Anna Lorck. Photo / Mark Mitchell