‘I’ve got one year left in me’: Brooke van Velden says she will leave politics

Summarised by Centrist

Workplace Relations Minister and ACT deputy leader Brooke van Velden says she will retire from politics at the November election, saying she does not want to commit to another full term in Parliament. 

“I think I’ve got one year left in me,” she said.

Van Velden, 33, will remain a minister until the election. By the time she leaves, she says she will have spent nine years in Parliament, including three years working with David Seymour on the End of Life Choice bill and six years as ACT’s deputy leader. “That’s a long time. It’s a lot of your youth as well,” she said.

She said she first raised the possibility of leaving with Seymour and ACT’s general secretary before Christmas, then confirmed the decision earlier this year. Van Velden said the demands of political life made it difficult to build another path at the same time, saying: “You can’t have one foot in and one foot out.”

Van Velden said she expects to move into the private sector after the election, though she did not rule out returning to public service later. “I’ll definitely be exploring something in the private sector,” she said.

ACT is expected to confirm a new deputy leader at its general meeting in June. Seymour said the party would choose a replacement candidate for Tāmaki within the next month.

Read more over at RNZ

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