Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Labour MP Tamati Coffey has announced he will retire from Parliament at the end of this term.
First elected in 2017, Mr Coffey first held the Waiariki electorate before losing it to Te Pāti Māori's Rawiri Waititi. He has serve as a list MP in the area since then.
In a statement this afternoon, Coffey said he would not be contesting the seat this year - wanting to focus all his energy on his two children.
"After the birth of our second child, I've reprioritised where I want to put my energy and that's into our two kids, Tūtānekai and Taitimu," he said.
Coffey will carry on as a Labour list MP until the election on 14 October.
He said he was proud of being part of the Labour-led government for the past six years, including reforms in surrogacy.
"I remain honoured to have worked with a wide variety of families with lived experience, and surrogacy experts to create modern laws for modern families that I hope will come to pass before the House rises," he said.
He also celebrated wins for his region, including seeing the Taupō town centre come to fruition this week, helping Eastern Bay through the Whakaari eruption, and launching free healthy lunches at Kaitao Intermediate School.
"Campaigning hard to help tackle our local housing crisis, we've since seen record investment in Māori and locally-led housing solutions, including papkāinga from Rotorua to the Western Bay.
"For Rotorua alone, there's also 260 more state houses, with 300 more on the way, half the amount of people in emergency housing than there was a year ago, and an active plan under way to exit emergency hotels."
