'A lot to answer for': Chris Bishop slams vote-splitting campaigns as he farewells Parliament

Outgoing senior National MP Chris Bishop says the overhang campaign run by the Māori Party, billionaire Harry Mowbray and others was bad for democracy.Bishop lost his Hutt South seat by fewer than 900 votes, and National failed to win any list seats.Bishop told Morning Report there needs to be a reassessment of the electoral system in the wake of the overhang, which he described as "gaming the system."He says the campaign was confusing and became a distraction from the real issues."I think the Māori Party have got a lot to answer for with their campaign, and I think Harry and his crew have as well.""Most importantly, I think it was terribly confusing for voters," Bishop said.Meanwhile, Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer have criticised Labour for not endorsing their party's overhang strategy, saying if Chris Hipkins had been more supportive then he would already be Prime Minister.As it stands, Te Pāti Māori has an overhang of five seats, though incoming Te Tai Tokerau MP Aperahama Edwards will be waiting for the special votes to see if he has fully beaten the Green's Hūhana Lyndon.Edwards currently leads by 436 votes.Ngarewa-Packer said the party was confident."We've experienced this in the past, and we know how the specials go. And I think Tai Tokerau has made a really wise decision"Waititi added Edwards would need to lose "two to one" in the specials."So when you look at those numbers, it'll be quite difficult to pull that back. That's assuming he finds nothing, and I don't think that's the case."Waititi said Te Pāti Māori was "the only party" that was absolutely committed to making this a one-term government."If the other parties had come on with the strategy, I don't think we would be in this situation now where we we're having to wait for the 27th of November. In actual fact, even if the other two Māori seats, Te Tai Tonga and Ikaroa-Rāwhiti, had gone with the strategy, and if Chris Hipkins had focused on getting rid of these fellas and not on the Māori seats and us, he would have woken up on Sunday morning being the Prime Minister. And the numbers are telling you that."Labour's Willie Jackson says Te Pāti Māori "obviously" holds some responsibility for opening the overhang conversation, but there was some "principle" with regards to what they were talking about."The other side, in my view, is you got the big end of town trying to totally manipulate."Jackson said those engineering the overhang strategy on the right would have looked at Te Pāti Māori's strategy as giving them an excuse.He said the billionaires would have "looked at it that way I'm sure.""But you got to have a look at all the money that's been put in. And I think that we do have to have a look at MMP. I think the reality is obviously there's areas that have to be looked at. I mean, this overhang's a bit ridiculous."Jackson said there was a difference though in MPs espousing the strategy compared to outsiders doing so.He said Te Pāti Māori were considering Māori workers and women who have been attacked consistently over the last three years, "so they have been along with us at the coalface.""That's quite different from millionaires and billionaires who are who are looking to just maintain their interests and also looking to change our society as we know it. So I think there are big difference."Departing MPs a 'blow to caucus' - UpstonArriving at Parliament on Tuesday morning, senior National MP Louise Upston says losing her colleagues is "the nature of politics" but still a blow."It's not just a blow to caucus. They have made an extraordinary contribution."Upston said today was about welcoming the new MPs, as well as farewelling those who were leaving."In the weeks ahead, once we've got final results, we can focus on other things."Upston would not say who should take over the finance role from Nicola Willis, acknowledging that while there would be "interest and speculation" it was something for after the special votes had landed.Incoming Kāpiti MP Tim Costley said it would have been "amazing" to have colleagues like Chris Bishop return, saying they still had so much to offer."They have been fantastic. Clearly, they can hold their heads up high, but they'll be gutted."Costley, who looks to have retained the newly redrawn electorate, said he expected emotions at this morning's caucus meeting to be mixed."It's going to be pretty tough to say goodbye to some great friends, great MPs, great ministers, people that have served their community and the country really well," he said.Election night 'soul-destroying' - BishopIn a post on Facebook on Monday night, Bishop described Saturday night as "soul-destroying" and said that although there are still Special Votes to be counted, it's unlikely they will change the decision in Hutt South."I've rung Ginny Andersen to concede the election and congratulated her on winning Hutt South."After 12 years as a list and electorate MP in Hutt South, I'm out of Parliament. Feels surreal, but that's democracy and the voters are never wrong."I'm very proud of the local campaign we ran. National's party vote in Hutt South was less than 25 percent but on current numbers I'm less than 1000 behind - with a personal vote of 43 percent. We knocked on more doors than we've ever knocked on, delivered over 100,000 leaflets, held a dozen street corner meetings and community BBQs, and had over 300 signs up around the electorate, just to name a few things. A massive thank you to my amazing campaign team and all of the volunteers who turned up time after time to support me and support National."There are people who have helped me in now FIVE election campaigns who've been there right from the start. Thank you."I tried to run a positive and upbeat campaign. There's too much negativity out there, too much polarisation and there's too many great things happening in the Hutt. I think Lower Hutt is a better city than it was 12 years ago when I first became an MP and I hope people agree I've had a small role in making that happen."I've had many very nice messages from across the political spectrum since Saturday night - thank you to everyone who has rung, texted, called or emailed. It really means a lot. I won't pretend politics is easy - it isn't - so it's nice to hear that people appreciate your efforts."Both my two electorate offices in central Hutt and Wainuiomata will be closing in late/November and early December. Hutt South has been very well served by excellent constituency staff for me during the last twelve years and I feel for them - they're out of jobs too. A big shout-out in particular to Dawn McKinley who has worked in my Wainuiomata office for over ten years now. She's a legend.As to what's next for me, who knows. We have a mortgage like most people and bills to pay, so I'll be looking for job(s). I still think I've got something to offer in terms of public life but it's too early to say how or in what capacity. Right now my focus is on spending time with Jenna and our beautiful children. They have sacrificed the most, particularly in the last three years, and they deserve a better husband and Dad. I'm looking forward to a summer with them without a massive bag of paperwork sitting in the corner of the lounge."