'Sexist d***head': Politicians roast Stuart Nash for maternity leave remarks

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says comments aspiring NZ First MP Stuart Nash made against his Napier electorate opponent, new mum Katie Nimon, are “sexist” and that he’s channelling “the manosphere” in the way he thinks.

On a podcast hosted by former Labour MP Phil Goff and former National MP Chris Finlayson called Cross Party Lines, Finlayson quoted a text message he claimed he had received from Nash.

Finlayson had been speaking positively about Nimon, the current MP for Napier, who took time off from Parliament to have her first child Lochie in 2025, on a previous episode of the podcast.

Finlayson said Nimon “had a very good future” and Nash, who is running against Nimon, responded: “Comments like yours motivate and drive me harder,” Finlayson read.

“Katie took nine months off on full pay, went back for a week, then took another month off.

“Laziest MP I have ever come across. Nice woman, but ill-suited to the rigours of being an electorate MP.”

Finlayson said he wasn’t sure what he had done to “warrant a text in the middle of the night”.

Nimon announced she’d gone on Parliamentary leave for pregnancy on May 19, 2025.

Her son Lochie was born on May 22 – that year’s Budget Day. She returned to Parliament on December 8.

Nimon said she had 10 weeks off in that time and as an MP, she was not eligible for maternity leave.

“I was kindly granted parliamentary leave, so I took six months away from being in Wellington, but I was away from work for about 10 weeks.”

Nimon said although she was away from Wellington during that time, she was working as a local MP in her electorate in various capacities, taking her baby “with me everywhere”.

When asked where Nash got the nine months from, she said she believed it came from “his own head”.

“That’s the way he rolls,” Nimon said.

“I think the public can make their own decisions on how he feels about women. He’s made his position really clear.

“I just think it’s classic Stuart, really.”

She said she wasn’t expecting an apology from Nash.

Prime Minister Chris Luxon today said Nash “channels the manosphere” and his comments had been “quite derogatory over a number of years”.

“I think those comments are sexist,” Luxon said.

“Katie Nimon’s an incredibly hard-working MP. She’s a real talent for this place, and most importantly she is someone who’s taken parental leave as you would reasonably expect, as I have encouraged her to do so.”

Luxon said Winston Peters should ask Nash if the comments were appropriate.

Chris Bishop said he’d visited Hawke’s Bay while Nimon was on leave for a sod turning at the Hawke’s Bay Expressway.

Nimon was there with her baby, he said.

“I think it’s disgusting and he should know better. Stuart Nash needs to get into the 21st century.”

Bishop later called Nash “a sexist d***head” in a post on his political Facebook page.

Nash’s former party leader Chris Hipkins also called the comments sexist and said Nash was a “walking liability for NZ First”.

“Members of Parliament can still have families, they can still have lives outside of Parliament, and actually we should encourage that.”

Nash has been approached for comment.

NZ First deputy leader Shane Jones, who is the highest-ranking party MP in the country at the moment with Winston Peters overseas, said he hadn’t seen the “full context of those remarks”.

Asked if having a fuller context would change things, Jones said he wanted “to understand in what context the remarks were made”.

“I don’t want to follow up until I’ve had a full briefing on how and what was said.“

He said he would “get good information first”.

NZ First minister Casey Costello said Nash’s comments were inappropriate.

“I haven’t seen the comments, but it’s not something I would ever say,” she told reporters.

Asked if he should apologise, Costello said she wasn’t the leader of her party.

“If I was working with him, I would ask him to reconsider how he says things.”

Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke’s Bay Today and has worked in radio and media in the UK, Germany, and New Zealand.