Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Why would New Zealand First make Stuart Nash resign?

Author: Heather du Plessis-Allan,
Publish Date: Thu, 23 Jul 2026, 7:13pm

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Former Labour minister Stuart Nash. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Right, is it just me, or is there anyone else out there who thinks it's mighty rich of New Zealand First to force Stuart Nash to resign, given the candidates and MPs they have defended for some of the most outrageous things they have said?

Is it not rich that Shane Jones was on the radio saying, "Mm, yeah, sensible for Stuart Nash to have resigned," when he is the guy who referred to the Prime Minister needing to get out the kneepads for Narendra Modi when he visited, and he is the guy who used the phrase "butter chicken tsunami"?

Now, I was aware of what was happening about 7pm on Wednesday. What was going on was basically that New Zealand First told Stuart Nash that he needed to quit or be fired. He tried to fight his corner but he was unable to do so and he was basically told that was the end of it.

I have to be honest, I was really surprised by this. If this were any other party, it'd be fine, but it's New Zealand First.

It feels off-brand for New Zealand First. This is a party that's made a virtue of resisting the wokesters and resisting the mainstream media. And then, the minute the wokesters and the mainstream media get upset at Stuart Nash, New Zealand First doesn't even hold its line for 12 hours. It just folds immediately.

I mean, that has got to shake the confidence of voters who are attracted to New Zealand First because they think the party is going to provide some sort of bulwark against the creep of political correctness and so-called wokeness. Apparently not. They will fold within 12 hours.

Now, I can only guess at why New Zealand First has folded on Nash and not on Jones. I'm guessing it's because there are more women voters in New Zealand than there are Indian voters. I'm guessing it's because Winston Peters prides himself personally on chivalry towards women and this would actually personally offend him.

I'm guessing it's because Nash was already on his last chance after the "What is a woman?" thing and the aggro texts to Todd McClay. I'm guessing it's because Nash was not going to win the seat of Napier anyway so this gets New Zealand First out of an embarrassing defeat by a woman who's apparently distracted by her toddler.

Because otherwise, immediately agreeing with the wokesters and the mainstream media does seem like quite a weird thing for New Zealand First to do, don't you think?

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