Harete Hipango. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
National List MP Harete Hipango has been selected to contest the Māori seat of Te Tai Hauāuru.
It is the first time the National Party has stood a candidate in a Māori seat since 2002.
Harete Hipango was MP for Whanganui from 2017 to 2020, before losing the seat, and returning as a list MP in 2021.
Te Tai Hauāuru is currently held by Parliament's speaker Adrian Rurawhe, who has decided to run as a List-only candidate this year.
Labour List MP Soraya Peke-Mason is running instead, as is Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.
The seat covers much of the western North Island, from South Waikato, through King Country, Taranaki, and Manawatū-Whanganui, and down to northern Wellington.