Former National Party leader Simon Bridges has revealed more about his reasons for retiring from politics.
Photo: RNZ / Jane Patterson
Bridges announced he was leaving Parliament earlier this month in a surprise statement, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family.
In an interview with New Zealand Women's Weekly, Bridges has given more details about his decision and what sparked it.
Bridges said his young son Harry, 7, was injured in a freak playground accident last December when he was struck by a swing and suffered a major liver injury. Harry was transported to Auckland for emergency treatment.
"It did change everything because life had to stop," Bridges told Women's Weekly.
After Harry was released from hospital he spent several weeks recovering, and Bridges and his wife Natalie decided it was time to make a change and leave politics.
"I don't want to look back and have my kids in their 20s with problems because I was useless," Bridges said in the interview. "I'm choosing my family and that's going to give me a new lease on life."
Bridges held several Cabinet portfolios under John Key and then Bill English including Labour, Energy and Resources, Transport, Economic Development, Communications, and Associate Climate and Finance.
He was leader of the National Party and opposition from February 2018 to May 2020.
Current National Party leader Christopher Luxon has said that Bridges had led the party at a "pretty tough time and did that very well."