Labour's new Ilam MP wants to bring 'connection and caring' to role

October 20, 2020

Pallett took the electorate seat from National's Gerry Brownlee, who had held the seat since 1996.

New Labour MP Sarah Pallett is looking to bring a "sense of connection and caring" to the Ilam community after being elected in the longstanding National seat at the election.

Pallett comes into Parliament after Labour's landslide election win on Saturday night, with Jacinda Ardern landing a second term as Prime Minister.

However, perhaps one of the biggest wins for the party was the ousting of National's Gerry Brownlee from the Ilam electorate he'd held since 1996.

Pallett, a midwifery lecturer, snatched the seat for Labour by a margin of 2220 votes.

She told TVNZ1's Breakfast this morning she thought her chances of winning the seat were a remote possibility.

"I'm still a bit stunned if I'm honest but absolutely delighted. I couldn't be more thrilled to be frank."

Seats that were once clearly National were coloured red last night.

Pallett, who has also worked as a community midwife and is the president of the union representing academic staff at Ara Institute of Technology, said she wanted to bring a new style of MP to the electorate.

"I'm a woman, I think that's one of the key differences and I think that women, not all women, bring a different style of leadership sometimes to the table - maybe a little bit more inclusive," she said.

"I'm trying to bring that sense of connection and caring into the community as well, it's something that's really important to me and sort of how I move through the world generally.

"I want to sit down with the people of Ilam first of all and find out what they want from me and then after that really just try to continue the work that Labour's been doing nationally over the past three years which has obviously generated such a huge, significant response from the people in New Zealand."

Pallett said Brownlee called her on Saturday night to congratulate her on the win and she thanked him for his service to Ilam and New Zealand.

1 NEWS’ political editor says 2020 has been the “longest year ever” in politics, but it’s just started.

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