Unlike some MPs who’ve been forced to leave Parliament shrouded in scandal, the Green Party’s Gareth Hughes is leaving politics on his own terms.
And he’s got plans to move as far away from politics as you could possibly get - in the middle of his own island of isolation.
Located in the Otago harbour, Quarantine Island/Kamau Taurua’s permanent population now consists of him, his wife Meghan and their two children.
It’s a bit of a lifestyle change for the young family from their previous abode in Wellington, with even the daily school drop off now done by boat.
“It kind of sounds like the punchline for a joke or somewhat ironic, but yeah, moving to quarantine island in the middle of a pandemic probably is a smart decision,” the outgoing politician said.
The MP is standing down at September’s election after more than a decade in Parliament, with a new plan to take a year off to help his wife, who's taken up a new job as the island’s keeper.
“I’m going as far away from politics as I can, trading a suit for a pair of gumboots.”
The island was used for quarantining those from overseas with infectious diseases between 1863 and 1924.
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