Ross wins

Jami-Lee Ross is the National Party candidate for the Botany by-election, and even Labour Party president Andrew Little concedes that the seat is his for the taking - the Herald reports:

Auckland councillor Jami-Lee Ross was selected last night as National's candidate for the safe seat of Botany - beating four contenders including gardening guru Maggie Barry.

The by-election for the seat in East Auckland, forced by the resignation of former Cabinet minister Pansy Wong, will take place on March 5. Mrs Wong's majority in the 2008 general election was more than 10,000 votes.

Botany has the highest proportion of foreign-born people (49 per cent) of any NZ electorate. One-third of Botany residents are Asian.

Mr Ross has been a National Party member since 2003 and said he was humbled by the victory.

We are not at all surprised by Cr Ross' victory. He is local to the electorate, and relative to his age, a long-standing member of the National Party. We've heard nothing but good reports from people who have come into contact with him.

Maggie Barry would have been good from the point of view of public profile and name recognition, but she ought to cut her teeth on National Party politics first.

If nothing else, this selection shows that the way that National selects its candidates is superior to the manner in which Labour does. One need only cast one's mind back to the brouhaha over the selection of Kris Fa'afoi in Mana a few months ago. The wishes of Mana LEC delegates were overriden by Phil Goff's office, who bussed in Goffice staffers and union members to ensure that Mr Fa'afoi got the nomination.

Many pundits were tipping Maggie Barry as a shoo-in for selection in Botany, and claimed that she had been hand-picked by John Key's insiders, and would therefore prevail. Not so; local democracy prevailed.

There will be other opportunities for Maggie Barry, be they an electorate nomination or a placing high enough on National's list. But first, she needs to demonstrate that her road to Damascus conversion to the National Party is enduring. In the meantime, we have every confidence that Jami-Lee Ross will mount a strong campaign in Botany, and that he will become a very competent member of the National caucus after the by-election on March 5th.