Chris Hipkins says Stuart Nash saga proves his decision to fire him was correct

Wednesday, 22 July 2026

Stuart Nash and the text that brought him down.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins says the furore over a leaked text from Stuart Nash shows exactly why he fired him from Cabinet - and it shouldn’t have taken this long for Winston Peters and Christopher Luxon to rule him out for serving.

Hipkins’ remarks came after Nash resigned as an NZ First candidate late on Wednesday night following the release of the text message where he described his opponent, National MP Katie Nimon, as lazy for taking maternity leave.

“He does not have the judgement or temperament to be a Minister. It is an indictment on both Winston Peters and Christopher Luxon that up until yesterday they thought he did,” Hipkins said.

Hipkins suggested Luxon’s decision to rule Nash out as a minister should apply to other NZ First MPs.

“Christopher Luxon is very selective in the way he seems to approach standards of ministerial conduct. He’s right that Stuart Nash’s recent outburst was unacceptable, but so was Shane Jones insinuations about him performing oral sex on a visiting foreign leader, Winston Peters making masturbation jibes live on TV and Shane Jones outright racism towards Indians, yet the Prime Minister did absolutely nothing about any of that.”

Luxon ruled out Nash serving as a minster in any government he leads on Wednesday night after earlier equivocating on the issue. The ruling out came after Nash released a statement which failed to apologise for the text.

NZ First leader Winston Peters, who is overseas, posted to social media late on Wednesday evening saying Nash had offered his resignation as a candidate and this had been accepted.

“Stuart Nash has offered his resignation as a candidate and we have accepted,” Peters said.

Nimon told The Post Nash had not reached out to her personally and she did not expect him to.

Stuart Nash at last weekend’s NZ First conference at Due Drops Event Centre, Manukau, Auckland

“I’m glad to have had the platform to remind working mums that they’re doing a great job, they’re not lazy, and there is no right way of raising a child while working (or not)!” Nimon said. “The support I’ve received in the last 24 hours just shows that decency triumphs.”

In a late-night post to social media following the resignation Nash said his comments had become a “distraction” and he regretted that his “words were open to an interpretation I never intended”.

The saga began when when former National minister Chris Finlayson revealed a text Nash sent him after Finlayson had suggested he could not win the race.

Nash’s text said “comments like yours motivate me and drive me harder. Katie took nine months off on full pay went back for a week, then took another month off.

“Laziest MP I’ve ever come across, nice woman but ill suited to the rigors [sic] of being an electorate MP.”

The resignation came hours after Nash had issued a statement that failed to apologise for the text, instead attacking National for voting against paid parental leave, and not long after Luxon ruled Nash out as a minister.

In a statement Labour leader Chris Hipkins said Nash’s comments were “sexist and wrong”.

“He has once again highlighted why I was right to remove him from Cabinet. He does not have the judgment or temperament to be a Minister. It is an indictment on both Winston Peters and Christopher Luxon that up until yesterday they thought he did.

“Yesterday’s events were a stark reminder that a vote for any of the three parties currently in government is a vote for more of the same.”

Luxon posted to social media late on Wednesday evening saying Nash would not serve as a minister in his government.

“Whether reports of Stuart Nash’s resignation as a NZ First candidate are true or not, I am making clear he will not serve as a minister in my government,” Luxon posted.

“After several instances of poor behaviour, some politicians will claim he has changed. His lack of contrition after comments about one of my MPs’ maternity leave this evening shows he hasn’t.“

Luxon’s fellow MPs in the National party swung into bat behind Nimon, labelling the comments as sexist and disgusting.

After the text became public Nash shared a statement not apologising but attacking National for voting against paid parental leave.

'Let me be clear: this campaign is about who shows up and delivers for Napier, and I'm happy to be judged on my own track record, achievements and work ethic. That's the contest I want,“ Nash said in a statement.

“And for what it's worth, I've got real respect for any working parent raising a newborn alongside a demanding job - that was never in question. That is why I was part of a government that supported the extending of paid parental leave - the law change that the National Party voted against, twice.'

Luxon weighed in earlier on Wednesday saying he believed the comments were sexist, but did not rule him out as a minister in his government when asked.

“I think his comments around women have been quite derogatory over a number of years, frankly, and I can tell you, Katie Nimon's an incredibly hard-working MP.”

Senior Cabinet minister Nicola Willis was “outraged” by Nash’s comments and made reference to his past crass remarks defining a women as someone with “a person with a p….y and a pair of tits”.

Nimon said the statement was wrong and she had only taken ten weeks off before returning to work in her electorate, and six months before returning to Parliament in Wellington.

Senior Cabinet minister Chris Bishop called Nash a “sexist dickhead” and said: “Stuart Nash needs to take that kind of misogynistic behaviour and stay in Napier.”

Labour leader Chris Hipkins, who fired Nash from Cabinet in 2023, described him as a “walking liability”.

Nash held the Napier electorate between 2014 and 2023 for the Labour Party.

He was booted out of Cabinet after sharing confidential information.

The former MP made headlines last year when he gave a crude definition for what a woman is on The Platform.