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The Live Sport Bible is here!Why politicians need to 'grow up' for New Zealand's sake
The Rural Roundup • May 4th, 2026 2:32 pm
Barbara Kuriger, National MP for Taranaki-King Country | Photo: Supplied
A National MP is urging fellow politicians to “grow up” and remember who they are serving as the caucus backs Christopher Luxon as leader.
Taranaki-King Country MP Barbara Kuriger told Sport Nation's The Rural Roundup that politics is much more complicated than it used to be, with MMP finally kicking in and six parties in contention with another one sneaking up in the polls.
“Everyone’s wanting to get their biggest party vote they possible can and there are a lot of attacks going on,” Kuriger said.
“I’m not sure that the public likes this type of politics, I think the public would much rather hear about what we can do for them rather than politicians talking about themselves.”
Speaking with new The Rural Roundup host Erin Speedy, Kuriger thinks some politicians are forgetting about who they are serving with all the political nonsense.
“There’s a good group of MP’s who really know who put them there, but I think sometimes in the heat of the moment and the heat of politics others forget.
“I'm also a great believer that we need to talk to each other a lot more, rather than try to verbally abuse each other, because I think we could get much better infrastructure outcomes for roads, hospitals, schools and everything else if we just made some long-term plans and actually grew up and talked to each other a bit more.”
Kuriger said the caucus is backing Luxon, but the low polling is a worry for everyone.
In the latest 1News Verian poll, published on April 19, Luxon has dropped further in the preferred Prime Minister standings from 20 to 16% to be behind Labour leader Chris Hipkins (19%) - NZ First's Winston Peters went up two points to sit at 12%.
National also dropped 4% in the party vote to 30%, with Labour up 5% to now be the leading party in the polls with 37%.
“You see it on every poll that National’s going to lose 11 or 12 MP’s, that’s pretty close to home for a lot of members of Parliment so it does create some tension.”
Asked whether or not National would work with NZ First again, she said that’s above her pay grade, but she would work with anyone if it meant the people of New Zealand would get a better deal.
“From where I sit it would be great to have that coalition back over the line, but I think we do have to be realistic that it’s more shared around between three parties, and it’s the first time it’s been shared between three parties.”
As the deputy speaker, Kuriger said she needs to remain unbiased and get along with everyone to keep her position in the chair credible.
She believes finding solutions - no matter what side of the house politicians are on - should be top priority for electorates and the people of New Zealand.
“As an MP, I’m always interested in whether people can afford to buy their groceries, get their hip operations, making sure they’ve got accessible roads and all that sort of thing.”
Listen to the full interview below:
