Former National MP quits party, joins Opportunity Party in new role
Friday, 6 March 2026
She’s been a paid-up National Party member for nearly 25 years and was one of its MPs for eight years. But scrapping and replacing pay equity laws was the “atomic bomb” which prompted her to quit and join The Opportunity Party. Now she’s a mentor to its leader. Lloyd Burr explains.
When Jackie Blue delivered her valedictory speech at Parliament in 2013, she finished by paying homage to a party she’d spent more than a decade dedicated to:
“I am very proud of the National Party. I am proud that the vision and values of this party were founded on a strong human rights framework. The right to be safe, to have equal opportunity, to be free, and have choice are all fundamental freedoms,” she said.
But fast forward 13 years and Dr Blue - who served as Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner after her time in politics - has changed her tune completely.
“I can no longer continue being a National Party member. I cannot support that party anymore after what they did with pay equity,” she exclusively tells Stuff. “That was the atomic bomb for me”.
“I cannot support a party which has done this to 180,000 workers. They have actually violated international and domestic laws. They’re destroying lives, people's hopes and dreams for the future. It’s really devastating,” Dr Blue says.
Scrapping equal pay laws under urgency last year meant all in-progress claims by unions or collectives have been scrapped too. The point of them was to ensure female-dominated jobs are paid the same as similar male-dominated jobs.
Those claims will have to be resubmitted under new watered down rules in a move that will save the National-led government nearly $13b over four years. At the time, Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour claimed the changes “saved the Budget”.
“They've done it to themselves. I have had a sense of loyalty to the National Party since I left Parliament, that this was the last straw,” Dr Blue says.
She was so brassed off by the changes and the lack of consultation that she joined forces with 9 former MPs from across the political spectrum to form the People’s Select Committee on Pay Equity. It concluded the law change was “a flagrant and significant abuse of power”.
None of National’s female MPs crossed Parliament’s floor during the vote to oppose the reforms.
If Dr Blue was still an MP, would she have crossed the floor and voted against her own party?
“It's hypothetical. I like to think I would have. I really do. I feel very strongly about this. I'm virtually crossing the floor now in many ways, but I'm not in Parliament anymore,” she says.
Since cancelling her National Party membership earlier this week, she’s signed up to The Opportunity Party (TOP), partly due to her daughter’s friends voting for them since its formation in 2017.
“None of the parties inside Parliament impressed me, so I started looking outside. When I saw an interview with [TOP leader] Qiulae [Wong] on TVNZ’s Q&A, quite frankly, I knew she was the person and the leader of a party I was going to support. I was so impressed with her,” she recalls.
That’s what has led to a new role for Dr Blue at TOP alongside her party membership: a mentor to Wong.
‘She has the Ardern factor’
What exactly does the role of ‘mentor to the leader’ involve? Dr Blue says it’s just an informal role as part of Wong’s core support crew as she navigates the “nasty business of politics”.
“She's actually got really good skills. No one needs to tell her to do this or that because she's got a great work ethic and good instincts. I'm really happy to be able to encourage and support her in any way,” she says.
Interestingly, Dr Blue says Wong reminds her of former Labour leader and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern when she first entered Parliament in 2008.
“There was something happening on the forecourt. [Then-Labour leader] Phil Goff was there and he brought Jacinda along who was a new MP and wanted Jacinda to introduce these people to the crowd.
“I was there and she spoke so well. I thought ‘Wow, she's good’. She blew me away actually. I was amazed. I’ve had the same feeling about Qiulae Wong.
“She's so smart, she's a natural communicator with real warmth, and she's very relatable,” Dr Blue says.
The love goes both ways, with Wong stoked to have Dr Blue on board to help guide her.
“Jackie has spent her career fighting for fairness. She brings experience, integrity and a deep commitment to the kind of New Zealand we stand for. We’re honoured to have her,” Wong says.
Will TOP be the party of absconders?
She’s not the first former MP of one the major parties to abscond to TOP. Its general manager is former Labour MP and minister Iain Lees Galloway who was fired by Ardern in 2020 over an alleged affair with a former staffer.
“Iain was in and around Parliament when I was there. I get on with him really well,” Dr Blue says. “We are totally on the same page. I’ve always really enjoyed working collaboratively with other MPs from other parties”.
“In my valedictory, I talk about cross-party groups at Parliament. What many probably don’t understand is that there's another reality in Parliament where you often get on really well with other MPs from other parties,” she says.
How does National feel about Blue’s departure?
Stuff reached out to the National Party for comment about Dr Blue jumping ship because of the pay equity reforms.
A spokesperson responded with this: “We don’t comment on political membership decisions, but we acknowledge Jackie Blue’s past service to the National Party,” the statement says.
“The National Party does not agree with her characterisation of the Government’s changes to pay equity settings. The reforms are designed to ensure the system is workable, sustainable, and delivers clarity and certainty for both employees and employers.
“National is committed to improving economic outcomes for all New Zealanders.The right to equal pay remains. It is protected in law and will always be under this Government,” it finishes with.