Louisa Wall is being tipped to fill the place in Parliament vacated by Darren Hughes, who resigned yesterday amid a police investigation into an alleged sexual incident with an 18-year-old man. The openly-lesbian Wall is the sixth in line to replace Hughes in the list; however the five people above her are not standing at the forthcoming election. Wall herself is almost a certainty to romp home in the safe seat of Manurewa. The NZ Herald reports Labour Party President Andrew Little has indicated the five ex-MPs above Wall; Judith Tizard, Mark Burton, Mahara Okeroa, Martin Gallagher and Dave Hereora, should not waste too much time in making the decision. He said none was standing again this year, and it was logical for Ms Wall to take the slot. The first in line, Tizard, who was ousted in Auckland Central by National's Nikki Kaye, says she is taking time to make a decision. Wall has been in Parliament briefly before in a similar situation, coming in on the list to replace the retiring Ann Hartley in March 2008.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Saturday, 26th March 2011 - 9:13am