Todd Muller has been a deep-thinking and hard-working member of National’s team in Parliament and I thank him for his service to the party, the public and the people of the Bay of Plenty, National’s Leader Christopher Luxon says.

“Politics requires an enormous commitment to do the job well and I respect Todd’s decision to call time and retire from Parliament at the upcoming election.

“Every politician needs a team behind them and I thank Todd’s family, current and former staff, and party members in his electorate for their support of him.

“Todd gives 110 per cent of himself to whatever he does. I wish him and his family all the very best for the future.

“Todd McClay will become National’s Agriculture spokesperson, bringing together the Agriculture and Trade portfolios under one spokesperson. Todd will lead National’s strong agriculture team of MPs and candidates, including Nicola Grigg, Joseph Mooney, Suze Redmayne, and Miles Anderson.

“Agriculture does much of the heavy lifting in our economy – creating jobs, lifting incomes and feeding people all over the world. National will campaign up and down the country to stop Labour’s war on farmers.

“Simon Watts will take on the Climate Change portfolio in addition to his current responsibilities of Local Government and Regional Development. National is deeply committed to New Zealand reaching the greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets that it signed up to in the Paris Accords and achieving net-zero by 2050.

“Further, Joseph Mooney will take on the Tourism portfolio which is currently held by Todd McClay and Chris Penk will become National’s Cyclone Recovery spokesperson.”