Labour MP Kieran McAnulty wears a lot of hats as a member of Parliament. The MP for Wairarapa is also the Minister for Emergency Management, Racing, Regional Development, Local Government and Rural Communities.
With the upcoming election now less than two months away, McAnulty told REX host Dominic George it's hard to split the two major parties so far.
"I think it's a toss-up," he said.
"The polls are all over the show but when you even them out it demonstrates that, it could easily go either way."
A former odds maker at TAB, who he now works with closely as Racing Minister, McAnulty has both the Labour and National Parties paying back $1.87 to be elected into New Zealand's Government for the next three years.
Because the bet is who will lead the next government, he told George he couldn't offer odds for any other parties.
"I think it's pretty clear for everyone to see that it really is going to be tight."
As the Minister for Emergency Management, McAnulty said while Cyclone Gabrielle affected so many different regions, the recovery plans for every individual region vary significantly.
"Obviously Hawkes Bay is the most severely hit, but closely followed probably by Tairawhiti and Auckland, but that's not to say the likes of Coromandel, Northland and Wairarapa aren't hit in their own way either.
"We want to keep the response as local as possible because it's them who know what they need and it's them who know best how to administer the funds, it's my job to make sure that what they need is heard in cabinet."
He has launched an inquiry, led by former Governor General Sir Jerry Mateparae into the Civil Defence response to the Cyclone because although the response was praised, McAnulty said there are always things that can be improved.
"There are always lessons.
"I said to Sir Jerry whatever you find, we want to know about it because we want to improve the system."
Listen to the full chat between Labour Party MP Kieran McAnulty and Dominic George above.
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