Tau to retire

The big political news this morning is that Tau Henare plans to retire at the election after 15 years in Parliament. This brings the number of National MPs retiring to 15, a quarter of their caucus. Meanwhile, Labour's Old Guard grimly hangs on to their positions and refuses to make way for new blood, with Trevor Mallard talking about being "mid-career" after 27 years, and pointing out that Walter Nash was an MP until he was 86. And then they wonder why people don't vote for the same old faces with the same old baggage...