Dr Frances Hughes CNZM has been selected as National’s candidate for Mana in the 2023 General Election.

Dr Hughes is a health expert and registered nurse with over 30 years of national and international health and disability experience. She is currently a senior healthcare executive and was formerly the chief executive of the International Council of Nurses. She was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2019 for services to mental health and nursing.

“I’m incredibly excited to be selected as National’s candidate for Mana in next year’s election. Having spent more than three decades in Mana and raised my two children there, I’m honoured to have the opportunity to campaign hard to win the seat for National,” says Dr Hughes.

“Mana is a microcosm of the issues New Zealand is facing. Rents in Porirua are consistently the highest in the country, crime is a constant worry for people and Labour’s economic mismanagement is sending interest rates skywards for people paying off already big mortgages across the electorate. It’s clear Labour takes Mana for granted.

“National has a track record of delivering for Mana, including starting Transmission Gully, which has transformed people’s ability to get to work, school or home faster and more efficiently.

“I’m aspirational for Mana and want to see it succeed. We need a Chris Luxon-led National Government that will take Mana forward by addressing the cost-of-living crisis and crack down on the crime making people feel unsafe in their communities.

“Throughout my career I’ve been focused on listening to people’s concerns and delivering results for those who trust me to advocate for them. That’s exactly what I’ll prioritise if I earn the right to represent Mana as their MP in an energised Chris Luxon-led National team.”

Biographical notes:

Dr Frances Hughes is currently the Group General Manager Clinical & Care Services and Clinical Director at Oceania Healthcare. She has over 30 years’ nursing experience and has held senior healthcare roles in several countries, including as chief executive of the International Council of Nurses, chief nursing and midwifery officer at Queensland Health, and professor of nursing and mental health at the University of Auckland. Earlier in her career, Frances was the Ministry of Health’s chief nurse.

Frances has a Bachelor of Arts and Social Sciences from Massey University, a Master of Arts from Victoria University and a Doctor of Nursing from the University of Technology Sydney. In 2019, she was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to nursing and mental health and was also the first nurse to be awarded the Harkness Fellowship in Health Care Policy. She was also awarded a Fulbright Senior Scholar Award and distinguished alumni awards from both Massey and UTS.

Frances owned and operated a residential care facility in Kāpiti for people with complex mental health needs for over a decade and worked at Porirua Hospital for almost 15 years earlier in the 1980s and 1990s. She will be based in Mana for the campaign and move there permanently if she becomes the MP.

Frances and her husband Kevin have two adult children and one grandson.

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