NICOLA'S SECRET TO SUCCESS 'Attitude is e everything'

Get to know the National Party's new finance spokesperson, who speaks frankly about her privileged childhood, the challenges of being a feminist and her messy' family life.

- JUDY BAILEY

It's Nicola Willis' 41st ' birthday when we talk and she's surprised when I mention it. She genuinely hasn't given it much thought, the politician laughs. “I'm not as excited about birthdays as I once was.” She has more pressing things ” on her mind.

Four months into her role as deputy leader of the National Party, the Wellington-based list MP is in Auckland to support her boss Christopher Luxon as he delivers his "State of the Nation” speech.

After the party's recent shenanigans, she says the businessman, 51, has reset the party and won the confidence of the New Zealanders he's met.

She speaks deliberately and confidently, telling me, “He makes people around him feel they have an immense contribution to make. He takes advice, but he retains his own sense of purpose. He has a sense of humour. We have a laugh."

Like Chris, Nicola says she has come to politics out of a sense of service. “I'm an optimist. I'm resolute in my belief we can do better. I have a sense that I had more opportunities than a lot of kids growing up and now I have an obligation to give back. I have a desire to make an impact. Politics is an enormous lever for positive change.”

Hers was a privileged childhood. The eldest of three, she grew up in Wellington's seaside suburb of Point Howard and went to the local Muritai Primary School in Eastbourne. Her father James Willis, a commercial lawyer, worked at the big-city firm Bell Gully, while her mother Shona Valentine was a well-known journalist and member of the parliamentary press gallery, a smart, talented woman who gave up her job to raise her family.