The presumptive nominee, Cabinet minister Dr David Clark, has announced he would be retiring from politics at the 2023 election, creating an unexpected vacancy in what is traditionally a safe Labour seat.
Ms Brooking, a first-term list MP, told the Otago Daily Times that if she was asked if she was interested in the nomination, "the answer is very strongly in the affirmative".
Ms Brooking, an environmental lawyer and former Otago University Students Association president, unsuccessfully sought the Labour nomination for Taieri in 2020, but lost the spot to Ingrid Leary.
Ms Leary won Taieri for her party, and last week was confirmed as Labour’s candidate for 2023.
Ms Brooking said her father, Otago historian Tom Brooking, had been involved in the then Dunedin North electorate when the late Stan Rodger was its MP, and that as a student she had been involved in former MP Pete Hodgson’s campaigns.
"I do love being a list MP and will keep working hard around Otago, but Dunedin is an electorate I have strong family and professional links to," she said.
Ms Brooking’s path to the nomination was eased somewhat yesterday when the South’s other Labour list MP, Dr Liz Craig, opted to stand in her home town of Invercargill again rather than return to Dunedin.
"Invercargill is a fantastic place to live and work for, it is a real pleasure to have been selected as Labour’s Invercargill candidate for 2023," Dr Craig said.
When asked by the ODT Dr Clark declined to endorse a candidate, but said Ms Brooking had made an impressive start to her career as an MP.
Ms Brooking has been deputy chairwoman of the environment select committee for the past two years, and has also played a significant role in drafting Labour’s proposed Resource Management Act legislation.
Dr Clark (49), who said he was retiring from politics to spend more time with his young family, was one of six Labour MPs who were confirmed yesterday as retiring in 2023.
Fellow Cabinet ministers Poto Williams and William Sio are to retire, as are backbenchers Jamie Strange, Marja Lubeck and Paul Eagle.
Three National MPs, David Bennett, Ian McKelvie and Waitaki MP Jacqui Dean, have announced that they will also be retiring from politics in the next year.
