As election survivors go, Ohariu MP Peter Dunne is something of a record maker.
Having been a Labour MP, he jumped ship to form the Future New Zealand Party.
Later, with fellow MPs, he went on to form United New Zealand, which morphed into United Future.
He has teamed up with outdoor activists to keep his relevance with a sector of the electorate but it was as a minister forced to resign in 2013 that he came in for the closest of scrutiny.
After a period in the wilderness, Prime Minister John Key reappointed him as Internal Affairs Minister.
Mr Dunne admitted to the Otago Daily Times it had been an eventful three years but he felt he had achieved goals set in 2011.
Those goals included the go-ahead being given to the $1 billion Transmission Gully project, the establishment of the Game Animals Council and a paper still under consideration for flexible superannuation.
Earlier this week, Mr Dunne spoke to an audience of 100 at a meeting arranged by the Deer Hunters Association in Timaru.
With KiwiSaver and superannuation always an election issue, Mr Dunne hopes his flexi-super - where people can opt to receive a lower rate of superannuation at between 60 and 65 and a higher rate if they opted to stay working past 65 - will gain government support.
''Flexi-super lets the Government off the hook over the 65 retirement age.
"The Government can maintain its stance of a retirement age at 65 but use my supply and confidence agreement as an excuse to adopt a different policy.''
If Mr Dunne gets a chance to deal with the new government, either National or Labour-led, he believes there is a serious chance of the parties considering his policy on KiwiSaver and paid parental leave.
Women on maternity leave had their contribution to KiwiSaver suspended.
Mr Dunne wanted the employer contributions to continue at 3% or more for the women on maternity leave to avoid them being disadvantaged in retirement.
The main disadvantage with the Norman Kirk-introduced superannuation scheme was women not in the workforce being disadvantaged and that was the main reason National prime minister Rob Muldoon scrapped it, he said.
Mr Dunne also hoped to get some traction for his income-sharing policy from the new government.
''It's been an interesting three years. When we look at what we wanted to achieve, we got close to 100%.
"What did New Zealand First and the Greens gain? Nothing. As the smaller party, we achieved more in a morning than they did in three years.''
And what does Mr Dunne think of his chances of re-election?
The MP, who has held the seat during various boundary changes since 1984, defeating sitting National Party MP Hugh Templeton, is concerned about the unknown.
At the past two elections, he had three sitting MPs standing against him.
This time, he faces all new candidates who are are not well known in the electorate.
''They are not making an impact. It is not the contest of previous elections.
"My biggest fear is the unknown. People are not coming up to me and saying the candidates are up to this and that. They must be up to something, but I can't see it.''
Polls had Mr Dunne consistently ahead, but as the experienced politician knew, polls were just polls.
With the recent release of Nicky Hager's book Dirty Politics, the level of dirty tricks has increased.
Mr Dunne said there had always been a bit of muck-racking and dirty politics in New Zealand but he could not remember such a prolonged period of personal attack and innuendo.
The problem was the absence of a policy divide between the two major parties and the public and politicians asking: what was the point of the election when it seemed so one-sided?
One side was contented and one side was desperate to topple the other, he said.
That was proving particularly frustrating for small parties, unable to get their policy heard.
United Future would on Monday do something old-fashioned by launching a manifesto - albeit online, Mr Dunne said.
As a print document, it would run to 70 pages. The name of the document would be: The Manifesto.
