Party rockers in the house | Auckland Opinion | Local Voices from Auckland, New Zealand

So that's it then. The election is over, the government chosen, and MMP is the voting system the people want. There are 11 new MPs rocking up to Parliament from the Auckland region, and eight of those are there by virtue of their party lists. When I ticked the box for MMP to stay on Saturday, I had done my homework. But I must admit I didn't for one minute consider the following scenario - that a candidate on a party list could get 828 votes of the 32,697 votes cast in their electorate (2.5 per cent) - by people who no doubt know that candidate's abilities best - and that candidate could then end up in Parliament.

That's the case with controversial former North Shore mayor Andrew Williams, in on the NZ First ticket because he was at number 3 on its list. Most people were surprised at the NZ First showing on election day, apart from Winston Peters, but did anyone who gave them the party vote actually look at the NZ First party list? Regardless of what you think of Mr Williams, it is extraordinary that someone who only got 828 votes in the North Shore electorate should be about to earn $134,800 a year.

It's all done and dusted now regardless, and there does look to be a couple of good MPs from NZ First in from Auckland. I don't know a lot about them yet, but Tracey Martin from the Rodney District should bring some ideas reflecting that part of our city - she's on their Local Board already. Asenati Taylor has long been involved in community issues in Manukau; she just scraped in at 8 on the party list but has plenty of experience in the health sector. These are people working for their communities already, which is certainly some qualification.

Of the 11 new Auckland MPs, five are women, six are men. Seven are Pakeha. One has Asian heritage, one Samoan, one Maori, one is of Cook Islands Maori heritage. There's one from ACT, five from National, two from the Greens, three from NZ First. None of the new MPs is from Labour, which partially ruins my illustration that MMP delivers a fair cross-section of society. Essentially though, these Auckland MPs are a good example of MMP's objectives.

But will these people make good politicians? Some entering the House have experience at a high political level either through central or local government (John Banks, Andrew Williams). Will they do a better job than the rookies? Only time will tell. Auckland will be keeping an eye.