Is Little's Wood ploy premature?

The Labour Party has launched a by-election campaign for the Mt Roskill electorate in Auckland before the seat has become vacant.

Labour leader Andrew Little is so confident sitting Mt Roskill MP and mayoral candidate Phil Goff will be elected in a few months, he sent the party's faithful door-knocking to endorse would-be Labour candidate Michael Wood today.

"We know there is a by-election coming ... Let's not kid ourselves, it will be Phil Goff as Auckland's next mayor," Mr Little said today after Mt Roskill Labour members affirmed Mr Wood as the next candidate for the electorate.

Mr Wood, a Puketāpapa Local Board member, won the vote uncontested and unanimously. 

NBR has previously reported Mr Wood was to be Mr Goff's successor. 

"[Phil Goff] will be wearing those mayoral chains and Mt Roskill will be in safe hands," Mr Little said.

He took the time to call out National's Mt Roskill-based list MP Parmjeet Parmar, Mr Wood's would be by-election opponent, mocking her "patsy questions in Parliament." 

Mr Little says launching a by-election campaign for Mt Roskill before a new mayor has been elected is not premature.

"The reality is while there is a mayoral election campaign on, Phil [Goff] is streets ahead and it is highly likely that he will be elected as mayor and we have to be ready for a by-election as well."

Asked if Labour had been in conversations with the Green Party about standing its Mt Roskill candidate down in the event of a by-election, Mr Little said that "couldn't be ruled out."

"We have not had any conversations about electoral accommodation yet, certainly the memorandum of understanding is open for that to happen. That is likely to happen at some stage but we're nowhere near that yet.

"We will have conversations about electoral accommodation – how far they go, how specific they are but we don't know yet because we haven't started those conversations." 

In the 2014 general election, former Oxfam executive director Barry Coates stood as the Green Party candidate for Mt Roskill. 

Auckland University academic Mr Coates is leader of the anti-TPP campaign.

Tune into NBR Radio’s Sunday Business with Andrew Patterson on Sunday morning, for analysis and feature-length interviews.