Beyer quitting Parliament at end of this term

04.03.2004 9.00 am

Wairarapa MP Georgina Beyer is quitting politics at the end of this parliamentary term, saying the "discipline and rigours" of life as an MP have become more and more difficult for her.

The flamboyant backbencher who became the world's first transsexual MP when she entered Parliament in 1999 said she told the Labour Party on Tuesday of her definite decision to quit.

She said her electorate committee had long been aware that she was thinking of standing down.

"Politics and I don't seem to sit too well together," Ms Beyer said.

Ms Beyer had been in Parliament for just two years when she told a Labour Party conference she was fed up with it and was opting out.

She said then she had not been prepared for the nastiness of the parliamentary debating chamber and was leaving to pursue Maori and trans-gender issues.

Then, in a surprise about face, Ms Beyer changed her mind saying she had been under pressure and "very run-down" at the time she announced her retirement.

Back in the Labour fold, Ms Beyer romped home at the 2002 elections defeating her nearest rival -- National's Ian Buchanan -- by 6000 votes and doubling her 1999 majority.

This week she said the disgruntled feelings she had harboured towards politics at the time she made her last " bungled attempt" to leave parliament had not subsided.

The part of her work she enjoyed was dealing with day-to-day constituent issues, and politics was "just an encumbrance."

"I am finding the discipline and rigours of politics more and more difficult to deal with," she said.

Ms Beyer said her decision to see out this term and leave Parliament was no reflection on Wairarapa.

"We have made history, the Wairarapa and I."

- WAIRARAPA TIMES-AGE (MASTERTON)