New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has announced Fletcher Tabuteau has won the battle to be his new deputy.

Mr Tabuteau has been a member of the party since its inception and is currently serving his second term in Parliament. He takes the position of former deputy leader Ron Mark.

"New Zealand First indicated last week that it would consider the deputy-leadership position at its caucus meeting this morning," says Mr Peters.

"After careful consideration, the caucus today supported Fletcher Tabuteau to take over the role and I congratulate him on this appointment as deputy leader.

"New Zealand First extends its immense gratitude for the service of Ron Mark as deputy leader. The party recognises Ron is an integral member of the team, and we look forward to him playing a key role in the current government in his capacity as Minister of Defence and Minister of Veterans Affairs."

"It is my honour to announce that today I was successfully nominated as the Deputy Leader of New Zealand First," Mr Tabuteau says.

"The role comes with significant responsibility and I am delighted to have received the confidence of my caucus colleagues."

Newshub reporter Lloyd Burr says he is surprised that the "relative new-comer" won.

"I was of the mind that Ron Mark would absolutely cruise through that," he says.

"But no, there is a spanner in the works - he has been rolled by an MP called Fletcher Tabuteau."

Last week, rumours swirled that a deputy-leadership coup was brewing in NZ First, although it wasn't clear who was planning to challenge Mr Mark for his position.

But Burr says this "deputy-leadership roulette" won't affect any fight for the main prize - the leadership Mr Peters currently holds.



"What this means is that whoever is in that deputy leadership role is not the successor to Winston Peters," Burr says.

"If he ever does go his successor doesn't necessary have to be the deputy leader. Shane Jones could fit straight into that leadership role - it doesn't have to be the deputy."

Newshub.</s>In the lead up to the announcement of the new National Party leader, New Zealand First has named its new deputy leader.

Fletcher Tabuteau has been named deputy following the party's caucus meeting this morning.

"New Zealand First extends its immense gratitude for the service of Ron Mark as deputy leader," New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said in a statement today.

"The party recognises Ron is an integral member of the team and we look forward to him playing a key role in the current government in his capacity as Minister of Defence and Minister of Veterans Affairs."

Mr Tabuteau has been a member of the New Zealand First party since it began.

He's currently the Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Minister of Foreign affairs and to the Minister of Regional Economic Development.</s>Exclusive: Increase in police tasering of dogs prompts concern from SPCA, SAFE as new disturbing footage is released

Police still have no aftercare rules after tasering dogs, like they do for humans - and the SPCA thinks that needs to change.</s>For Kierra Fletcher, a rising star for women’s basketball, the sport has always been a family affair. “When I was younger, I would go with [my dad] because he played in a basketball league … so I was always around him playing basketball” she said, talking about her memories of growing up and discovering basketball. After realizing his daughter enjoyed the game, her father began to teach her how to play, “and it just went on from there,” she recounted.

Thus began a life-long love affair with basketball for Fletcher, one that has taken her all the way from Michigan to Atlanta. As a highly touted five-star recruit from Cousino High School in Warren, Mich., Fletcher lived up to the hype thus far, cementing her place as a starter while posting 7.1 points per game, 4.9 rebounds per game and leading the team in assists. Last week, her efforts were recognized as she was named ACC Rookie of the Week after posting 18 points and nine rebounds in 28 minutes against UNC.

Fletcher is no stranger to a big stage. In high school, Fletcher was instrumental in leading her team to their first state championship. “[The year before] we lost the district championships to a team that we shouldn’t have lost to, so I actually texted my high school coach my sophomore summer, and I told them I was going to take them [to the state championships],” she said. After a long road back, Fletcher got her shot at redemption, taking her team all the way to the promised land. “In the fourth quarter, I got my fourth foul, so I had to sit out for a little over five minutes … then I came back in, made a few good plays, and at the end of the game, we won by one or two points.”

Fletcher was speaking with modesty about her “few good plays” — Fletcher recorded 27 points and eight rebounds in the game, including five crucial points late in the game that sealed the victory for Cousino over Detroit Martin Luther King High School during the 2016 Michigan Class A State Championships.

How did one of the brightest high school stars in Michigan basketball end up at Tech? Academics, said Fletcher. “My dad pushed me to check [Tech] out because my family is really big on academics … once I actually came here and visited and saw the city, and how the school is right in the heart of Atlanta, once I saw the players and interacted with them and the coaching staff … I just knew that this was where I wanted to be. After the first day, I called my dad… and told him that this was where I wanted to go.”

Fletcher has meshed well with Tech and has relished playing with her talented cast of teammates. Compared to high school, Fletcher has much less of a burden for scoring placed on her, and has instead played a balance game thus far, getting good shots off while picking up boards left and right. Among Tech’s main starting five of Francesca Pan, Chanin Scott, Elo Edeferioka, Lorela Cubaj and Fletcher, Fletcher has posted the highest FG percent in conference play (.440), and is No. 3 on the team in overall points behind Pan and Zaire O’Neil.

The road to success has not been the smoothest for Fletcher, she admits. “At the beginning of the season, I was really nervous. I had to take medicine for nausea because I was really nervous… but now I’m starting to come to terms with where I’m at, and I try to stay calm and poised — and I think I’m doing a lot better. It’s definitely been an adjustment, but I feel like I’m getting there.”

While this season has not gone quite as well for Tech basketball as they might have hoped — the Jackets are No. 10 in the ACC with a 5-9 record in conference play — but nevertheless, Fletcher is “excited for the process.”

“I know we have a good recruiting class coming in next year,” she said. “I’m very excited to start playing with them.”
Ron Mark is succeeded by Fletcher Tabuteau as deputy leader of New Zealand First.