[2] He dropped out of high school without any qualifications and worked in a range of areas including "orchards, forestry, fishing boats, building sites, retail stores, and skifields".

[4] Mooney was selected as the National Party candidate for the new Southland electorate in July 2020, following Hamish Walker's decision to leave Parliament after he admitted that he had leaked private patient information to the media.

[6] Mooney has identified the first issue he intended to deal with as an MP will be to get more seasonal workers "on the ground" to address the fruit-picking "crisis" in Central Otago.

[13] Dame Claudia Orange, who has written extensively about Te Tiriti o Waitangi, said Mooney appeared to be subscribing to the old politics of former National leader, Don Brash.

“That's just kind of one way that Don Brash tended to argue, and it's really got no substance to it, if you looked at why [tino rangatiratanga] was included in the Treaty and the effect that it actually gave Māori in terms of recognising their mana,” she said.