[3] The party's Canterbury Westland Regional Chair, Roger Bridge, noted that a sitting government has never won a by-election in an electorate that it did not already hold.

[5] When Kate Wilkinson, National MP for the Waimakariri electorate, announced in early November 2013 that she would retire at the end of the term of the 50th Parliament, rumours immediately surfaced that Doocey is going to replace her as the candidate in the Waimakariri electorate, and the Christchurch East by-election was for him to gain experience in contesting an election.

[citation needed][14] As National's first Spokesperson for Mental Health, in 2018, Doocey wrote to every political party in Parliament to invite them to join a cross-party approach to mental health that would focus on developing solutions and policy over a longer period than the Parliamentary three-year term.

[15][16] On 28 August 2019, John Kirwan launched the Mental Health and Addictions Wellbeing cross-party group, with the executive consisting of Matt Doocey, Louisa Wall (Labour), Chlöe Swarbrick (Green Party), Jenny Marcroft (New Zealand First) and David Seymour (ACT), to work together to improve mental health and wellbeing in New Zealand.

[citation needed][17] During the 2020 general election, Doocey retained Waimakariri for the National Party by a final margin of 1,507 votes.

[19] He served in this role until December 2021, when he joined the National Party front bench under the new leader Christopher Luxon.

[20] During the 2023 New Zealand general election, Doocey retained the Waimakariri electorate, winning his greatest majority yet of 13,010 votes.

In response to criticism, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon reiterated the Government's commitment to addressing the needs of abuse survivors.