Vernon Tava has confirmed that he did apply to be the National candidate for Northcote - but was not successful.

Green candidate turned National hopeful Vernon Tava has been knocked out of pre-selection for the Northcote by-election.

Tava confirmed on Tuesday morning he had been seeking the National Party nomination for the June 9 by-election in the Auckland seat, sparked when former Health Minister Jonathan Coleman resigned.

But the National Party has now shortlisted five candidates and Tava is not one of them.

Tava said he was not upset with the result.

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"It's early days for my involvement in the party," he said.

"I'm confident that whoever is chosen will be really good and I'll be out there helping them."

Tava stood in Northcote in 2011 for the Green Party, netting 1890 votes - about half of what the wider party won in the electorate.

He stood as something of a protest candidate in the Green Party's male co-leadership race when Russel Norman resigned, running on a platform of taking the party away from the left and into the environmental centre ground. He gained one delegate vote of 127 and eventually left the party.

Tava said he still had a lot of respect for the Green Party, but believed they should be able to work with any Government as a purely environmental party.

He helped National's Erica Stanford in her 2017 campaign and has now joined the party.

The National Party's board considered all applications for the byelection before narrowing the list to five candidates for local members to vote on.

The candidates are economist Dan Bidois, Kaipatiki Local Board chair Danielle Grant, Darren Ward, local board member Lisa Whyte, and Simon Watts.

Bidois was a finalist for the Pakuranga seat but lost to Simeon Brown, who is now an MP.

The final selection will take place on Sunday.

National has a sizeable majority in the electorate, but Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Labour was not going to take the by-election lightly.

"Well be putting up a strong fight in this seat."

She said Labour had no expectations that either NZ First or the Greens might not stand a candidate to give Labour a boost.

Ardern said she would spend as much time as possible campaigning in the seat though it would be a busy period for her with the Budget and travel commitments, including the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting.

But she noted that the by-election would be held before her due date.

"That's the reason its not June 17."