Sarah Dowie will stay on as the MP for Invercargill for a further four weeks and continue to serve her constituents until the new election date on October 17. 

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today moved the election date to October 17 after the recent COVID-19 community outbreak in Auckland forced the suspension of political campaigning, with some parties fearing this would place restrictions on electioneering in the lead-up to voting day. 

For Ms Dowie, this means another four weeks in the job which she was so keen to get out of. 

During her valedictory speech in Parliament last month, she said parliament was once a place she once would have "clawed at the windows or walked across hot coals to get in".

"On leaving, I have the same level of intensity: I could claw at the windows or walk across hot coals to get out," she said.

However, she said where she has "mixed feelings" about staying on, she would absolutely still be working and remained committed to serving the people of Invercargill right up until election day. 

"I always said that I would work up until the election," she said. 

As the extension is just four weeks, Ms Dowie said she would not be extending her office lease and instead she and her team would work out the remainder of the term from home. 

"As we've learnt in lockdown, we have the systems in place to do that…we'll be able to manage working from home."

Ms Dowie said the office phone number would be transferred to a cell phone so people would still be able to phone in as usual. 

She would take appointments at her home or arrange to have them at another venue in Invercargill, depending on what worked best for those involved. She said she was unsure at this stage if she would be required to go back to the Beehive. 

She added that she thought the Prime Minister's decision to postpone the election was the right one, as it best served democracy by giving various parties enough time to campaign and would also give voters enough time to make an informed decision.  

Dissolution of Parliament was now scheduled for Sunday, September 6, and early voting would begin on October 3.