Bridge later conceded that it would be "very, very hard for us to win". When Kate Wilkinson, National MP for the 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. Doocey left his job in June 2014 to focus on the Waimakariri election campaign. He beat Labour's Clayton Cosgrove with an increased majority compared to the . For the 51st New Zealand Parliament Doocey was appointed Deputy Chair of the Social Services Select Committee. In 2016 he brought a cross-party delegation of the Social Services Select Committee to Canterbury to hear from service providers about their response to communities’ psycho-social recovery needs in post-earthquake Canterbury. Also in his first term, Doocey was appointed third Whip of the National Government. For the 52nd New Zealand Parliament, Doocey serves as National's Junior Whip, working closely with the Party's Senior Whip. He was also appointed Spokesperson for Mental Health and is a member of the Health Select Committee. As National’s first ever Spokesperson for Mental Health, in 2018, Matt 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. Matt believed that by initiating a bipartisan approach to mental health this would break down some of the barriers to progress to improve mental health outcomes in New Zealand. On 28 August 2019, Sir John Kirwan launched the Mental Health and Addictions Wellbeing cross-party group, with the executive consisting of Matt Doocey, Louisa Wall (Labour), Chloe Swarbrick (Green Party), Jenny Marcroft (NZ First) and David Seymour (ACT), to work together to improve mental health and wellbeing in New Zealand. Born and bred in Canterbury, New Zealand, Doocey worked in mental health and health-care management in both New Zealand and the UK. He studied Counselling Psychology at Weltech, has a BSc (Hons) in Social Policy, an MA in Healthcare Management from Kingston University in London and an MSc in Global Politics from Birkbeck, University of London. Chief of Naval Research  The Chief of Naval Research is the senior military officer in charge of scientific research in the United States Navy.