James Meager
James Rawiri Meager (born ) is a New Zealand politician and Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for the National Party in the electorate of . Early life and career Born in Timaru in , Meager is of Ngāi Tahu descent. He grew up in Timaru, where he lived in state housing. Meager attended Timaru Boys' High School, where he was head boy and dux. He gained Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of Otago, although he had originally intended to become a doctor. He describes himself as "loud-mouthed, obnoxious and opinionated" while at university, and ascribes his bad behaviour partly to alcohol use. While at university, Meager helped on National Party list MP Michael Woodhouse's 2011 campaign, and went on to run the 2014 campaign. Prior to being elected to Parliament, Meager worked as a senior solicitor for Simpson Grierson, and ran a consultancy firm. He has also worked as a press secretary to Paula Bennett, as a staffer for Chris Bishop' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Honourable
''The Honourable'' (Commonwealth English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific Style (manner of address), style that is used as a prefix before the names or titles of certain people, usually with official governmental or diplomatic positions. Use by governments International diplomacy In international diplomatic relations, representatives of foreign states are often styled as ''The Honourable''. Deputy chiefs of mission, , consuls-general, consuls and honorary consuls are always given the style. All heads of consular posts, whether they are honorary or career postholders, are accorded the style according to the State Department of the United States. However, the style ''Excellency'' instead of ''The Honourable'' is used for ambassadors and high commissioners only. Africa Democratic Republic of the Congo In the Democrati ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Michael Woodhouse
Michael Allan Woodhouse (born 1965) is a New Zealand healthcare chief executive and former politician. He was a Member of Parliament for the National Party from 2008 to 2023. Early years Woodhouse was born and raised in South Dunedin, the fifth of nine children. He attended St Patrick's, St Edmund's and St Paul's High School (now Trinity Catholic College), which he left at the end of sixth form in 1982. He worked for the National Bank of New Zealand in Dunedin and Wellington until 1987 when he embarked on a rugby sojourn to Scotland and England, playing for Dunfermline 1987/88 and Broughton Park in Manchester 1988/89. He then returned to Dunedin where he studied commerce and accounting at the University of Otago, graduating in 1993. He worked at Taylor McLachlan Accountants in Dunedin, Dunedin Hospital and ACC. He was chief executive of Mercy Hospital, a private hospital in Dunedin, from 2001 to 2008. While working for Mercy Hospital in 2005, he earned a Master of Heal ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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State Housing In New Zealand
State housing is a system of public housing in New Zealand, offering low-cost rental housing to residents on low to moderate incomes. Some 69,000 state houses are managed by Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities, most of which are owned by the Crown. In excess of 31,000 former state houses exist, which are now privately owned after large-scale sell-offs during recent decades. Since 2014, state housing has been part of a wider social housing system, which also includes privately owned low-cost housing. An archetypal 1930s and 1940s state house is a detached two- or three-bedroom cottage-style house, with weatherboard or brick veneer cladding, a steep hipped tile roof, and multi-paned timber casement windows. Thousands of these houses were built across New Zealand as state housing, and as private housing after World War II, when the New Zealand Government, Government started selling their drawings and plans in an attempt to hasten housing construction. These houses, also known as " ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ashburton, New Zealand
Ashburton () is a large town in the Canterbury, New Zealand, Canterbury Region, on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. The town is the seat of the Ashburton District. It is south west of Christchurch and is sometimes regarded as a satellite town of Christchurch. The town has a population of . It is the Ranked list of New Zealand main urban areas, 29th-largest urban area in New Zealand and the fourth-largest urban area in the Canterbury Region, after Christchurch, Timaru and Rolleston, New Zealand, Rolleston. Toponymy Ashburton was named by the surveyor Captain Joseph Thomas (surveyor), Joseph Thomas of the New Zealand Land Association, after Bingham Baring, 2nd Baron Ashburton, who was a member of the Canterbury Association. Ashburton is sometimes nicknamed "Ashvegas", an ironic allusion to Las Vegas, Nevada, Las Vegas. Hakatere is the traditional Māori name for the Ashburton River. The name translates as "to make swift or to flow smoothly". History Early E ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Electoral Commission (New Zealand)
The Electoral Commission () is an independent Crown entity set up by the New Zealand Parliament. It is responsible for the administration of parliamentary elections and referendums, promoting compliance with electoral laws, servicing the work of the Representation Commission, and the provision of advice, reports and public education on electoral matters. The commission also assists electoral agencies of other countries on a reciprocal basis with their electoral events. Objective of the Electoral Commission The Electoral Act 1993 defines the objective of the Electoral Commission as "to administer the electoral system impartially, efficiently, effectively, and in a way that – # Facilitates participation in parliamentary democracy; and # Promotes understanding of the electoral system; and # Maintains confidence in the administration of the electoral system". Functions of the Electoral Commission The functions of the Electoral Commission are defined by law and in summary ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Timaru Herald
''The Timaru Herald'' is a daily provincial newspaper serving the Timaru, South Canterbury and North Otago districts of New Zealand. The current audited daily circulation is about 14,500 copies, with a readership of about 31,000 people. The paper is owned by media company Stuff Ltd. History The ''Timaru Herald'' was first founded by '' Thames Advertiser'' co-owner Alfred G. Horton in 1864. In 1872, he sold the newspaper to fund a lengthy visit to England. Initially it appeared as a weekly paper, and then in bi- and tri-weekly form, before eventually becoming a daily morning paper from 1875. By the mid–1870s, the ''Timaru Herald'' had become the dominant newspaper in Timaru with its main rival being the ''South Canterbury Times''. In early 1876, the newspaper launched a weekly newspaper, which was later renamed the ''Geraldine County Chronicle'' in 1879. The ''Chronicle'' ceased publication in late 1884. By 1885, the journalist T. Triggs worked as an editor for ''T ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Safe Seat
A safe seat is an electoral district which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combination of both. With such seats, there is very little chance of a seat changing hands because of the political leanings of the electorate in the constituency concerned or the popularity of the incumbent member. This contrasts with a marginal seat in which a defeat for the seat holder is considered possible. In systems where candidates must first win the party's primary election or preselection, the phrase "tantamount to election" is often used to describe winning the dominant party's nomination for a safe seat. Definition There is a spectrum between safe and marginal seats. Supposedly safe seats can still change hands in a landslide election, such as Enfield Southgate being lost by the Conservatives (and then-potential future party leader Michael Portillo) to Labour at the 1997 UK general election, whilst oth ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Simon Bridges
Simon Joseph Bridges (born 12 October 1976) is a New Zealand retired politician, broadcaster and lawyer. He served as Leader of the New Zealand National Party, Leader of the National Party and Leader of the Opposition (New Zealand), Leader of the Opposition between 2018 and 2020, and as the Member of Parliament for Tauranga (New Zealand electorate), Tauranga from the to May 2022, when he resigned. Bridges is the first and currently the only Māori people, Māori person to serve as leader of a major List of political parties in New Zealand, political party in New Zealand. A self-described "compassionate conservative", Bridges served in several Cabinet of New Zealand, Cabinet positions, including Ministry of Transport (New Zealand), Minister of Transport (2014–2017) and Minister of Economic Development (New Zealand), Minister of Economic Development (2016–2017). He took the role of Leader of the House (New Zealand), Leader of the House from May to October 2017. Bridges 2018 N ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bill English
Sir Simon William English (born 30 December 1961) is a New Zealand former politician who served as the 39th prime minister of New Zealand from 2016 to 2017 and Leader of the New Zealand National Party, leader of the New Zealand National Party, National Party from 2001 to 2003 and 2016 to 2018. He had previously served as the 17th deputy prime minister of New Zealand and Minister of Finance (New Zealand), minister of finance from 2008 to 2016 under John Key and the Fifth National Government of New Zealand, Fifth National Government. A farmer and public servant before entering politics, English was elected to the New Zealand Parliament in as the New Zealand National Party, National Party's candidate in the Wallace (New Zealand electorate), Wallace electorate. He was elevated to cabinet of New Zealand, Cabinet in 1996 and in 1999 was made Minister of Finance (New Zealand), minister of finance, although he served for less than a year due to his party's loss at the 1999 New Zealand ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chris Bishop (politician)
Christopher Bishop (born 4 September 1983) is a New Zealand politician for the National Party. He was first elected to the New Zealand House of Representatives in 2014 as a list MP. Bishop won the Hutt South electorate in 2017 but lost the seat in 2020. He returned to Parliament as a National list MP and served as National spokesperson for Housing and Infrastructure and was the Shadow Leader of the House. He was the Chairperson of National's 2023 Election Campaign. He is the current MP for Hutt South. He is a former lobbyist for tobacco company Phillip Morris. Early life Bishop grew up in Lower Hutt and attended Hutt Intermediate School and Hutt International Boys' School in Upper Hutt. His father, John Bishop, was a political journalist and founder of the advocacy group the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union. His mother, Rosemary Dixon, is an environmental lawyer. In 2000 he was a member of the New Zealand Youth Parliament, selected to represent List MP Muriel Newman. He gr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Paula Bennett
Paula Lee Bennett (born 9 April 1969) is a New Zealand former politician who served as the 18th deputy prime minister of New Zealand between December 2016 and October 2017. She served as the deputy leader of the National Party from 2016 to 2020 and as MP for Upper Harbour from 2014 to 2020. Bennett previously represented the electorate of Waitakere, which was abolished prior to the 2014 general election. She held the Cabinet portfolios of State Services, Women, Tourism, Police, and Climate Change Issues in the fifth National Government until 2017. She retired from Parliament at the 2020 general election. Early life and career Bennett was born on 9 April 1969 in Auckland, New Zealand, the daughter of Bob Bennett and Lee Bennett. She has Tainui ancestry through her Māori paternal grandmother, Ailsa Bennett. Her father had a flooring business in Auckland, then in 1974 bought the village store at Kinloch, near Taupō. Bennett attended Taupo-nui-a-Tia College in Taupō. At 17 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Press Secretary
A press secretary or press officer is a senior advisor who provides advice on how to deal with the news media and, using news management techniques, helps their employer to maintain a positive public image and avoid negative media coverage. Duties and functions They often, but not always, act as the organization's senior spokesperson. Many governments also have deputy press secretaries. A deputy press secretary is typically a mid-level political staffer who assists the press secretary and communications director with aspects of public outreach. They often write the press releases and media advisories for review by the press secretary and communications director. There are usually assistant press secretaries and press officers that support the press secretary. Press secretaries also give declarations to the media when a particular event happens or an issue arises inside an organization. They are expected, therefore, to have in-depth knowledge about the institution or organization th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |