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Sarah Maree Dowie (born 1974) is a New Zealand former politician of the
National Party National Party or Nationalist Party may refer to: Active parties * National Party of Australia, commonly known as ''The Nationals'' * Bangladesh: ** Bangladesh Nationalist Party ** Jatiya Party (Ershad) a.k.a. ''National Party (Ershad)'' * Californ ...
. She was the Member of Parliament for
Invercargill Invercargill ( , ) is the southernmost and westernmost list of cities in New Zealand, city in New Zealand, and one of the Southernmost settlements, southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland Region, Southlan ...
from 2014 to 2020.


Early life and career

Dowie's parents, Ann and Alan Dowie, were both police officers. At age 15 in 1990, she was a member of a semi-professional dance group that performed in the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. Before her election to Parliament, she worked as a lawyer. Dowie attended the
University of Otago The University of Otago () is a public university, public research university, research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in ...
, studying law and ecology. After graduating, Dowie worked for the law firm Macalisters and later the
Department of Conservation Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
. Dowie joined the
National Party National Party or Nationalist Party may refer to: Active parties * National Party of Australia, commonly known as ''The Nationals'' * Bangladesh: ** Bangladesh Nationalist Party ** Jatiya Party (Ershad) a.k.a. ''National Party (Ershad)'' * Californ ...
and was affiliated with their "Blue Greens" environmentalist faction.


Member of Parliament


Political career

Dowie was selected by the National Party to replace retiring MP Eric Roy as the party's for the . At the time, she was described in the media as "relatively unknown" but was able to retain to retain the seat for National with a large margin over Labour's
Lesley Soper Lesley Frances Soper (born 5 November 1954) is a former New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. Political career She was a Labour Party list member of Parliament for several months in 2005, replacing Jonathan Hunt, and she returned ...
. Dowie was returned again in 2017 with a slightly reduced margin over new Labour candidate
Liz Craig Elizabeth Dorothy Craig (born 1967) is a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. She served as a Member of Parliament from 2017 to 2023. As a public health physician before entering Parliament, she is known for her research work on child po ...
and sitting
New Zealand First New Zealand First (), commonly abbreviated to NZ First or NZF, is a political party in New Zealand, founded and led by Winston Peters, who has served three times as Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand, deputy prime minister. The party has form ...
list MP
Ria Bond Ria Iris Daphne Bond (née Shortland, born 1976) is a New Zealand politician and former hairdresser. She was List of appointments to the New Zealand House of Representatives, appointed to the New Zealand House of Representatives, House of Repres ...
. During her first term, Dowie served on a range of select committees. She was deputy chairperson of the Government Administration committee, deputy chairperson of the Local Government and Environment committee and chairperson of the Justice and Electoral committee. In Dowie's second term, National was in Opposition. She was appointed to
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 t ...
' shadow cabinet as conservation spokesperson and one of only a few members who had not been a minister in the previous Government. In this role she campaigned against Conservation Minister
Eugenie Sage Eugenie Meryl Sage (born 1958) is a New Zealand environmentalist and former politician. She was a Green Party Member of Parliament in the New Zealand House of Representatives from 2011 to 2023. Sage served as Minister of Conservation, Minist ...
's proposed
tahr Tahrs ( , ) or tehrs ( ) are large artiodactyl ungulates related to goats and sheep. There are three species, all native to Asia. Previously thought to be closely related to each other and placed in a single genus, ''Hemitragus'', Genetics, ge ...
cull, supported recreational whitebaiting, and promoted a member's bill aimed at regulating the shark cage diving industry. She also opposed the Labour government's plans to merge the country's polytechnics into a single entity, Te Pūkenga – New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology.


Jami-Lee Ross scandal and retirement

Botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...
MP Jami-Lee Ross split from National in October 2018. Shortly after this
Newsroom A newsroom is the central place where journalists—reporters, editing, editors, and Television producer, producers, associate producers, news anchors, news designers, photojournalists, videojournalists, associate editor, residence editor, visu ...
reported that four women claimed to have been sexually harassed by Ross and Ross revealed in a radio interview that he had been having an affair with two women including a fellow MP. On 25 January 2019, that MP was revealed to be Dowie. Ross had disclosed her identity to news media in October 2018, but they chose not to name her until it was learned that a police investigation had been launched into a text message allegedly sent by Dowie to Ross. However, the police decided that no further action was needed. In 2019 Dowie was re-selected unopposed as National's Invercargill candidate, but in February 2020 announced her decision not to stand for re-election. Her change of heart was attributed to the fallout from the Ross scandal.
Southern Institute of Technology The Southern Institute of Technology (SIT; ) is a public tertiary education institution (NZ TEI), established in 1971. It is one of New Zealand's largest institutions of technology, with 12,579 enrolees in 2021, contributing to a total of ...
chief executive
Penny Simmonds Penelope Elsie Simmonds (born September 1959) is a New Zealand politician, Member of Parliament and a Minister in the House of Representatives for the National Party. She previously served as the chief executive of the Southern Institute of ...
was announced as the replacement candidate. Dowie delivered her valedictory speech on 29 July 2020. She criticised the news media for the way it portrayed her when the news broke of her relationship with Ross and accused journalists and political commentators of inaccurate reporting and “downright lies”. She described Ross as a “predator” who was able to “manipulate the media for his agenda” and said when the “media is directly party to it, it is the media fraternity that needs to audit themselves as to their ethics and their conscious peddling of sexism and patriarchy”. Dowie said if it takes for her to be “New Zealand’s ‘scarlet woman’ to highlight that situation, “then so be it”, and that New Zealand has a long way to go with how it views women. Her speech was met with a standing ovation by MPs throughout the debating chamber. Dowie gave a number of high-profile interviews with news media following the announcement of her retirement from Parliament, including with ''
New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation in New Zealand ...
'' senior writer David Fisher,
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’s Andrea Vance, and
Newsroom A newsroom is the central place where journalists—reporters, editing, editors, and Television producer, producers, associate producers, news anchors, news designers, photojournalists, videojournalists, associate editor, residence editor, visu ...
’s Melanie Reid. In these interviews she described Ross as psychologically, sexually and emotionally abusive and called for an overhaul of the way in which women MPs are treated. Dowie also wrote an op-ed for Newsroom providing advice to other women caught in abusive relationships including breaking off contact with the abuser and reaching out to and confiding in friends.


Post-Parliamentary career

In exit interviews, Dowie stated her intention to work as a consultant championing Southland and shepherding policy through central and local government. In January 2021 she was announced as the chief executive of Able Charitable Trust, a mental health charity.


Personal life

Sarah Dowie is married to Mark Billcliff, a former first class cricketer for
Otago Otago (, ; ) is a regions of New Zealand, region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island and administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local go ...
, but it is understood they have separated. Dowie has two young children.


References


External links


Sarah Dowie MP
official site {{DEFAULTSORT:Dowie, Sarah 1974 births Living people New Zealand National Party MPs Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Women members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand MPs for South Island electorates 21st-century New Zealand women politicians Candidates in the 2017 New Zealand general election