Simon David Upton (born 7 February 1958) is a former

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

politician and member of Parliament from 1981 to 2001, representing the National Party, and the current

Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment __NOTOC__ The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (''Te Kaitiaki Taiao a Te Whare Pāremata'' in Māori language, Māori) is an independent Officer of the New Zealand Parliament appointed by the Governor-General of New Zealand, Govern ...

Early life

Upton was educated at Southwell School,

St Paul's Collegiate School St Paul's Collegiate School is a private (independent) Anglican secondary school in Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton, New Zealand. Opened in 1959 originally as a boys only school, the school began admitting girls in years 12 to 13 in 1985, then ...

and the

University of Auckland The University of Auckland (; Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. Initially loc ...

, where he gained degrees in English literature, music and law, and

Wolfson College, Oxford Wolfson College () is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Wolfson is an all-graduate college, it prides itself on being one of the most international colleges at Oxford, with part ...

, as a

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international Postgraduate education, postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Esta ...

Member of Parliament

Having joined the National Party in 1976, he served as Chairman of the New Zealand Young Nationals among other positions and became the then-youngest MP for

Waikato The Waikato () is a region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipā District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the nort ...

in the 1981 election. In the 1984 election, he was elected MP for Raglan, which he held until the 1996 election, when he chose to become a

list MP A list MP is a member of parliament (MP) elected from a party list rather than a geographic electoral district. The place in Parliament is due to the number of votes the party won, not to votes received by the MP personally. This occurs only in ...

Cabinet minister

Upton became one of New Zealand's youngest ever Ministers in the Cabinet in 1990, when he became

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare spending and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental heal ...

, Minister for the Environment, and Minister of Research, Science and Technology. As Environment minister, Upton promoted the enactment of the

Resource Management Act 1991 The Resource Management Act (RMA) passed in 1991 in New Zealand is a significant, and at times, controversial Act of Parliament. The RMA promotes the sustainable management of natural and physical resources such as land, air and water. New Zea ...

. He was responsible for establishing the Crown Research Institutes. One of Upton's most controversial actions whilst holding the health portfolio was introducing public hospital outpatient charges of $50 per night, this was later abandoned as the 1993 election approached. He also has an interest in

sustainable development Sustainable development is an approach to growth and Human development (economics), human development that aims to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.United Nations General ...

, and chaired the

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...

's Round Table on Sustainable Development and is a founding member of the Board of the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction. Upton was sworn to the Privy Council in 1999. After National was defeated at the 1999 election Upton was appointed Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs, Superannuation and Culture and Heritage by leader Jenny Shipley.

Life after politics

He resigned from Parliament in 2001, and moved to France. He took up a full-time post at the

as the chair of the Round Table on Sustainable Development which he held until 2005. He was also a part-time consultant at

PriceWaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, alon ...

for several years. In April 2010 he was appointed as the head of the

Environment Directorate, in Paris, France. In April 2017, he was appointed by Parliament to be the next

. He replaced the previous commissioner, Dr Jan Wright, when her second five-year term ended in October 2017.

Personal life

He has two adult children.

Notes

References

External links

Simon Upton's websiteNZ Vice Chancellors' Committee
(PDF) "1982/Rt Hon Simon David Upton/Auckland/Wolfson " , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Upton, Simon 1958 births Alumni of Wolfson College, Oxford New Zealand Rhodes Scholars Living people Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand New Zealand National Party MPs University of Auckland alumni New Zealand members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom New Zealand list MPs New Zealand MPs for North Island electorates Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives People educated at St Paul's Collegiate School 21st-century New Zealand politicians Environment ministers of New Zealand Ministers of health of New Zealand