Deborah Russell

New Zealand Parliament

The Honourable Deborah Russell MP
Russell in 2023
32nd Minister of Statistics
In office 1 February 2023 –27 November 2023
Years	Term	Electorate	List	Party
2017 –2020	52nd	New Lynn	30		Labour
2020 –2023	53rd	New Lynn	33		Labour
2023 –present	54th	List	22		Labour

First term, 2017–2020

In February 2017, after a competitive selection process, Russell was chosen as Labour's 2017 candidate for New Lynn. She replaced former Labour Party leader David Cunliffe, who had, in the previous year, signalled his intention to retire from politics at the next election. ^[10] Russell promised to change her residence to the electorate if she was selected, and she now lives there. ^[9] Russell was ranked 30 on Labour's party list, up three places from 2014. ^[11] She won New Lynn with a margin of 2,825 votes over National's Paulo Garcia, and entered Parliament. ^[12]

In her first term, Russell was a member of the Environment Committee and the Finance and Expenditure Committee. ^{[13] [14]} She chaired the former from November 2017 until July 2019, and the latter from July 2019 until the 2020 election. ^{[14] [15]} In 2018, Russell promoted a member's bill (the Companies (Disclosure of Payment Practice and Performance) Amendment Bill) intended to improve transparency around large companies' payment practices. ^[16] The bill followed advocacy from small business owners and The Spinoff against a change made by Fonterra to move to 60-day payment terms rather than the standard 30-day payment terms. ^[16] Ultimately Russell chose to withdraw the bill because the government introduced similar legislation that addressed the same problem. ^[17]

Second term, 2020–2023

During the 2020 New Zealand general election, Russell retained the New Lynn electorate by a final margin of 13,134 votes. ^[18] She wrote a weekly campaign diary chronicling her re-election efforts which was published by Newsroom . ^[19]

In early November, Russell was appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Minister of Revenue. ^[20] She also chaired the special select committee that was established to scrutinise the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Bill. ^[14] Another member's bill in Russell's name, the Employment Relations (Extended Time for Personal Grievance for Sexual Harassment) Amendment Bill, was drawn from the ballot and introduced to Parliament in October 2021. The bill was eventually transferred into the name of Marja Lubeck (due to Russell's promotion to a ministerial position) and passed unanimously in June 2023. It provides employees with 12 months to raise a personal grievance related to sexual harassment, rather than the previous 90 days. ^[21]

In a cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Chris Hipkins on 31 January 2023 Russell was promoted to be a minister outside Cabinet as the Minister of Statistics and Minister responsible for the Earthquake Commission, succeeding David Clark, and additionally as an associate minister with responsibility in the justice and revenue portfolios. ^[22] She was responsible for the delivery of the 2023 New Zealand Census. ^[23] As Associate Minister of Justice, she received and announced the resignation of Meng Foon from his position of race relations commissioner over failures to declare conflicts of interests. ^{[24] [25]}

Third term, 2023–present

During the 2023 New Zealand general election, Russell lost the New Lynn electorate to National Party candidate Paulo Garcia by a margin of 1,013 votes. ^[26] However, she was re-elected to Parliament on the Labour party list. ^[27]

In late November 2023, Russell was appointed as spokesperson for revenue, science, innovation and technology, and associate spokesperson for education (tertiary) in the Shadow Cabinet of Chris Hipkins. ^[28] On 5 December 2023, Russell was granted retention of the title The Honourable , in recognition of her term as a member of the Executive Council. ^[29]

On 16 October 2024, Russell's private member's bill, the Family Proceedings (Dissolution for Family Violence) Amendment Act 2024, passed into law with unanimous parliamentary support. The bill exempts victims of domestic violence from the mandatory two year period needed to seek a divorce under New Zealand law. ^{[30] [31]}

Political views

In her 2017 maiden statement, Russell discussed her commitments to feminism and equality. ^[3] She has advocated for law changes to prevent multinational firms from "unfair[ly]" structuring their New Zealand operations in a way that enables them to minimise their tax bills. ^[32] In November 2019 she said she would like New Zealand to be "the most equal country in the world – full stop". ^[33]

On 22 April 2020, Russell drew media attention and public criticism when she made remarks during a video conference with the Epidemic Response Committee suggesting that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand highlighted a structural weakness in the small business sector. Russell had said:

"We are seeing a number of small businesses really struggling after only a few weeks in a pretty bad situation, which must speak to the strength of those small businesses going into this lockdown. It worries me that perhaps people went into small business without understanding how you might build a business or capitalise it in the first place so that you have the ongoing strength to survive a setback." ^[34]

Finance Minister Grant Robertson disagreed with her characterisation at the time, and ACT Party leader David Seymour subsequently suggested that these words were unsympathetic to small business. While many small business advisors and mentors agreed with Russell, she was criticised as being insensitive by left-wing commentator Chris Trotter, journalist Duncan Garner, and National Party MP Judith Collins. ^{[34] [35] [36]}

In her role as a tax academic in 2016, Russell tweeted that she did not support removing GST from fruit and vegetables. ^[37] That had been Labour Party policy in 2011, ^[38] before Russell became a Labour candidate, and became party policy again in 2023, after Russell had become a minister in the Labour Government. She commented that her view had changed because food prices were no longer as stable as they were in 2016 when the tweet was posted. ^[39]

Russell supported the passage of the Abortion Legislation Bill through all stages in 2019 and 2020. She voted in support of the End of Life Choice Bill at its first reading in 2017, but voted against the Bill in its final stages in 2019. At the second reading debate on the End of Life Choice Bill, she stated her support for the disabled community and her preference for improved medical care, living standards and treatment of disabled people over legalised euthanasia. ^[40]

References

1. Farrar, David (21 May 2020). "Labour's first selection". KiwiBlog. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
2. "The "Taranaki girl" who wants to win over New Lynn". Stuff . 6 March 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
3. "Address in Reply". New Zealand Parliament. 16 November 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
4. "Meet the backbencher: Deborah Russell". NZ Herald. 15 August 2023. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
5. "Deborah Russell". LinkedIn .
6. "Tax and Fairness – BWB Bridget Williams Books". www.bwb.co.nz. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
7. "Labour's first selection | Kiwiblog". 16 December 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
8. "Official Count Results – Rangitīkei". Electoral Commission. 10 October 2014. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
9. "Battle to replace Labour's David Cunliffe in New Lynn heats up". The New Zealand Herald . 25 January 2017. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
10. "Deborah Russell to stand for Labour in New Lynn". The New Zealand Herald . 11 February 2017. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
11. "Revised Labour Party List for the 2017 Election". Scoop.co.nz. 15 August 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
12. "Official Count Results – New Lynn (2017)". Electoral Commission. 7 October 2017. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
13. Foxcroft, Debrin (16 November 2017). "Deborah Russell gives her maiden speech to Parliament". Stuff. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
14. "Russell, Deborah – New Zealand Parliament". www.parliament.nz. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
15. "Winners and losers – PM reveals first substantive Cabinet reshuffle". Radio New Zealand. 27 June 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
16. Cormack, David (15 June 2018). "And everything was fine for small business forever more". The Spinoff. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
17. "Business Payment Practices Bill — First Reading – New Zealand Parliament". www.parliament.nz. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
18. "New Lynn – Official Result". Electoral Commission . Retrieved 12 November 2020.
19. "Deborah Russell". Newsroom. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
20. "Ministerial List for Announcement on Monday" (PDF). Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 2 November 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 November 2020. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
21. "More time for employees to report workplace sexual harassment". www.dentons.co.nz. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
22. "Prime Minister Chris Hipkins reveals Cabinet reshuffle". Radio NZ . 31 January 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
23. "Minister declares Census a 'success' despite return estimates falling short of target". RNZ. 29 June 2023. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
24. Wall, Tony (8 July 2023). "'Big commissioner, big personality, big mistake': How Meng Foon's job fighting racism came to an abrupt end". Stuff. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
25. Chapman, Madeleine (16 June 2023). "Race relations commissioner Meng Foon resigns over undeclared conflict of interest". The Spinoff. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
26. "New Lynn - Official Result". Electoral Commission. 3 November 2023. Archived from the original on 4 November 2023. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
27. "2023 General Election - Successful Candidates". Electoral Commission. 3 November 2023. Archived from the original on 24 November 2023. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
28. "Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins reveals new shadow Cabinet". Radio New Zealand . 30 November 2023. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
29. "Retention of the title "The Honourable"". New Zealand Gazette . 8 December 2023. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
30. Smith, Anneke (16 October 2024). "MPs united on divorce law change". Otago Daily Times . Retrieved 29 October 2024.
31. Graham-McClay, Charlotte (11 October 2024). "New Zealand exempts abuse victims from a forced two-year wait before they can seek divorce". Associated Press . Retrieved 16 October 2024.
32. "Deborah Russell: Govt has the means to make multinationals pay". NZ Herald. 15 August 2023. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
33. "Income tax rejig tipped as Labour ponders how to fill hole left by CGT failure". Stuff. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
34. Nadkarni, Aluja (22 April 2020). "Coronavirus: Labour MP Deborah Russell blames businesses for struggling during Covid-19 lockdown". Stuff . Archived from the original on 22 April 2020. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
35. Rutherford, Hamish (22 April 2020). "MP Deborah Russell says businesses struggling in lockdown must have had a lack of financial strength". The New Zealand Herald . Archived from the original on 22 April 2020. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
36. Small, Zane (22 April 2020). "Labour MP Deborah Russell facing backlash over 'tone-deaf', 'offensive' remarks on small businesses". Newshub . Archived from the original on 22 April 2020. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
37. "Why yes! GST reduction is swamped by seasonal variation and the biggest benefit goes to people who buy off season mangoes". Twitter. 3 April 2016. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
38. "Labour ditches GST plan". NZ Herald. 15 August 2023. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
39. "Live: Last remaining Covid-19 restrictions removed". Stuff. 14 August 2023. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
40. "End of Life Choice Bill — Second Reading – New Zealand Parliament". www.parliament.nz. Retrieved 14 August 2023.

External links

• Media related to Deborah Russell at Wikimedia Commons

New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by David Cunliffe	Member of Parliament for New Lynn 2017–2023	Succeeded by Paulo Garcia
Political offices
Preceded by David Clark	Minister of Statistics 2023	Succeeded by Andrew Bayly
	Minister Responsible for the Earthquake Commission 2023	Succeeded by Mark Mitchell as Minister for Emergency Management and Recovery