Ewen McQueen

Last updated January 10, 2025

Ewen McQueen is a New Zealand writer and social commentator who blogs at RenewNZ.^[1] From 2008 to 2018 he was involved in the National Party in the Epsom electorate. Prior to that was the leader of Christian Heritage NZ. McQueen has had opinion pieces^[2] published in newspapers around New Zealand and on the Stuff website. These include articles on family values ^[3] issues, the Treaty of Waitangi,^[4] and New Zealand's Christian history.^[5]

Early years

McQueen was born in Palmerston North in 1965, although spent most of his youth in the North Shore (part of the greater Auckland area). He attended Takapuna Grammar School where he played for the first XV and was head prefect in 1983. McQueen graduated from the University of Auckland in 1990. His primary field of study at university was economics, in which he gained a Master's degree with honours in 1990. As part of his post graduate degree he completed a thesis entitled "A Christian Perspective on Neo-Classical Economics."

After graduating McQueen worked in the health sector in analyst, planning and management roles. His last role was as Business Manager for the Facilities & Development Group within the Auckland DHB.^[6]

Politics

Ewen McQueen was a member of the New Zealand National Party from 2007 until his resignation in June 2018^[7] because according to McQueen "family values... leadership is not going to come via the National Party." McQueen was a member of the National party's 2010/11 candidate college and sought selection as the National candidate in the North Shore electorate for the 2011 general election, losing to Maggie Barry.^[8] He also unsuccessfully sought selection for the Epsom seat.^[9]

Prior to joining the National Party McQueen joined the Christian Heritage Party in 1992, and stood as a Christian Heritage candidate on five occasions. Four of his campaigns were in the Auckland electorates of Eden, Epsom and Mt Roskill, but his most successful election campaign was in the Taranaki-King Country by-election in 1998. In this by-election he polled ahead of both the NZ First and Green candidates. He also served as his party's Deputy Leader and Finance Spokesperson until 1999.

McQueen narrowly missed election to Parliament in the 1996 general election. He was ranked 4th on the Christian Coalition party list. The Coalition fell just under the MMP threshold.

In August 2003, McQueen was elected as the new leader of Christian Heritage NZ, and replaced the retiring Graham Capill. In October 2006, McQueen announced the closure of Christian Heritage NZ, blaming its demise on Graham Capill's criminal convictions, although he hoped to be involved with a new conservative Christian political party .^[10] That party did not eventuate and McQueen subsequently joined the National Party.

Social commentary

McQueen has had a number of articles published on economics and social values issues in newspapers across New Zealand including The New Zealand Herald , The Christchurch Press and The Taranaki Daily News and Otago Daily Times. He has a blog site, 'renewnz'. McQueen authored a book entitled One Sun in the Sky, which argues 19th century Maori did not expect co-governance to result from the Treaty of Waitangi, and Te Tiriti validly ceded sovereignty to the Crown.

Related Research Articles

Rātana is a Māori Christian church and movement, headquartered at Rātana Pā near Whanganui, New Zealand. The Rātana movement began in 1918, when Tahupōtiki Wiremu Ratana experienced visions, and began a mission of faith healing. In 1925 the Ratana Church was formed, and on 25 January 1928—T. W.'s 55th birthday, and "Rātana Day"—the church's iconic temple, Te Temepara Tapu o Ihoa was opened. From its beginning and through to the 20th century, the church has pursued political goals, and still welcomes political leaders to the Rātana Pā annually on Ratana's birthday. In the 2018 New Zealand census, 43,821 people identified with the religion.

The Christian Heritage Party of New Zealand was a New Zealand political party espousing Christian values and conservative views on social policy. Although it never won seats in an election, it came close to doing so in 1996 as part of the Christian Coalition and briefly had a member in Parliament.

ACT New Zealand, also known as the ACT Party or simply ACT, is a right-wing, classical liberal, right-libertarian, and conservative political party in New Zealand. It is currently led by David Seymour, and is in coalition with the National and New Zealand First parties, as part of the Sixth National government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Prebble</span> New Zealand politician (born 1948)

Richard William Prebble is a former member of the New Zealand Parliament. Initially a member of the Labour Party, he joined the newly formed ACT New Zealand party under Roger Douglas in 1996, becoming its leader from 1996 to 2004.

Jeanette Mary Fitzsimons was a New Zealand politician and environmentalist. She was the co-leader of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand from 1995 to 2009, and was a Member of Parliament from 1996 to 2010.

The Christian Coalition was an Evangelical Christian political party operating in New Zealand. It was an alliance of the now-defunct Christian Heritage Party and the Christian Democrats, New Zealand's two theologically conservative Christian parties. The Christian Coalition did not meet with the success that it hoped for, and was eventually dissolved.

Graham John Capill is a former New Zealand Christian leader, politician and convicted rapist.

Te Pāti Māori, also known as the Māori Party, is a political party in New Zealand advocating Māori rights. With the exception of a handful of general electorates, Te Pāti Māori contests the reserved Māori electorates, in which its main rival is the Labour Party.

Graeme Ernest Lee is a former New Zealand politician. Originally a National Party MP, he broke away to found the Christian Democrat Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pita Paraone</span> New Zealand politician (1945–2019)

Rewiti Pomare Kingi "Pita" Paraone was a New Zealand politician and chairman of the Waitangi National Trust Board. He was a member of the New Zealand First party.

Christopher Francis Finlayson is a New Zealand lawyer and former Member of Parliament, representing the National Party.

Seventy of the one hundred and twenty members of the New Zealand House of Representatives elected in New Zealand's 2008 general election will be from single member constituencies, an increase of one electorate seat from 2005. The initial composition of the 2005 Parliament gave the Labour and National parties each 31 constituencies, the Māori Party four and ACT, United Future and the Progressive Party one each.

Paul Jonathan Goldsmith is a New Zealand historian and politician. The biographer of several leading right-wing political and business figures, he was first elected a list member of the New Zealand House of Representatives for the National Party at the 2011 election.

David Breen Seymour is a New Zealand politician who has been the Leader of ACT New Zealand and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Epsom since 2014. He currently serves as the 1st Minister for Regulation in the Sixth National Government under Christopher Luxon.

The 2023 New Zealand general election was held on 14 October 2023 to determine the composition of the 54th Parliament of New Zealand. Voters elected 122 members to the unicameral New Zealand House of Representatives under the mixed-member proportional (MMP) voting system, with 71 members elected from single-member electorates and the remaining members elected from closed party lists. Of the 72 electorates, only 71 seats were filled, with the remaining electorate MP determined in the 2023 Port Waikato by-election, due to the death of one of the general election candidates. Two overhang seats were added due to Te Pāti Māori winning six electorate seats when the party vote only entitled them to four seats, with an additional overhang seat added after the by-election making for 123 members of parliament.

Debbie Anne Ngarewa-Packer is a New Zealand politician, iwi leader and activist. She is a Member of Parliament and co-leader of Te Pāti Māori alongside Rawiri Waititi, and is the chief executive of the Ngāti Ruanui iwi.

Camilla Vera Feslier Belich is a New Zealand lawyer, trade unionist and politician. She has been a Member of Parliament, representing the New Zealand Labour Party, since 2020.

Joseph Mooney is a New Zealand politician. In 2020 he was elected as a Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for the National Party in the Southland electorate.

Several polling firms conducted opinion polls during the term of the 53rd New Zealand Parliament (2020–2023) for the 2023 New Zealand general election. The regular polls are the quarterly polls produced by Television New Zealand (1News) conducted by Verian and Discovery New Zealand (Newshub) conducted by Reid Research, along with monthly polls by Roy Morgan, and by Curia. The sample size, margin of error and confidence interval of each poll varies by organisation and date.

This page lists candidates contesting electorates in the 2023 New Zealand general election.

References

↑ "RenewNZ". RenewNZ. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
↑ "opinion pieces". Renewnz.org. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
↑ "family values". Nzherald.co.nz. 31 May 2016. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
↑ "Treaty of Waitangi". Odt.co.nz. 6 February 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
↑ "Christian history". Stuff.co.nz. 21 November 2017. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
↑ "Business Manager". nz.linkedin.com.
↑ "Towards cultural, economic & spiritual renewal in New Zealand". RenewNZ. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
↑ Mapping out a new political landscape The Press, 20 April 2011
↑ Six seat National's Epsom spot stuff.co.nz, 26 June 2011
↑ "Christian Heritage NZ Closing Down". scoop.co.nz. 3 October 2006.