Kate Wilkinson (politician)

Last updated

New Zealand Parliament
The Honourable
Kate Wilkinson
Kate Wilkinson crop.jpg
38th Minister of Labour
In office
19 November 2008 –5 November 2012
YearsTermElectorateListParty
2005 –2008 48th List 38 National
2008 –2011 49th List 30 National
2011 –2014 50th Waimakariri 17 National
Wilkinson, as the Minister of Conservation, presenting the 2010 Loder Cup 2010 Loder Cup Presentation 024.jpg
Wilkinson, as the Minister of Conservation, presenting the 2010 Loder Cup

In the 2005 election, Wilkinson was a candidate for the National Party, standing in the Waimakariri electorate and ranked 38th on the party list. She entered Parliament as a list MP. [3] She has made a successful start to her career in politics, rising to 28th on the list, and eventually becoming a Cabinet minister. Although unsuccessful in terms of electorate vote again (losing to incumbent Clayton Cosgrove of the Labour Party by 390 votes in the 2008 election – the second narrowest margin in the country), National won a commanding margin in the party vote.

In the 2011 election Wilkinson overturned incumbent Clayton Cosgrove's 390 vote majority to win by 642 votes, as well as winning the party vote in the electorate by more than 12,000 votes. [4]

In the 49th and 50th New Zealand Parliaments, Wilkinson served as Associate Minister of Conservation (2009–2010), Minister of Conservation (2010–2013), [5] Minister for Food Safety (until 2013), Associate Minister of Immigration (until 2013), and Minister of Labour (2011–2012). [6]

Folic acid criticism

Wilkinson was criticised for her decision not to mandate the addition of folic acid to bread sold to the public. Paediatric Society Doctor Andrew Marshall said "making folic acid mandatory would prevent 10 to 20 birth defects, such as spina bifida, a year", as well as strokes and other disease. [7]

Resignation as Minister of Labour

Wilkinson resigned her portfolio as Minister of Labour on 5 November 2012, following the publication of the Royal Commission of Inquiry's report into the 2010 Pike River Mine disaster. It stated that there were major flaws in the Department of Labour, and recommended "sweeping changes" into the department. [8] In a statement, Prime Minister John Key said, "Ms Wilkinson's decision to resign is a personal decision in response to the magnitude of the tragedy. It is the honourable thing to do. I considered it proper for me to accept her resignation from the Labour portfolio." She retained her other portfolios and was succeeded in the Labour portfolio by Chris Finlayson.

Wilkinson however was not asked to step down from her other portfolios in Conservation, Food Safety, and Associate Immigration. [9] She was removed from cabinet in the reshuffle of January 2013. [6]

On 31 January 2013 Wilkinson was granted the right to retain the title of The Honourable for life in recognition of her term as a Member of the Executive Council of New Zealand. [10]

Retirement from politics

Wilkinson announced in November 2013 that she would retire at the end of the term of the 50th Parliament. [1] Matt Doocey, who contested the 2013 Christchurch East by-election, [11] was selected by the National Party to replace Wilkinson, and retained the seat with an increased majority at the 2014 election. [12]

Post-political career

After retiring from politics, Wilkinson lived on her family farm at Swannanoa in Canterbury. [13] She was appointed Commissioner of the Environment Court in May 2015. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Moore (New Zealand politician)</span> Prime Minister of New Zealand in 1990

Michael Kenneth Moore was a New Zealand politician, union organiser, and author. In the Fourth Labour Government he served in several portfolios including minister of foreign affairs, and was the 34th prime minister of New Zealand for 59 days before the 1990 general election elected a new parliament. Following Labour's defeat in that election, Moore served as Leader of the Opposition until the 1993 election, after which Helen Clark successfully challenged him for the Labour Party leadership.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lianne Dalziel</span> New Zealand politician

Lianne Audrey Dalziel is a New Zealand politician and former Mayor of Christchurch. Prior to this position, she was a member of the New Zealand Parliament for 23 years, serving as Minister of Immigration, Commerce, Minister of Food Safety and Associate Minister of Justice in the Fifth Labour Government. She resigned from Cabinet on 20 February 2004 after apparently lying about a leak of documents to the media, but was reinstated as a Minister following Labour's return to office after the 2005 election. She resigned from Parliament effective 11 October 2013 to contest the Christchurch mayoral election. The incumbent, Bob Parker, decided not to stand again. She was widely regarded as the top favourite and won with a wide margin to become the 46th Mayor of Christchurch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Carter (politician)</span> New Zealand politician

Sir David Cunningham Carter is a New Zealand National Party politician who served as the 29th Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives from 2013 to 2017 and as a Cabinet Minister in the Fourth and Fifth National Governments. He represented the Selwyn electorate in the 44th Parliament and the Banks Peninsula electorate in the 45th Parliament. He served as a list MP from 1999 until he retired at the 2020 election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clayton Cosgrove</span> New Zealand politician

Clayton James Cosgrove is a former New Zealand politician. He is a member of the Labour Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruth Dyson</span> New Zealand Labour Party politician

Ruth Suzanne Dyson is a former New Zealand politician. She was a Labour Party Member of Parliament from 1993 to 2020. She represented the Port Hills electorate from the 2008 election election to 2020. She also held a number of senior offices in the Labour Party, including president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicky Wagner</span> New Zealand teacher, businesswoman and politician

Nicola Joanne Wagner is a New Zealand teacher, businesswoman and politician. She represented the Christchurch Central electorate for the New Zealand National Party in the New Zealand Parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Little (New Zealand politician)</span> New Zealand politician

Andrew James Little is a New Zealand lawyer, former politician and former trade union official. He was Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2014 to 2017 and a senior minister in the Labour governments led by Jacinda Ardern and Chris Hipkins from 2017 to 2023, including as Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, Minister of Justice, Minister of Health and Minister of Defence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christchurch Central</span> Electoral district in Canterbury, New Zealand

Christchurch Central is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate in the South Island city of Christchurch. The electorate was established for the 1946 election and, until 2011 had always been won by the Labour Party. Since 2008, the incumbent was Brendon Burns but the election night results for the 2011 election resulted in a tie; the special vote results combined with a judicial recount revealed a 47-vote majority for Nicky Wagner, the National list MP based in the electorate. Wagner significantly increased her winning margin in the 2014 election after having declared the electorate "unwinnable" for National earlier in the year following a boundary review. At the 2017 election Wagner lost the seat to Labour's Duncan Webb, who retained it at the 2020 election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waimakariri (New Zealand electorate)</span> Electoral district in Canterbury, New Zealand

Waimakariri is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate, formed for the 1996 election and returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives. The MP for Waimakariri is Matt Doocey of the National Party. He has held this position since the 2014 election and takes over from Kate Wilkinson, who defeated Clayton Cosgrove (Labour) in the 2011 election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2011 New Zealand general election</span> General election in New Zealand

The 2011 New Zealand general election took place on Saturday 26 November 2011 to determine the membership of the 50th New Zealand Parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Megan Woods</span> New Zealand politician

Megan Cherie Woods is a New Zealand Labour Party politician who served as a Cabinet Minister in the Sixth Labour Government and has served as Member of Parliament for Wigram since 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meka Whaitiri</span> New Zealand politician

Melissa Heni Mekameka Whaitiri is a New Zealand politician and former member of the New Zealand House of Representatives. She was first elected to Parliament in the 2013 Ikaroa-Rāwhiti by-election for the Labour Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2013 Christchurch East by-election</span> New Zealand by-election

A by-election was held in the New Zealand electorate of Christchurch East on 30 November 2013. The seat was vacated following the resignation of Lianne Dalziel of the Labour Party from parliament, who contested and won the Christchurch mayoralty in October 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poto Williams</span> New Zealand politician

Munokoa Poto Williams is a New Zealand Labour Party politician and a member of Parliament. She was elected in a 2013 by-election and served as Minister of Conservation and Minister for Disability Issues in the Sixth Labour Government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jenny Salesa</span> New Zealand politician

Jennifer Teresia Salesa is a New Zealand politician and member of the Labour Party who has served as a Member of Parliament since 2014. She was first elected as MP for Manukau East, and after its abolition in 2020 won the replacement electorate of Panmure-Ōtāhuhu. She served as a Cabinet Minister in the Sixth Labour Government as Minister for Building and Construction, Minister of Customs and Minister for Ethnic Communities from 2017 until 6 November 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Priyanca Radhakrishnan</span> New Zealand politician

Priyanca Radhakrishnan is a New Zealand politician who has been elected to the New Zealand parliament since the 2017 general election as a representative of the New Zealand Labour Party and was Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector from 2020 to 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt Doocey</span> New Zealand politician (born 1972)

Matthew Maurice Doocey is a New Zealand politician who was elected to the New Zealand Parliament at the 2014 general election as a representative of the New Zealand National Party. He was re-elected in 2017 with a majority increase of over 10,000 which was a significant increase from a majority of 2,500 in 2014. It was reported that this was the largest personal vote increase in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jan Tinetti</span> New Zealand politician

Janette Rose Tinetti is a New Zealand politician and a Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for the Labour Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willow-Jean Prime</span> New Zealand politician

Willow-Jean Prime is a New Zealand politician who was elected to the New Zealand Parliament at the 2017 general election as a list representative of the New Zealand Labour Party. At the 2020 election, she won the electorate of Northland by 163 votes, the closest election of the 2020 cycle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rachel Brooking</span> New Zealand Labour Party politician

Rachel Jane Brooking is a New Zealand Labour Party politician and Member of Parliament who served as the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries and Minister for Food Safety in the Sixth Labour Government. She first became an MP at the 2020 New Zealand general election. She is a lawyer by profession.

References

  1. 1 2 Conway, Glenn (8 November 2013). "Wilkinson to fall on her sword". The Press . p. A7.
  2. ↑ "About Kate". 10 August 2013. Archived from the original on 10 August 2013. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  3. ↑ "New Zealand Parliament – Wilkinson, Kate". Parliament.nz. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  4. ↑ New Zealand Electoral Commission. "Official Count Results – Waimakariri". Electionresults.org.nz. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  5. ↑ "John Key announces Cabinet reshuffle". The New Zealand Herald . 26 January 2010. Retrieved 26 January 2010.
  6. 1 2 "Nick Smith returns to Cabinet". The Press . 22 January 2013. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  7. ↑ "Folic acid decision 'missed opportunity'". One News . TVNZ. 1 September 2012. Archived from the original on 11 September 2012. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
  8. ↑ "Charge Pike River bosses, families say". Auckland: Stuff. 5 November 2012. Retrieved 5 November 2012.
  9. ↑ "Labour Minister Kate Wilkinson resigns in Pike River report fallout". 3 News NZ. 5 November 2012.
  10. ↑ "Retention of the Title 'The Honourable'" (31 January 2013) 11 The New Zealand Gazette 359 at 379.
  11. ↑ Cooper, Emily (8 September 2014). "Cosgrove fights to win back Waimakariri". 3 News . Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  12. ↑ Mathewson, Nicole; Stylianou, Georgina (21 September 2014). "National holds Waimakariri". The Press. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  13. ↑ "My experience with Environment Court and Landcare Research". Rotary Club of Christchurch Sunrise. 1 September 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  14. ↑ "Kate Wilkinson appointed to Environment Court". The New Zealand Herald . 27 May 2015. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Waimakariri
2011–2014		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Labour
2008–2012		Succeeded by
Chris Finlayson (acting)
Preceded by Minister of Conservation
2010–2013		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister for Food Safety
2008–2013		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.