Michael Wood (New Zealand politician)

Michael Philip Wood (born 10 May 1980) is a New Zealand politician and, since winning the Mount Roskill by-election in December 2016, a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives. He is a member of the Labour Party.


Michael Wood

28th Minister of Transport
Assumed office
6 November 2020
Prime MinisterJacinda Ardern
Preceded byPhil Twyford
4th Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety
Assumed office
6 November 2020
Prime MinisterJacinda Ardern
Preceded byAndrew Little
Deputy Leader of the House
Assumed office
6 November 2020
Prime MinisterJacinda Ardern
Preceded byIain Lees-Galloway
Chief Government Whip in the House of Representatives
In office
27 June 2019  2 November 2020
Prime MinisterJacinda Ardern
Preceded byRuth Dyson
Succeeded byKieran McAnulty
Parliamentary Under-Secretary
for Ethnic Communities
In office
26 October 2017  27 June 2019
Prime MinisterJacinda Ardern
MinisterJenny Salesa
Succeeded byPriyanca Radhakrishnan
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Mount Roskill
Assumed office
3 December 2016
Preceded byPhil Goff
Majority13,853
Personal details
Born (1980-05-10) 10 May 1980
Political partyLabour
Spouse(s)Julie Fairey
Children3

Early life

Wood was born in 1980. While a university student Wood worked as a Christmas tree salesman. After finishing university he initially worked in retail jobs for several years, including at Hugh Wright's, a men's clothing store. He joined the union movement, and worked as an organiser as a senior negotiator for the financial sector union Finance and Information Workers Union. He then joined Habitat for Humanity as an advisor working on several issues such as their health and safety procedures.[1][2]

Political career

In 1998, his first year at university, he became critical of the direction of New Zealand under the Fourth National Government, confirmed by that years power crisis in Auckland. Wood reflected that the period was "...a sign that things weren’t working well in our society". He joined Princes Street Labour and later took part in the Hikoi for Hope as well.[2]

Wood stood in Pakuranga during the 2002 and 2005 elections and was on the Labour Party list in 2008. In 2010 he was elected to the Puketāpapa Local Board representing Roskill Community Voice. He was the Labour candidate during the 2011 Botany by-election and in the 2014 election stood in Epsom.[3][4]

After serving as the Mount Roskill Labour electorate chairman, in June 2016 he was selected as the Labour party's electorate candidate for the 2017 election following Phil Goff announcing he would instead contest the 2016 Auckland mayoralty election. Goff endorsed Wood as his successor.[5][6]

Member of Parliament

New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate Party
20162017 51st Mt Roskill Labour
20172020 52nd Mt Roskill 27 Labour
2020present 53rd Mt Roskill 23 Labour

Following Goff's election to the Auckland mayoralty and resignation as a Member of Parliament in October 2016, Wood was confirmed as the candidate for the Mt Roskill by-election.[7] Turnout was above average for a by-election, and Wood received more than twice as many votes as his closest rival, Parmjeet Parmar of the National Party.[8]

On 16 December 2016, he was named as the Labour Party's spokesman on Consumer Affairs, Ethnic Communities, and Revenue. On 7 February 2017, the first sitting day of Parliament since his election, he took the House of Representatives' Oath of Allegiance.[9] Wood retained the Mount Roskill electorate in 2017, preserving his large majority.[10]

Wood was sworn in as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Ethnic Communities following the formation of the Sixth Labour Government.[11][12]

In a June 2019 reshuffle, Wood was promoted to Chief Government Whip, succeeding Ruth Dyson.[13] Since 25 March 2020, Wood has been a member of the Epidemic Response Committee, a select committee that considers the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[14]

During the 2020 New Zealand general election, Wood was re-elected in Mount Roskill by a final margin of 13,853 votes, defeating the National Party's candidate Parmjeet Parmar.[15] Wood was promoted to cabinet following the 2020 election, becoming Minister of Transport, Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety, and Deputy Leader of the House.[16][17]

Political positions

Wood was opposed to End of Life Choice and in favour of legalising recreational cannabis.[2]

Personal life

Wood lives in Roskill South with his wife Julie and their three sons. For several years he was the main caregiver for his children.[2]

References

  1. "Michael Wood". New Zealand Labour Party. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
  2. Young, Audrey (13 January 2021). "Meet the Minister: Michael Wood - Transport and Workplace relations". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  3. "Official Count Results – Botany". Electoral Commission. 16 March 2011. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  4. Electoral Commission (10 October 2014). "Official Count Results – Epsom". Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  5. Trevett, Claire (13 June 2016). "Labour names Michael Wood for Mt Roskill to take over Phil Goff". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
  6. Trevett, Claire (12 June 2016). "Labour Party selects Michael Wood to replace Phil Goff as Mt Roskill candidate". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
  7. Saxton, Amanda (9 October 2016). "Parties ramping up for Mt Roskill by-election". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
  8. "Mt Roskill by-election: Labour candidate builds healthy lead". Radio New Zealand. 3 December 2016. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  9. "Daily progress for Tuesday, 7 February 2017".
  10. "Mt Roskill – Official Result". Electoral Commission. 7 October 2017.
  11. "Jacinda Ardern reveals ministers of new government". The New Zealand Herald. 25 October 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  12. "Ministerial List". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  13. "Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's cabinet reshuffle - the ups and downs". Stuff.co.nz. 27 June 2019. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
  14. "Epidemic response". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  15. "Mt Roskill - Official Result". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  16. "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.
  17. Sowman-Lund, Stewart (2 November 2020). "Live updates, November 2: Full cabinet list: Deputy PM Grant Robertson, Twyford demoted". The Spinoff. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by
Phil Goff
Member of Parliament for Mount Roskill
2016–present
Succeeded by
Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
Phil Twyford
Minister of Transport
2020–present
Incumbent
Preceded by
Andrew Little
Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety
2020–present
Preceded by
Iain Lees-Galloway
Deputy Leader of the House
2020–present
Party political offices
Preceded by
Ruth Dyson
Senior Whip of the Labour Party
2019–2020
Succeeded by
Kieran McAnulty
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.