Tim van de Molen

Born to two primary school teachers and one of five children, van de Molen grew up mainly in Matamata and lives in Tamahere, Waikato. As of 2017 he had never lived outside of the Waikato region apart from an OE. He has a degree in social sciences with a psychology major.[2]

He has worked as a farmer; in 2013, he won the NZ Young Farmer of the Year Award and was runner up in 2011, and he bought a farm when he was 29 years old. He has also worked as a rural manager for Rabobank, as well as in the army, in tourism, and for St John ambulance.[2][3][4][5][6]

Van de Molen is married to his wife Hilary and has a daughter and son.[2]

At the 2017 general election van de Molen stood in the electorate of Waikato. He had not previously stood for parliament or other office. Van de Molen was selected by National to replace Lindsay Tisch as their candidate who had decided not not to seek re-election. Van de Molen was expected to win; the Waikato electorate has been held by the National Party since 1938.[2] Van de Molen easily won the Waikato seat with 61% of the electorate vote.[7] He said his focuses in his first term would be improving broadband in rural areas and advancing a Waikato medical school to train rural GPs.[6]

In 2018, van de Molen took on the role of the National Party's Third Whip, subordinate to the party's Senior Whip.[8] He also served on the Primary Production and the Transport and Infrastructure select committees during this term.[9]

In the 2020 general election, van de Molen again stood for Waikato. In his campaign he said that agriculture and transport remained his focus, including advocating for the Cambridge to Piarere expressway extension and seeking reduced expectation for farming to make drastic changes around the environment without support.[10] He retained the seat with 51% of the electorate vote.[11]