Willow-Jean Prime

Willow-Jean Prime (née Downs; born 1983)[1][2] 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.

Willow-Jean Prime

MP
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Northland
Assumed office
17 October 2020
Preceded byMatt King
Majority163
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Labour Party list
In office
23 September 2017 – 17 October 2020
Personal details
Born
Willow-Jean Downs

1983 (age 37–38)
Political partyLabour
Spouse(s)Dion
Children2
Alma materUniversity of Waikato

Personal life

Prime is of Te Kapotai, Ngati Hine and Ngapuhi descent[3][4] and grew up in Northland.[5] Her father Barry (d. 2018)[2] was a train driver; she learnt to drive a train before a car and wanted to follow her father's career but was advised at school that women could not drive trains. Prime played basketball at school and was offered a scholarship to play in the United States.[6] Prime has a Master of Laws from Waikato University, focusing on recent developments in Treaty settlements, Māori governance and indigenous development.[7] She also has a conjoint Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws and a post-graduate Diploma of Māori and Pacific Development with distinction. She has worked as a solicitor.[6]

She lives near Pakaraka with her husband Dion, who is a teacher, and has two children.[6] She was pregnant during both her 2015 and 2017 election campaigns.[8][4]

Political career
New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate List Party
2017–2020 52nd List 17 Labour
2020–present 53rd Northland 36 Labour

Local government

Prime began her political career when she was elected to the Far North District Council for Bay of Islands-Whangaroa in 2013;[3] she was the youngest person on the council at age 30.[6] She was re-elected for a second term in 2016.[3]

Unsuccessful campaigns for Parliament

Prime first ran for parliament in 2014. She ran for the Northland electorate, placing second with 29% of the vote.[9] She was placed 34th on Labour's party list for the election,[10] which due to a poor result by Labour was not enough to enter Parliament.

She ran again for the Northland electorate in its by-election of 2015. The seat was strategically relevant as New Zealand First leader Winston Peters threatened to unseat the safe National position. Polls showed a close race between Peters and the National candidate, Mark Osborne, with Prime third on around 16 to 20% of the vote, but also that Peters would win if Prime withdrew from the race. Labour Party leader Andrew Little did not oppose strategic voting, saying, "We have a candidate in the race, and she's a good candidate, and she's somebody who we want in Parliament. I have a duty to back her. But in the end, I want Northlanders to exercise their choice, to see that they could make a difference here. If they want to send a message to the government that we are sick and tired of being neglected, then they know what their choice is."[11] Ultimately, Peters won the by-election and Prime came third with 4.7% of the vote.[12]

Election to Parliament

Prime ran again in Northland at the 2017 general election. Labour placed her 16th on its party list,[4] later moving her to 17th following a reshuffle.[13] This high ranking almost guaranteed her entry to Parliament.[4] On the initial list, Prime had the highest Labour rank for a Māori candidate,[8] though after the reshuffle deputy leader Kelvin Davis was placed above her.[14] Prime said she would resign her seat in the Far North District Council should she be elected to Parliament.[4] Prime again did not win the Northland electorate, but entered parliament via the party list.[15]

Following a cabinet reshuffle on 27 June 2019, Prime was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary for Local Government.[16]

Prime ran again in the 2020 general election, still contesting Northland but this time moved down to 36th on the Labour party list. Northland was again an important electorate; New Zealand First was polling poorly, but if its candidate Shane Jones could win Northland it would stay in Parliament. Unlike the 2015 by-election, Prime and Labour offered no support to New Zealand First in Northland. Prime would not tell Northlanders to vote for Jones, saying “The prime minister has been clear that we haven’t made those sorts of deals before and we won’t now.”[17] While preliminary results indicated she had again lost the Northland electorate to the National candidate Matt King,[18] the final count released on 6 November gave her a victory with a majority of 163 votes.[19][20] King initially said that he would request a recount,[21] but the next day changed his mind as he had concluded that there was little chance of overturning the result.[22]

Following the 2020 election, Prime was appointed as Labour's assistant whip on 2 November.[23]

References
  1. "Roll of members of the New Zealand House of Representatives, 1854 onwards" (PDF). New Zealand Parliament. 24 May 2019. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  2. "MP's father dies". The Northland Age. 13 September 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  3. Moir, Jo (2 May 2017). "Winners and losers: Who is up and who is down on the Labour Party list?". Stuff. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  4. Collins, Mikaela (3 May 2017). "Northland's Willow-Jean Prime celebrating position on the Labour Party List". The Northern Advocate. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
  5. "Willow-Jean Prime". Labour Party. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  6. Ling, Jenny (30 September 2020). "Election profile: Willow-Jean Prime sits down for a coffee and korero in Moerewa". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  7. "Willow-Jean Prime". University of Waikato. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  8. Nathan, Dean (2 May 2017). "Willow-Jean Prime welcomes new list rank and news of second pēpi". Māori Television. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  9. "Official Count Results – Northland". Electoral Commission. 21 December 2014. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  10. "Labour List for the 2014 Election Announced". www.scoop.co.nz. 23 June 2014. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  11. Kirk, Stacey (9 March 2015). "Andrew Little prods Northland to vote for Winston Peters". Stuff. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  12. "Official Count Results -- Northland". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  13. New Zealand Labour Party (15 August 2017). "Revised Labour Party List for the 2017 Election". www.scoop.co.nz. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  14. "Revised Labour Party List for the 2017 Election". Scoop.co.nz. 15 August 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  15. "Successful Candidates". Electoral Commission. 23 September 2017. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
  16. "Winners and losers – PM reveals first substantive Cabinet reshuffle". Radio New Zealand. 27 June 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  17. Piper, Denise (19 September 2020). "Election 2020: How poor, rural Northland could decide the election". Stuff. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  18. "Northland - Preliminary Count". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  19. "Northland - Official Result". Electoral Commission. 6 November 2020. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  20. "Special votes: National loses two MPs, one each to Labour, Māori Party". Radio New Zealand. 6 November 2020. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  21. Manch, Thomas (6 November 2020). "Live: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern responds to the final election and referendum results". Stuff. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  22. Clent, Danielle (7 November 2020). "Election 2020: National's Matt King won't ask for recount after losing Northland". Stuff. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  23. "Willow-Jean Prime". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by
Matt King		 Member of Parliament for Northland
2020–present		 Incumbent
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