Amy Adams (politician)

Amy Juliet Adams (née Milnes; born 19 May 1971) is a member of the New Zealand Parliament and was Minister of Justice.[1]

The Honourable

Amy Adams

MP
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Selwyn
Assumed office
8 November 2008
Preceded byElectorate Re-established
Majority19,639
48th Minister of Justice
Minister for Courts
In office
8 October 2014 – 26 October 2017
Prime MinisterJohn Key
Bill English
Preceded byJudith Collins (Justice)
Chester Borrows (Courts)
Succeeded byAndrew Little
26th Minister for Social Housing
In office
20 December 2016 – 26 October 2017
Prime MinisterBill English
Preceded byPaula Bennett
Succeeded byPhil Twyford
Personal details
Born
Amy Juliet Milnes

(1971-05-19) 19 May 1971
Auckland, New Zealand
Political partyNational
Spouse(s)Don Adams
ChildrenTwo
ResidenceAylesbury
Alma materUniversity of Canterbury
ProfessionLawyer
Websiteamyadams.co.nz

Adams represents the Selwyn electorate and is a member of the National Party. She was the Minister of Justice, Minister for Communications, Associate Minister of Finance, Minister for Courts and Social Housing, and Minister Responsible for Housing New Zealand Corporation and Social Investment.

Early life

Adams was born in 1971. When she was two, her mother divorced, raising her and her sister Belinda alone.[2] Adams attended Rangitoto College on the North Shore of Auckland, where she was friends with Louise Upston[3] (also later a National Party politician), then graduated from the University of Canterbury with a Bachelor of Laws with First-Class Honours. Her first employment as a lawyer was in Invercargill, but she soon moved back to Canterbury.[2] She became a partner in the Christchurch law firm Mortlock McCormack.[2]

Political career
New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate List Party
2008–2011 49th Selwyn 52 National
2011–2014 50th Selwyn 28 National
2014–2017 51st Selwyn 15 National
2017–present 52nd Selwyn 7 National

Fifth National Government, 2008–2017

Adams was selected as the National party candidate for the Selwyn seat for the 2008 general election after a contested selection.[4] She won the Selwyn seat with a comfortable majority, achieving 60% of the electorate votes cast. This compares with the National Party achieving 55% of party votes.[5] In the 2014 election, she won more than 70% of the electorate votes based on preliminary results.[6][7]

In 2009 her Fair Trading (Soliciting on Behalf of Charities) Amendment Bill was drawn from the member's ballot.[8] The bill required fundraising companies to disclose the proportion of funds they passed on to the charities they collect for.[9] The bill passed its third reading in June 2012 and became the Fair Trading (Soliciting on Behalf of Charities) Amendment Act 2012.[10]

Adams was made Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee and the Electoral Legislation Committee for the final months of the 49th Parliament and was appointed a Cabinet Minister for Internal Affairs, Communications and Associate Earthquake Recovery after the National Party won a second term in Government.[11] After a reshuffle of cabinet responsibilities caused by the resignation of Nick Smith, Adams was made Minister for the Environment, while the responsibility for Internal Affairs was passed to Chris Tremain.

After National won the 2014 general election in September, Adams became the Minister of Justice, Minister for Courts, Minister of Broadcasting and Minister for Communications.[12]

Following the election of Bill English to Prime Minister, Adams also took on the roles of Minister for Social Housing, Minister Responsible for Social Investment and Minister Responsible for Housing, dropping the Broadcasting and Communications portfolio.[13]

Opposition, 2017–present

Following the formation of a Labour-led coalition government after the 2017 general election, English resigned as Leader and Adams contested the subsequent leadership election.[14] She placed runner-up behind Simon Bridges.[15] In Bridges' Shadow Cabinet Adams became National's spokesperson on finance and served on the "finance and expenditure" and "privileges" select committees.[16] On 22 January 2019, Adams was designated as the shadow Attorney General following the resignation of Christopher Finlayson.[17][18]

In June 2019, Adams announced that she would retire from politics at the 2020 general election, and that she would step down from her Shadow Cabinet roles immediately.[19] However after Todd Muller replaced Bridges as Leader following a leadership coup in May 2020, she rescinded her retirement and was given the party's Covid-19 Recovery portfolio and a ranking of 3 in the new Shadow Cabinet.[20]

Personal life

Adams' house in Aylesbury stands close to the fault line and epicentre of the 2010 Canterbury earthquake, which caused significant damage to her property, but inspection deemed it safe to live in.[21]

She and her husband Robert Donald "Don" Adams own three farms – in Darfield, Kirwee, and Te Kauwhata. The first two of these are sheep and crop farms in Canterbury, and within the area of the Central Plains Water scheme. Through their company Amdon Farms Ltd, they are shareholders of Central Plains Water.[22] The Te Kauwhata farm is located in the Waikato.[22]

Her sister Belinda Milnes was an advisor to Social Development Minister Paula Bennett, and when Bennett appointed her as Families Commissioner in 2013, the Opposition complained of cronyism.[23] David Ware, chief executive of NZX-listed company Team Talk, husband of Milnes and brother-in-law of Adams, has publicly criticised Adams in her role as Communications and Information Technology Minister, where government policies favour big telecommunications companies. Ware feels "dreadfully let down" by the Communications and Information Technology Minister.[24]

Views

Amy Adams describes herself as "socially liberal, economically conservative."[25] She considers herself a feminist and supported the Abortion Legislation Act 2020. She has defended abortion on the grounds of women's reproductive rights and urged religious opponents of abortion reform to stop teaching that contraception is a sin.[26][27] Adams has also voted in favour of legalising same-sex marriage and legalising assisted dying for people with terminal illnesses.

References
  1. "Amy Adams profile". Amy Adams. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
  2. Wright, Michael (11 October 2014). "Amy Adams on movies, mothering and money". The Press. p. A18.
  3. Vance, Andrea (22 July 2012). "Amy not afraid to speak her mind". Sunday Star-Times. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  4. Wilson, Peter (12 May 2008). "National selects Amy Adams for Selwyn Seat". National Business Review. NZPA. Archived from the original on 11 June 2011. Retrieved 26 December 2008.
  5. "Selwyn: Electoral Profile". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 10 December 2009.
  6. "Election Results – Selwyn". Electoral Commission. 21 September 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  7. Mathewson, Nicole; Stylianou, Georgina; Fulton, Tim (21 September 2014). "Election 2014: Canterbury decides". The Press. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  8. "Fair Trading (Soliciting on Behalf of Charities) Amendment Bill - First reading". New Zealand Parliament. 9 December 2009. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  9. "Bill forces donation disclosure". Stuff.co.nz. 9 December 2009. Retrieved 10 December 2009.
  10. "Fair Trading (Soliciting on Behalf of Charities) Amendment Act 2012". New Zealand Government. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  11. "Amy Adams". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
  12. "About Amy". National Party. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  13. "Adams, Amy". Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  14. Chang, Derek (14 February 2018). "Amy Adams announces bid for National leadership". The New Zealand Herald.
  15. "New National leader Simon Bridges: 'A great privilege'". Radio New Zealand. 27 February 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  16. "Hon Amy Adams". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  17. "Bennett named drug reform spokesperson in shadow cabinet reshuffle". Radio New Zealand. 22 January 2019. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  18. Coughlan, Thomas (22 January 2019). "Bridges begins year with a reshuffle". Newsroom. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  19. "National's Amy Adams retiring from politics at 2020 election". New Zealand Herald. 25 June 2019. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  20. National leader Todd Muller reshuffles caucus: Adams rises, Tolley falls in new lineup. Radio New Zealand. 25 May 2020. Archived from the original on 25 May 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  21. YouTube video
  22. Strongman, Susan (18 March 2014). "Columnist stands by Amy Adams claims". Taranaki Daily News. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  23. Davison, Isaac (20 July 2013). "It's jobs for the mates – Labour slams Nats". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 12 October 2014.
  24. Vance, Andrea (11 December 2012). "Brother-in-law slams minister's frequency plans". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 12 October 2014.
  25. Kirk, Stacey; Cooke, Henry; Walters, Laura (14 February 2018). "Simon Bridges, Judith Collins and Amy Adams mount National Party leadership bids". Stuff. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  26. Adams, Amy (19 March 2020). "'I trust women. I trust women': National MP Amy Adams speaks on abortion". The Spinoff. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  27. Small, Zane (19 March 2020). "'Go Amy!' National MP praised for abortion speech calling out intolerance from religious groups". Newshub. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
New Zealand Parliament
In abeyance
Title last held by
David Carter		 Member of Parliament for Selwyn
2008–present		 Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
Nathan Guy		 Minister for Internal Affairs
2011–2012		 Succeeded by
Chris Tremain
Preceded by
Steven Joyce		 Minister for Communications and Information Technology
2011–2017		 Succeeded by
Clare Curran
Preceded by
Nick Smith		 Minister for the Environment
2012–2014		 Succeeded by
Nick Smith
Preceded by
Chester Borrows		 Minister for Courts
2014–2017		 Succeeded by
Andrew Little
Preceded by
Judith Collins		 Minister of Justice
2014–2017
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