Damien O'Connor

Damien Peter O'Connor (born 16 January 1958) is a New Zealand politician from the West Coast of the South Island. He is a member of the Labour Party, Member of Parliament and a cabinet minister.


Damien O'Connor

MP
34th Minister of Agriculture
Assumed office
26 October 2017
Prime MinisterJacinda Ardern
Preceded byVacant (last held by David Carter)
Minister for Biosecurity
Assumed office
26 October 2017
Prime MinisterJacinda Ardern
Preceded byVacant (last held by David Carter)
Minister for Food Safety
Assumed office
26 October 2017
Prime MinisterJacinda Ardern
Preceded byDavid Bennett
Minister for Rural Communities
Assumed office
26 October 2017
Prime MinisterJacinda Ardern
Preceded byOffice Created
17th Minister of Tourism
In office
19 October 2005  19 November 2008
Prime MinisterHelen Clark
Succeeded byJohn Key
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for West Coast-Tasman
Assumed office
26 November 2011
Preceded byChris Auchinvole
In office
12 October 1996  8 November 2008
Preceded bySeat established
Succeeded byChris Auchinvole
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Labour Party list
In office
5 May 2009  26 November 2011
Preceded byMichael Cullen
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for West Coast
In office
6 November 1993  12 October 1996
Preceded byMargaret Moir
Succeeded bySeat abolished
Personal details
Born (1958-01-16) 16 January 1958
Westport, New Zealand
NationalityNew Zealand
Political partyLabour
RelationsGreg O'Connor (cousin)
Alma materLincoln University
CommitteesPrimary Production Committee

Early years

O'Connor was born in Westport in 1958.[1] He attended primary school in his home town before going on to St Bede's College, Christchurch, a Roman Catholic school, and Lincoln University.

Before becoming an MP, he worked in a variety of jobs in farming and tourism. During a five-year stint in Australia, he worked as a machinery operator and in sales. On his return to New Zealand he established Buller Adventure Tours, an adventure tourism company, which he owned and operated in a partnership.

Member of Parliament

New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate List Party
19931996 44th West Coast Labour
19961999 45th West Coast-Tasman 32 Labour
19992002 46th West Coast-Tasman none Labour
20022005 47th West Coast-Tasman none Labour
20052008 48th West Coast-Tasman none Labour
20092011 49th List 37 Labour
20112014 50th West Coast-Tasman none Labour
20142017 51st West Coast-Tasman 22 Labour
2017present 52nd West Coast-Tasman 18 Labour

He was first elected to Parliament in the 1993 election, recapturing the West Coast seat after the upset victory of National's Margaret Moir in the 1990 election. He said in 2018 that his 1993 support for Mike Moore rather than Helen Clark set his career back.[2]

He won the reconfigured West Coast-Tasman seat in the 1996 election, and was the MP for the electorate until 2008.

O'Connor is regarded as being on the right of the Labour Party and has, with permission, voted against his colleagues on at least one occasion.

He was the Minister of Rural Affairs, the Minister of Tourism, Minister of Immigration and Associate Minister of Health.

At the 2008 general election O'Connor was beaten by National candidate Chris Auchinvole, who had previously been a list MP. Auchinvole's majority was 971.[3] His position on the Labour Party list meant that O'Connor couldn't return to Parliament immediately. When the list MP Michael Cullen retired in May 2009, O'Connor regained his position as Member of the House of Representatives because he was the highest-ranked candidate on the list not already an MP.[4]

In the 49th Parliament of New Zealand, O'Connor was Labour's spokesperson for Rural Affairs, Spokesperson for Biosecurity and Associate Spokesperson for Agriculture. For the election of the 50th New Zealand Parliament O'Connor announced he would only contest the electorate and not seek another selection for the list.

In April 2011 O'Connor attracted criticism from Labour Party leader Phil Goff after describing the list MP selection process as being run by "self-serving unionists and a gaggle of gays."[5]

At the 2011 general election O'Connor regained the West Coast-Tasman electorate from National's Chris Auchinvole with a majority of 2287 votes.[5]

In 2012, O'Connor voted against the Marriage Amendment Bill, which aims to permit same sex marriage in New Zealand. With fellow labour MPs William Sio, Rino Tirikatene, Ross Robertson.[6]

In the 2014 election, O'Connor defended a challenge by former Mayor of Westland District, Maureen Pugh.[7]

Following the 2017 election, O'Connor was appointed Minister for Agriculture, Biosecurity, Food Safety, and Rural Communities, and Associate Minister for Trade and Export Growth.,[8] which has meant managing the 2017 Mycoplasma bovis outbreak [9]

Business activities

O'Connor is past president of the Buller Promotion Association, a member of the West Coast Tourism Development Group, a member of the West Coast Business Development Board and a founding director of Buller Community Development Company. He also won West Coast Young Farmer of the Year.

References

  1. "New Zealand Official Yearbook 1997". Statistics New Zealand. Archived from the original on 1 May 2012. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
  2. "Helen Clark coup set my career back". Stuff (Fairfax). 9 June 2018.
  3. "Official Count Results – West Coast-Tasman". Chief Electoral Office, Wellington. Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
  4. "O'Connor to return to Parliament". Radio New Zealand. 13 April 2009. Archived from the original on 14 April 2009.
  5. Basham, Laura (28 November 2011). "Time for action to stop asset sales, says O'Connor". Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  6. "Marriage equality bill: How MPs voted". The New Zealand Herald. 29 August 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  7. Mathewson, Nicole; Stylianou, Georgina; Fulton, Tim (21 September 2014). "Election 2014: Canterbury decides". The Press. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  8. "Ministerial List". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  9. "Coaster and new minister has farming in his blood". Stuff (Fairfax). 25 October 2017.
New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by
Margaret Moir
Member of Parliament for West Coast
1993–1996
Constituency abolished
New constituency Member of Parliament
for West Coast-Tasman

1996–2008
2011–present
Succeeded by
Chris Auchinvole
Preceded by
Chris Auchinvole
Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
Paul Swain
Minister of Corrections
2005–2007
Succeeded by
Phil Goff
Preceded by
Vacant
David Carter
(2008–11)
Minister of Agriculture
2017–present
Incumbent
New office Minister for Biosecurity
2017–present
Preceded by
David Bennett
Minister for Food Safety
2017–present
New office Minister for Rural Communities
2017–present
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