Michael Woodhouse

Woodhouse stood in Dunedin North in 2008 and, though he received 30.64% (9972) of the votes he was defeated by incumbent electorate Pete Hodgson who received 52.62% of the vote. He was still however elected to the New Zealand House of Representatives through National's party list. In the 2011 election, Woodhouse reduced the majority from 7,155 in 2008[4] to 3,489 against David Clark.[5] National also lost the party vote by 420 votes. Clark beat Woodhouse with an increased majority in the 2014 election.[6]

A member of the Health and Transport & Industrial Relations Select Committees in the 49th Parliament, Woodhouse was elected as the National Party's senior whip on 20 December 2011.[7] He is the head of the Parliamentarians for Arthritis group and is active in the Parliamentary Sports Trust as a rugby player and referee.

In a reshuffle in January 2013, Woodhouse was made a minister outside cabinet and was given the Immigration, Veteran's Affairs and associate transport portfolios.[8] During his time in Parliament, Woodhouse voted against the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill, a bill allowing same-sex couples to marry in New Zealand.[9] During the Fifth National Government, Woodhouse served in various portfolios including immigration, transport, veteran's affairs, land information, workplace relations and safety, police, and the Accident Compensation Corporation.[8][1]

In August 2015, Michael Woodhouse caused controversy when he released a list of 57 high risk industries for his Health an Safety Reform Bill. This list was mocked by the Opposition because worm farming and mini golf were deemed "high risk", while dairy and cattle farming were not. Labour leader, Andrew Little, stated the new classifications were "overly complicated, ill thought out and rushed through to appease National Party backers, putting the lives of New Zealanders at risk".[10] While Labour's spokesperson for Labour issues, Iain Lees-Galloway, said Woodhouse "can’t worm his way out of this. He will be forever ridiculed as the Minister who made killer worm farms safer but failed to protect people working in some of New Zealand's most dangerous industries".[11]

During the 2017 general election, Michael Woodhouse was re-elected as a List MP on the National Party List. However, he failed to capture the Dunedin North electorate seat, which was held by Labour MP David Clark.[12]

Following the formation of a Labour-led coalition government with the support of New Zealand First and the Green Party, National and its former support partner, the libertarian ACT New Zealand party, formed the opposition in the House of Representatives.[13][14] Michael Woodhouse became Deputy Shadow Leader of the House and the National Party's spokesperson for health and immigration. He is also currently a member of the health and privileges select committees.[8]

In early August 2018, Woodhouse in his capacity as National health spokesperson called for National Health Targets to be a legal requirement in response to the Labour Party's proposed Child Poverty legislation.[15][16] In late August 2018, Woodhouse objected to United States whistleblower Chelsea Manning's proposed tour of New Zealand in early September 2018, arguing that she should be banned due to her lack of remorse over her role in leaking sensitive US military documents to WikiLeaks.[17][18]

Since 25 March 2020, Woodhouse has been a member of the Epidemic Response Committee, a select committee that considers the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[19] On 17 June, Woodhouse claimed that a source had told him that two travelers, who tested positive for COVID-19, had made physical contact with others while traveling from Auckland to Wellington to attend a funeral. In response, the Ministry of Health confirmed that the two infected travelers had "five minutes" of limited contact with two friends during their journey.[20]