Cameron Eric Brewer (born 8 March 1973) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

in the

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for Upper Harbour from the National Party since the

2023 New Zealand general election The 2023 New Zealand general election to determine the composition of the 54th Parliament of New Zealand is planned to be held on 14 October 2023, after the currently elected 53rd Parliament is dissolved or expires. Voters will elect 120 memb ...

. He was an elected representative on Auckland Council for nine years – a two-term

Auckland Council Auckland Council ( mi, Te Kaunihera o Tāmaki Makaurau) is the local government council for the Auckland Region in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority that has the responsibilities, duties and powers of a regional council and so is ...

lor for

Ōrākei Ward Ōrākei is a suburb of Auckland city, in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on a peninsula five kilometres to the east of the city centre, on the shore of the Waitematā Harbour, which lies to the north, and Hobson Bay and Orakei ...

, and one term as an elected member of the

Rodney Local Board Rodney Local Board is one of the 21 local boards of Auckland Council, and is administered by the ward councillor representing Rodney Ward. Located in the northern part of the Auckland region, it is named after the former Rodney District which e ...

as part of the Rodney First ticket – before retiring at the 2019 local body elections to focus on his business.

Early years

Born in

Hāwera Hāwera is the second-largest centre in the Taranaki region of New Zealand's North Island, with a population of . It is near the coast of the South Taranaki Bight. The origins of the town lie in a government military base that was established i ...

on 8 March 1973, Brewer attended

Wanganui Collegiate School Whanganui Collegiate School (formerly Wanganui Collegiate School; see here) is a state-integrated, coeducational, day and boarding, secondary school in Whanganui, Manawatū-Whanganui region, New Zealand. The school is affiliated to the Anglican c ...

(1986 to 1990) and

Massey University Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural or ...

(1991 to 1994) where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Double Major: History & Sociology. During 1995 he was a vocal tertiary student leader after being elected Student President at the Western Institute of Technology where he studied Print Journalism and edited the student publication. In early 1996 he founded and edited Dunedin-based community newspaper ''Inside Otago'' before selling it in late 1998. He was then employed by Parliamentary Services in Wellington, as a Writer in the National Party's Research Unit and as a Press Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition. From 2002 to 2004 Brewer was Communications Adviser to the

Mayor of Auckland City The Mayor of Auckland City was the directly elected head of the Auckland City Council, the municipal government of Auckland City, New Zealand. The office existed from 1871 to 2010, when the Auckland City Council and mayoralty was abolished an ...

. Between 2005 and 2010 he was the chief executive of the Newmarket Business Association.

Political career

Auckland Council, 2010–2019

In the 2010 Auckland Council elections Brewer was elected from the Ōrākei ward while standing as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

, winning by over 7,000 votes – winning 18,235 votes or 55%. He ran against

Citizens & Ratepayers Communities and Residents (C&R) is a Right-wing politics, right-leaning Local government, local body Ticket (election), ticket in Auckland, New Zealand. It was formed in 1938 as Citizens & Ratepayers, with a view to controlling the Auckland Cit ...

deputy leader Doug Armstrong. As a Councillor, Brewer was appointed Chairman of Auckland Council's inaugural Business Advisory Forum, Chairman of the Planning & Urban Design Panel, and Deputy Chair of the Economic Development Forum. His decision to contest the election as a right wing independent, was labelled as a betrayal by C&R members while the result was considered a humiliation for C&R in its "traditional heartland". In the past he has been considered as a potential candidate for the

Mayor of Auckland The Mayor of Auckland is the directly elected head of the Auckland Council, the local government authority for the Auckland Region in New Zealand, which it controls as a unitary authority. The position exists since October 2010 after the amalga ...

in 2013. He was re-elected unopposed to Council in 2013. He did not contest the seat in 2016, instead stood for a seat on the Rodney Local Board. In October 2016 Brewer was elected on the Rodney First ticket which gained a majority of five members on the nine-person Rodney Local Board. He stood in the Kumeu subdivision, gaining 4,018 votes – polling the second highest of all the candidates standing for the Rodney Local Board. Brewer was Chairman of the Rodney Local Board's Transport, Infrastructure & Environment Committee from 2016 to 2019. He left politics in 2019 and runs his own communications firm, Cameron Brewer Communications Limited, which was established in 2015.

Political career

A former journalist, Brewer is a member of the

New Zealand National Party The New Zealand National Party ( mi, Rōpū Nāhinara o Aotearoa), shortened to National () or the Nats, is a centre-right political party in New Zealand. It is one of two major parties that dominate contemporary New Zealand politics, alongside ...

and worked as press secretary to

Jenny Shipley Dame Jennifer Mary Shipley (née Robson; born 4 February 1952) is a New Zealand former politician who served as the 36th prime minister of New Zealand from 1997 to 1999. She was the first female prime minister of New Zealand, and the first woma ...

John Banks John Banks or Bankes may refer to: Politics and law *Sir John Banks, 1st Baronet (1627–1699), English merchant and Member of Parliament * John Banks (American politician) (1793–1864), U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania *John Gray Banks (188 ...

and

Rodney Hide Rodney Philip Hide (born 16 December 1956) is a former New Zealand politician of the ACT New Zealand party. Hide was a Member of Parliament for ACT from 1996 until 2011, was ACT's leader between 2004 and 2011, and represented the constituency f ...

. In 2011 he decided not to contest the safe-National Party seat of

Tāmaki Tāmaki is a small suburb of East Auckland, 11 kilometres from the Auckland CBD, in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located by the banks of the estuarial Tāmaki River, which is a southern arm of the Hauraki Gulf. The suburb is between ...

, following the resignation of

Allan Peachey Allan Peachey (18 October 1949 – 6 November 2011) was a New Zealand politician and Member of Parliament for Tamaki. School principal Before his election to Parliament, Peachey was employed as the principal of Rangitoto College, the largest s ...

, and also ruled out standing for the

ACT Party ACT New Zealand, known simply as ACT (), is a Right-wing politics, right-wing, Classical liberalism, classical-liberal List of political parties in New Zealand, political party in New Zealand. According to former party leader Rodney Hide, ACT's ...

. Brewer has been a member of the National Party since 1996 and since 2015 has resided in the electorate. Following the announcement of

John Key Sir John Phillip Key (born 9 August 1961) is a New Zealand retired politician who served as the 38th prime minister of New Zealand, Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2008 to 2016 and as Leader of the New Zealand National Party from 2006 to ...

's pending resignation as a member of parliament, it was speculated that he was considering standing in the electorate, but he ruled it out in early January 2017 citing family, business and local board commitments. In April 2023, Brewer was announced as the National Party's candidate in the Upper Harbour electorate for the

. During the 2023 election that was held on 14 October, Brewer won with a wide majority of 11,192, flipping the seat back to National and ousting first-term incumbent Vanushi Walters. In mid November 2023,

Radio New Zealand Radio New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and c ...

reported that Brewer had made an election night victory speech where he joked about the return of "stale, pale males." Brewer subsequently apologised for any offense caused by his remarks, which he described as a "poor attempt at humour."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brewer, Cameron 1973 births Living people Auckland Councillors New Zealand National Party politicians New Zealand journalists People from Hāwera People educated at Whanganui Collegiate School Massey University alumni 21st-century New Zealand politicians Candidates in the 2023 New Zealand general election Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand MPs for North Island electorates New Zealand National Party MPs