Christopher John Hipkins (born 5 September 1978) 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 ...
Labour Party politician and a member of the
Sixth Labour Government's Cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filing ...
as
Minister of Education,
Minister of Police,
Minister for the Public Service and
Leader of the House. He has served as the
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 ...
for
Remutaka (formerly named Rimutaka) since the
2008 election.
Early life
Hipkins was born in the
Hutt Valley
The Hutt Valley (or 'The Hutt') is the large area of fairly flat land in the Hutt River valley in the Wellington region of New Zealand. Like the river that flows through it, it takes its name from Sir William Hutt, a director of the New Zeala ...
in 1978. His mother is Rosemary Hipkins, chief researcher for NZ Council for Educational Research. He attended Waterloo Primary School and
Hutt Intermediate. He was head boy at Hutt Valley Memorial College (later known as Petone College) in 1996.
He joined the Labour Party in the same year. Hipkins went on to complete a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in politics and criminology at
Victoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand.
The university is well kno ...
,
where he was student president in 2000 and 2001.
In September 1997, as a first-year student, Hipkins was one of dozens arrested while protesting the Tertiary Review Green Bill at Parliament. The matter went through the courts, and 10 years later an apology and award of over $200,000 was shared between the 41 protesters. The judge ruled that despite claims by police that the protestors were violent, the protest was peaceful and there were no grounds for arrest.
Before politics
After graduating, Hipkins held a number of jobs, including working as a policy advisor for the Industry Training Federation, and as a training manager for
Todd Energy
The Todd Corporation is a large private New Zealand company with a value of $4.3 billion, owned and controlled by the Todd family and headquartered in Wellington, New Zealand. The corporation is currently led by chairman of the board, Henry Tait ...
in Taranaki. Hipkins also worked in Parliament as an advisor to
Trevor Mallard
Trevor Colin Mallard (born 17 June 1954) is a New Zealand politician and member of the Labour Party. First elected to Parliament in 1984, he was Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives from 2017 until 2022.
Mallard was a Cabinet m ...
and
Helen Clark
Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008, and was the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was ...
.
Member of Parliament
Fifth National Government, 2008–2017
Hipkins was selected to stand in the Labour-held seat of Rimutaka (renamed Remutaka in 2020) in the
2008 general election, following the retirement of sitting MP
Paul Swain. Hipkins won the seat with a majority of 753.
Following the election, he was appointed the Labour spokesperson for Internal Affairs. In May 2010, his Electricity (Renewable Preference) Amendment Bill was drawn from the member's ballot.
It was defeated at its first reading in June.
[
The 2011 general election saw Hipkins increase his winning margin in Rimutaka to 3,286. He became the Labour Party's Chief Whip. He also held the State Services and Associate Education spokesperson roles.
In the 2014 general election he increased his majority again to 6,664. In late 2015, Hipkins received veiled threats, including a death threat, for voicing his concerns about a billboard advertising guns. In April 2016, his Education (Charter Schools Abolition) Amendment Bill was drawn from the members' ballot. It was defeated at its first reading in November.
]
Sixth Labour Government, 2017–present
First term, 2017–2020
Hipkins was elected as a Cabinet minister by the Labour Party caucus following the formation of a Labour – New Zealand First coalition government supported by the Greens. It was later announced that he would serve as Minister for Education.
As Education Minister, Hipkins has supported the abolition of National Standards and charter schools in New Zealand, which were supported by the previous National Government. He has also signaled a review of the National Certificate of Educational Achievement
The National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) is the official secondary-school qualification in New Zealand. Phased in between 2002 and 2004, it replaced three older secondary-school qualifications. The New Zealand Qualifications Au ...
(NCEA) high school certificate system. However, Hipkins has clarified that the Ministry of Education
An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
would continue to fund the University of Otago
, image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg
, image_size =
, caption = University clock tower
, motto = la, Sapere aude
, mottoeng = Dare to be wise
, established = 1869; 152 years ago
, type = Public research collegiate u ...
's National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement and the Progress and Consistency Tool (PaCT). The Government's announcement that it would close charter schools drew criticism from the opposition National
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, c ...
and ACT parties. In early 2018, Hipkins introduced legislation preventing the creation of new charter schools, while enabling existing charter schools to be converted into special character schools. By September 2018, all twelve charter schools had successfully transitioned to become state-integrated and special character schools.
In December 2018, Hipkins rejected a recommendation by Victoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand.
The university is well kno ...
's Council to rename the university "University of Wellington", citing the strong opposition to the name change from staff, students, and alumni. In justifying his decision, Hipkins stated "that he was not convinced the university had sufficiently engaged with stakeholders, who should have their views considered."
In February 2019, Hipkins proposed merging the country's sixteen polytechnic
Polytechnic is most commonly used to refer to schools, colleges, or universities that qualify as an institute of technology or vocational university also sometimes called universities of applied sciences.
Polytechnic may also refer to:
Educatio ...
s into a New Zealand Institute of Skills & Technology
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
to counter deficits and declining domestic enrollments. This proposed Institute of Skills and Technology will also take over the country's vocational and apprenticeship programmes. While the Tertiary Education Union
The New Zealand Tertiary Education Union (in Māori: Te Hautū Kahurangi o Aotearoa) is the main trade union in the New Zealand tertiary education sector, and represents the interests of more than 10,000 workers employed within the sector across ...
, Employers and Manufacturers Union, and the Canterbury Employers' Chamber of Commerce have expressed support for the Government's proposal, this has been criticised by the opposition National Party, Southern Institute of Technology
, image = Southern Institute of Technology (New Zealand) logo.jpg
, image_size = 200px
, motto =
, tagline =
, established = 1971; years ago
, faculty = 387 FTE 2005
, head_label =
, students ...
CEO Penny Simmonds
Penelope Elsie Simmonds is a New Zealand politician and Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for the National Party. She previously served as the chief executive of the Southern Institute of Technology.
Early life and career
Si ...
, and Mayor of Invercargill
The Mayor of Invercargill is the head of the municipal government of Invercargill, New Zealand, and leads the Invercargill City Council. The mayor is directly elected using a First Past the Post electoral system every three years. The current m ...
Tim Shadbolt
Sir Timothy Richard Shadbolt (born 19 February 1947) is a New Zealand politician. He was the Mayor of Invercargill and previously Mayor of Waitemata City.
Early life
Shadbolt was born in the Auckland suburb of Remuera in 1947. His father died ...
. In response to the Christchurch mosque shootings
On 15 March 2019, two consecutive mass shootings occurred in a terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. The attacks, carried out by a lone gunman who entered both mosques during Friday prayer, began at the Al Noor Mosque ...
, Hipkins extended the polytechnic submission timeframe to 5 April 2019.
In early May 2019, Hipkins announced that the Government would be investing NZ$95 million to train 2,400 new teacher trainees through increased scholarships and placements, new employment-based teacher education programmes, and iwi
Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, ...
-based scholarships over the next four years to address the teaching shortage. These measures were criticised as inadequate by the Post Primary Teachers' Association
The New Zealand Post-Primary Teachers' Association Incorporated (PPTA) is a trade union in New Zealand and professional association. It represents about 20,000 teachers employed in state and integrated secondary schools, area schools, technology ...
and National Party education spokesperson Nikki Kaye
Nicola Laura Kaye (born 11 February 1980) is a New Zealand politician who served as Deputy Leader of the New Zealand National Party and Deputy Leader of the Opposition from 22 May 2020 to 14 July 2020.
Kaye served as the member of the New Ze ...
.
On 1 August 2019, Hipkins reaffirmed the Government's plan merge all polytechnics into a single entity in April 2020. In addition, he announced that the Government would replace all 11 industrial training organisations (ITOs) with between four and seven workforce development councils that would be set up by 2022 to influence vocational education and training. While polytechnics have been cautiously optimistic about the changes despite concerns about losing their autonomy, ITOs and National's tertiary education spokesperson Shane Reti
Shane Raymond Reti (born 5 June 1963) is a New Zealand politician and a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives, first elected at the 2014 general election. He is a member of the New Zealand National Party and served as its deputy ...
have opposed these changes, claiming they would damage the vocational training system and cause job losses. By 2022, the merger began to strike difficulties including low enrolments, large deficits and resignations of senior staff.
Following the resignation of David Clark as Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services.
Some governments have separate ministers for mental health.
Coun ...
on 2 July 2020, Prime Minister Ardern appointed Hipkins as interim Health Minister until the 2020 New Zealand general election
The 2020 New Zealand general election was held on Saturday 17 October 2020 to determine the composition of the 53rd parliament. Voters elected 120 members to the House of Representatives, 72 from single-member electorates and 48 from closed ...
scheduled for October 2020.
Second term, 2020–present
Hipkins was re-elected to the seat of Remutaka during the 2020 New Zealand general election
The 2020 New Zealand general election was held on Saturday 17 October 2020 to determine the composition of the 53rd parliament. Voters elected 120 members to the House of Representatives, 72 from single-member electorates and 48 from closed ...
. He defeated National candidate Mark Crofskey by a final margin of 20,497 votes.
In early November 2020, Hipkins retained his portfolio as Minister of Education. He was also designated as Minister for COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
Response and Minister for the Public Service.
On 31 January 2022, Hipkins in his capacity as COVID-19 Response Minister issued a statement that the Government had offered stranded New Zealand journalist Charlotte Bellis a place under the emergency allocation criteria to travel to New Zealand within a period of 14 days. However, he also claimed that Bellis had indicated that she did not intend to travel until late February and that MIQ had advised her to consider moving her travel plans forward. He also confirmed that New Zealand consular assistance had earlier twice offered to help her return from Afghanistan in December 2021. Bellis was an Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...
journalist who had left Qatar
Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...
after becoming pregnant due to the Gulf State's law criminalising unmarried pregnancies. Bellis had travelled to Afghanistan where she and her partner had visas allowing them to live there. Due to New Zealand's strict pandemic border policies, Bellis had struggle to secure a place in Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ) system.
Hipkins was criticised by Bellis' lawyer Tudor Clee for allegedly breaching her client's privacy by sharing personal details about her circumstances and indicated that she was considering "legal options." In response, Bellis stated that she did not give Hipkins consent to share her information and disputed the facts in his statement. National and ACT Members of Parliament Bishop and Seymour also criticised Hipkins's actions, stating that they were "unbecoming" of a Minister of the Crown. On 22 June 2022, Hipkins publicly apologised for releasing personal information without Bellis' consent and making inaccurate comments about Bellis traveling to Afghanistan and being offered consular assistance. As a result, Bellis and her partner Jim Huylebroek had received online abuse. Hipkins had earlier privately apologised to Bellis in mid-March 2022.
In a June 2022 reshuffle, Hipkins was shifted from his COVID-19 Response portfolio and replaced Poto Williams
Munokoa Poto Williams (born 7 January 1962) is a New Zealand Labour Party politician and a member of Parliament. She was elected in a 2013 by-election and is currently Minister of Conservation and Minister for Disability Issues in the Sixth ...
as Minister of Police.
In September 2022, Hipkins apologised to former Finance Minister
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...
Bill English
Sir Simon William English (born 30 December 1961) is a New Zealand former National Party politician who served as the 39th prime minister of New Zealand from 2016 to 2017 and as the 17th deputy prime minister of New Zealand and minister of f ...
for suggesting that he had granted his brothers favourable government contracts. Hipkins had made those remarks during an exchange over the awarding of government contracts to Foreign Minister
A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...
Nanaia Mahuta
Nanaia Cybele Mahuta (born 21 August 1970) is a New Zealand politician who is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hauraki-Waikato and serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Sixth Labour Government since 2020. She is also the Minister o ...
's husband Gannin Ormsby.
References
External links
MPs webpage
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hipkins, Chris
New Zealand Labour Party MPs
Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives
New Zealand MPs for Hutt Valley electorates
Living people
1978 births
Victoria University of Wellington alumni
Victoria University of Wellington Students' Association presidents
21st-century New Zealand politicians
Candidates in the 2017 New Zealand general election
Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand
New Zealand education ministers
Candidates in the 2020 New Zealand general election