Damien Francis Smith is a former New Zealand politician. He was a

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

ACT New Zealand ACT New Zealand, known simply as ACT (), is a right-wing, classical-liberal political party in New Zealand. According to former party leader Rodney Hide, ACT's values are "individual freedom, personal responsibility, doing the best for our natur ...

from 2020 until 2023.

Early life and career

Smith was born in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

and grew up in

Enniskillen Enniskillen ( , from ga, Inis Ceithleann , 'Cethlenn, Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of ...

during

The Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...

. His parents were Frank and Agnes; he is one of four siblings. His early career was in corporate sales in the

fast-moving consumer goods Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), also known as consumer packaged goods (CPG), are products that are sold quickly and at a relatively low cost. Examples include non-durable household goods such as packaged foods, beverages, toiletries, cand ...

industry, in banking, and in governance and advisory. He came to New Zealand in 2002. He previously worked for

Virgin Group Virgin Group Ltd. is a British multinational venture capital conglomerate founded by Richard Branson and Nik Powell in February 1970. Virgin Group's date of incorporation is listed as 1989 by the Companies House, who class it as a holding c ...

and

ASB Bank ASB Bank Limited, commonly stylised as ASB, is a bank owned by Commonwealth Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, operating in New Zealand. It provides a range of financial services including retail, business and rural banking, funds managem ...

, and runs his own consulting business. He lives in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

and has one daughter.

Political career

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 ...

, first-time candidate Smith contested the

Botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

electorate for the ACT Party, where he came third. He had been placed at 11 on the initial ACT Party list but was moved up to 10 after ninth-ranked Stephen Berry withdrew three months before the election. ACT received sufficient support for 10 of its members to be elected to Parliament, including Smith. Smith was ACT's spokesperson for land information, commerce and consumer affairs, state owned enterprises, revenue, racing, arts, culture and heritage, and sport and recreation, and associate spokesperson for finance. He was also a member of the

Finance and Expenditure Committee The Finance and Expenditure Committee (known as the Public Accounts Committee until 1962, and as the Public Expenditure Committee, from 1962) is a select committee of the House of Representatives, the unicameral chamber of the New Zealand Parliame ...

. In his maiden speech, Smith described his political views as

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

and

centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the Right-wing politics, right of the Left–right politics, political spectrum, but are closer to the Centrism, centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure a ...

. He called for increased

productivity Productivity is the efficiency of production of goods or services expressed by some measure. Measurements of productivity are often expressed as a ratio of an aggregate output to a single input or an aggregate input used in a production proces ...

, quoting quoted American economists

Paul Krugman Paul Robin Krugman ( ; born February 28, 1953) is an American economist, who is Distinguished Professor of Economics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and a columnist for ''The New York Times''. In 2008, Krugman was th ...

(from ''The Age of Diminished Expectations'') and

Murray Rothbard Murray Newton Rothbard (; March 2, 1926 – January 7, 1995) was an American economist of the Austrian School, economic historian, political theorist, and activist. Rothbard was a central figure in the 20th-century American libertarian m ...

. He also called on the government to reduce its spending and debt, and for more houses to be built. In later speeches, he became outspoken on

foreign direct investment A foreign direct investment (FDI) is an investment in the form of a controlling ownership in a business in one country by an entity based in another country. It is thus distinguished from a foreign portfolio investment by a notion of direct co ...

; he considered increased foreign direct investment would support a more productive and competitive New Zealand economy and, in July 2022, described New Zealand as "like

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

but without the nukes" in respect of its foreign investment laws. Smith proposed legislation to exempt investors from

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...

countries from the need to receive

Overseas Investment Office The Overseas Investment Office is the New Zealand government agency responsible for regulating foreign direct investment into New Zealand. The Office is responsible for high value investments (2006: NZD $100m+), investments in sensitive land and ...

approval to invest in New Zealand, except in respect of investments in residential land. The Overseas Investment (Exempt Investment from OECD Countries) Amendment Bill, a

private member's bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...

in Smith's name, was introduced into Parliament in August 2021. Its first reading failed 43–77 on 21 September 2023. Smith did not stand for re-election in the 2023 election. He did not give a reason for not seeking to stand again. His expected valedictory statement was cancelled due to illness and his final parliamentary speech was in opposition to the government's Fair News Digital Bargaining Bill. In that final speech, he defined his political views as "

anarcho-capitalist Anarcho-capitalism (or, colloquially, ancap) is an anti-statist, libertarian, and anti-political philosophy and economic theory that seeks to abolish centralized states in favor of stateless societies with systems of private property enforce ...

" and promoted self-regulation of the media industry in a

free market In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any o ...

References

Living people 21st-century New Zealand politicians New Zealand list MPs ACT New Zealand MPs Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives People from Enniskillen Emigrants from Northern Ireland to New Zealand Year of birth missing (living people) {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Damien Candidates in the 2020 New Zealand general election