Daniel Michael Bidois (born 1983) is a New Zealand politician and economist who sat as the National Party Member for Northcote in the New Zealand

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

. Bidois was elected on 9 June 2018 as the Member for Northcote. He was a Strategy Manager for

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prior to his election.

Early life and education

Bidois is both of European and Māori descent, adopted into a family of

Ngāti Maniapoto Ngāti Maniapoto is an iwi (tribe) based in the Waikato-Waitomo region of New Zealand's North Island. It is part of the Tainui confederation, the members of which trace their whakapapa (genealogy) back to people who arrived in New Zealand on the ...

descent. He grew up in Howick, Auckland and attended Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Primary School, Howick Intermediate and

Howick College Howick College is a state co-educational secondary school located in the eastern Auckland, New Zealand suburb of Cockle Bay. Serving Years 9 to 13, the school has a roll of students as of History Howick College was established in 1974 to se ...

. Bidois left Howick College at 15 to pursue a butchery apprenticeship, originally with Seaside Meats. Within two weeks of beginning his apprenticeship, he was diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma, a rare form of

bone cancer A bone tumor is an abnormal growth of tissue in bone, traditionally classified as noncancerous (benign) or cancerous (malignant). Cancerous bone tumors usually originate from a cancer in another part of the body such as from lung, breast, thyro ...

. He had chemotherapy and an operation to save his leg. Having overcome cancer, Bidois decided to continue with his butchery career, completing an apprenticeship with Woolworths Supermarket in Newmarket. Bidois later graduated with Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) and Bachelor of Arts degrees at the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

, and has four degrees in total. He has been to MIT, both the one in Massachusetts & Manukau. In 2010, Bidois won a Fulbright Scholarship to attend

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in the United States, completing a Master of Public Policy degree in 2012.

Professional career

Bidois began his professional career as a management consultant with Deloitte New Zealand in 2008. In 2010, he joined the New Zealand Institute where he published research on improving New Zealand's economy. He spent three years as an economist with the

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 ...

in Paris, France, working on economic reforms in emerging markets. In addition, he spent a further year in 2015 as an independent strategy consultant to the Malaysian public sector in

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

. He returned to New Zealand in 2016, and worked as a strategy manager for

Political career

Bidois contested the National Party selection for upon the retirement of

Maurice Williamson Maurice Donald Williamson (born 6 March 1951) is a New Zealand diplomat and former politician who represented Pakuranga in the House of Representatives as a member of the National Party. He held several ministerial portfolios both inside and o ...

, but failed to win the candidacy. He stood as a list-only candidate in the

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, ranked 72.

Member of Parliament

On 22 March 2018, then-Member for Northcote Jonathan Coleman announced his resignation from

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, triggering the first by-election of the 52nd Parliament. On 15 April, Bidois was chosen as National's candidate for the Northcote by-election, which he subsequently won by 6.28%, receiving 10,566 votes and taking 50.67% of the overall vote. Bidois was sworn into the 52nd Parliament on 27 June 2018 as the Member for Northcote and gave his maiden speech on 3 July 2018. On 3 July 2018, Bidois was announced as

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, ce ...

's Spokesperson for the Future of Work, and Associate Spokesperson for Workplace Relations and Safety. This created criticism due to his views on trade unions. Transport was a major campaign issue of Bidois' during the 2018 by-election. Since election he has challenged Auckland Transport on delivery of services locally including petitions with his Onewa Road petition gathering over 4,000 signatures. Ahead of the 2020 general election he was ranked at 43 on National's party list. At the election, Bidois lost Northcote to his by-election Labour opponent,

Shanan Halbert Shanan Kiritea Halbert (born 1982) is a New Zealand politician. As of 2020 he is a Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for the Labour Party. Early life and career Halbert has affiliation to Rongowhakaata and Ngāti Whitikaupek ...

, by a final margin of 2,534 votes, and was ranked too low on National's list to return to Parliament as a list MP. In November 2022, the National party once again selected Bidois as their candidate for the Northcote electorate ahead of 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 ...

. Bidois managed to flip the seat back to National with a 9,270 vote majority, ousting incumbent

, who Bidois himself had lost the seat to in 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bidois, Dan 1983 births Living people New Zealand National Party MPs Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Unsuccessful candidates in the 2017 New Zealand general election 21st-century New Zealand politicians Māori politicians Ngāti Maniapoto people New Zealand MPs for Auckland electorates University of Auckland alumni Harvard Kennedy School alumni Unsuccessful candidates in the 2020 New Zealand general election Candidates in the 2023 New Zealand general election