Doug Woolerton (born 17 May 1944) is a New Zealand politician who has been a member of the

New Zealand First New Zealand First ( mi, Aotearoa Tuatahi), commonly abbreviated to NZ First, is a nationalist and populist political party in New Zealand. The party formed in July 1993 following the resignation on 19 March 1993 of its leader and founder, Winst ...

party since it was founded, and the National Party for a few years before that.

Early years

He was educated at

Hamilton Boys' High School Hamilton Boys' High School is a boys' secondary school in Hamilton, New Zealand and is the largest secondary school in the Waikato region. The school was established as Hamilton High School in 1911 but was later split into separate boys' and gir ...

, and has a background in agriculture, having been a farmer for twenty-one years and director of a milk company for nine.

Political career

Woolerton was originally a member of the National Party. He stood for selection as the National candidate for the seat of Hamilton West in 1990, but lost to Grant Thomas, who was later elected to the seat. Woolerton left the National Party in 1992 to form the

party with

Winston Peters Winston Raymond Peters (born 11 April 1945) is a New Zealand politician serving as the leader of New Zealand First since its foundation in 1993. Peters served as the 13th deputy prime minister of New Zealand from 1996 to 1998 and 2017 to 2020 ...

Member of Parliament

Woolerton first entered Parliament in the 1996 election, becoming a

list MP A list MP is a member of parliament (MP) elected from a party list rather than from by a geographical constituency. The place in Parliament is due to the number of votes that the party won, not to votes received by the MP personally. This occurs ...

after being ranked fifth on the New Zealand First

party list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can ...

. He remained an MP until his party lost all parliamentary seats in the 2008 general election. He was the president of New Zealand First from the party's inception until 2005 when he resigned in protest against Winston Peters taking a visible role in the

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

-led government as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Later there were frictions between then New Zealand First president

Dail Jones Dail Michael John Jones (born 7 July 1944) is a New Zealand politician. He has been a member of the New Zealand First party, and was formerly in the National Party. Early life Jones was born in Karachi, British India, and attended St Jose ...

on the one hand, and Woolerton and Brian Donnelly on the other, over the latter's support for

Sue Bradford Sue Bradford (born 1 July 1952 in Auckland) is a New Zealand activist, academic, and former New Zealand politician who served as a list Member of Parliament representing the Green Party from 1999 to 2009. Bradford is an eco-socialist. In 2019, s ...

private members 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 ...

to outlaw parental corporal punishment of children (or smacking).

References

External links

Doug Woolerton at the New Zealand Parliament website

Doug Woolerton at the New Zealand First website

Doug Woolerton on "They Work For You"

Doug Woolerton talks about innovation and investment
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woolerton, Doug 1944 births Living people New Zealand farmers New Zealand First MPs New Zealand list MPs Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Unsuccessful candidates in the 2008 New Zealand general election New Zealand National Party politicians 21st-century New Zealand politicians Place of birth missing (living people)