Michael Allan Woodhouse (born 1965) is a
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 ...
member of the
New Zealand Parliament
The New Zealand Parliament ( mi, Pāremata Aotearoa) is the unicameral legislature of New Zealand, consisting of the King of New Zealand ( King-in-Parliament) and the New Zealand House of Representatives. The King is usually represented by h ...
.
Early years
Woodhouse was born and raised in
South Dunedin
South Dunedin is a major inner city suburb of the New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is located, as its name suggests, to the south of the city centre, on part of a large plain known locally simply as "The Flat". The suburb is a mix of industrial ...
, the fifth of nine children. He attended St Patrick's, St Edmund's and St Pauls High School, now
Kavanagh College
, motto_translation = With Her As Our Guide
, type = State-integrated secondary
, established = 1989; years ago (antecedent secondary schools: 1871, 1876, 1878, 1897 and 1976)
, streetaddress ...
, which he left at the end of sixth form in 1982.
He worked for the
National Bank of New Zealand
The National Bank of New Zealand Limited (NBNZ), often referred to as The National Bank, was one of New Zealand's largest banks. Throughout much of its history, the National Bank provided commercial banking services to mainly major industrial and ...
in Dunedin and
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
until 1987 when he embarked on a
rugby
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby league: 13 players per side
*** Masters Rugby League
*** Mod league
*** Rugby league nines
*** Rugby league sevens
*** Touch (sport)
*** Wheelchair rugby league
** Rugby union: 1 ...
sojourn to Scotland and England, playing for
Dunfermline
Dunfermline (; sco, Dunfaurlin, gd, Dùn Phàrlain) is a city, parish and former Royal Burgh, in Fife, Scotland, on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. The city currently has an estimated population of 58,508. Accord ...
1987/88 and
Broughton Park in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
1988/89. He then returned to Dunedin where he studied commerce and accounting at 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 ...
, graduating in 1993.
He worked at Taylor McLachlan Accountants in Dunedin,
Dunedin Hospital
Dunedin Hospital is the main public hospital in Dunedin, New Zealand. It serves as the major base hospital for the Otago and Southland regions with a potential catchment radius of roughly 300 kilometres, and a population of around 300,000.
Opera ...
and
ACC
ACC most often refers to:
* Atlantic Coast Conference, an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference located in the US
*American College of Cardiology, A US-based nonprofit medical association that bestows credentials upon cardiovascular spec ...
. In 2005 he earned a
Master of Health Administration
The Master of Health Administration, Master of Healthcare Administration (MHA), or Master of Health Management (MHM), is a Master's degree, master's-level professional degree granted to students who complete a course of study in the knowledge and c ...
degree at the
University of New South Wales
The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...
in Australia.
Before his political career, Woodhouse was the CEO of
Mercy Hospital in Dunedin from 2001 to 2008.
Woodhouse was convicted for
drink-driving
Drunk driving (or drink-driving in British English) is the act of driving under the influence of alcohol. A small increase in the blood alcohol content increases the relative risk of a motor vehicle crash.
In the United States, alcohol is invo ...
when he was 21 years old.
Member of Parliament
Michael Woodhouse was first elected to Parliament in 2008 as a list MP for the National Party. In each election, he has unsuccessfully contested the electorate that covers central Dunedin: first
Dunedin North
Dunedin North, also known as North Dunedin, is a major inner suburb of the New Zealand city of Dunedin, located northeast of the city centre. It contains many of the city's major institutions, including the city's university, polytechnic, ma ...
(2008–2017), and then
Dunedin
Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...
(2020).
Woodhouse served senior roles in the
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 ...
and
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 ...
-led
Fifth National Government, including
senior whip,
Minister of Immigration,
Minister of Transport
A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government agen ...
,
Minister of Police and
Minister of Revenue.
Fifth National Government, 2008–2017
Woodhouse was selected as National's
Dunedin North
Dunedin North, also known as North Dunedin, is a major inner suburb of the New Zealand city of Dunedin, located northeast of the city centre. It contains many of the city's major institutions, including the city's university, polytechnic, ma ...
candidate in 2008, succeeding
Katherine Rich
Katherine Rich (née Allison, born 16 December 1967) served as a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives for the National Party from 1999 to 2008. She has been chief executive of the New Zealand Food & Grocery Council, an industry ...
who had been a list MP for 9 years but was retiring. The electorate had been held by the
Labour Party for all but six years since 1922, and Woodhouse was defeated by the Labour incumbent
Pete Hodgson
Peter Colin Hodgson (born 13 June 1950) is a former New Zealand politician of the Labour Party and Member of Parliament for Dunedin North from 1990 to 2011.
Early life
Hodgson was born in Whangarei, and received a Bachelor's degree in veter ...
. Despite this loss, due to the National Party's strong result and his position on the party list, Woodhouse was elected as a list MP. He re-contested Dunedin North in the and the , losing to Labour's new candidate
David Clark, but was returned as a list MP each time.
In his first term, Woodhouse served as a member of the Health and Transport & Industrial Relations Select Committees. After the 2011 election, Woodhouse was elected as the National Party's senior whip.
In a reshuffle of the Executive in January 2013, Woodhouse was made a minister outside cabinet and was given the Immigration, Veteran's Affairs and associate transport portfolios.
In January 2014, he was promoted into the Cabinet; that October, after the 2014 election, he was assigned the
Police
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...
portfolio and the new
Workplace Relations and Safety portfolio. In 2016 he served as
Minister of Revenue and in 2017, under new prime minister Bill English, was
Minister for the Accident Compensation Corporation.
As Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety, Woodhouse caused controversy when he released a list of 57 high-risk industries for his Health and Safety Reform Bill in August 2015. This list was mocked by the Opposition because worm farming and mini golf were deemed "high risk", while dairy and cattle farming was not. Labour leader,
Andrew Little, stated the new classifications were "overly complicated, ill-thought-out and rushed through to appease National Party backers, putting the lives of New Zealanders at risk". While Labour's spokesperson for Labour issues,
Iain Lees-Galloway
Iain Francis Lees-Galloway (born 18 September 1978), initially Iain Galloway, is a New Zealand former politician. He represented the Palmerston North electorate in Parliament for the Labour Party. He was the Minister for Workplace Relations, Im ...
, said Woodhouse "can’t worm his way out of this. He will be forever ridiculed as the Minister who made killer worm farms safer but failed to protect people working in some of New Zealand's most dangerous industries".
Woodhouse also led the passage of the Shop Trading Hours Amendment Bill, which devolved to
local authorities
Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...
the power to pass bylaws allowing shops to open on
Easter Sunday
Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the ''Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...
.
Opposition, 2017–present
Following the formation of a
Labour-led coalition government with the support of
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 ...
and the
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
, National and its former support partner, the libertarian
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 ...
party, formed the opposition in the House of Representatives. Michael Woodhouse became Deputy Shadow Leader of the House and the National Party's spokesperson for health and immigration.
In early August 2018, Woodhouse in his capacity as National health spokesperson called for National Health Targets to be a legal requirement in response to the Labour Party's proposed Child Poverty legislation. In late August 2018, Woodhouse objected to United States whistleblower
Chelsea Manning
Chelsea Elizabeth Manning (born Bradley Edward Manning; December 17, 1987) is an American activist and whistleblower. She is a former United States Army soldier who was convicted by court-martial in July 2013 of violations of the Espionage A ...
's proposed tour of New Zealand in early September 2018, arguing that she should be banned due to her lack of remorse over her role in leaking sensitive US military documents to
WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks () is an international Nonprofit organization, non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous Source (journalism), sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activism, Internet acti ...
.
As Opposition health spokesperson, Woodhouse was a member of the
Epidemic Response Committee, a select committee that considered the government's response to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. On 17 June, Woodhouse claimed that a source had told him that two travellers, who tested positive 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 ...
, had made physical contact with others while travelling from Auckland to Wellington to attend a funeral. In response, the
Ministry of Health confirmed that the two infected travellers had "five minutes" of limited contact with two friends during their journey.
On 18 June, Woodhouse alleged that a homeless man had bluffed his way into a two-week stay in a five-star hotel being used as a COVID-19 isolation facility by pretending to have newly returned from overseas. On 23 June, after Director-General of Health
Ashley Bloomfield
Sir Ashley Robin Bloomfield (born March 1966) is a New Zealand public health official. He served as the chief executive of the Ministry of Health (New Zealand), Ministry of Health and the country's Director-General of Health from 2018 to 2022. ...
told media that an investigation had found no evidence to support Woodhouse's claims and that the alleged incident was likely to be "an urban myth," Woodhouse responded that he stood by his statements, saying "the absence of any evidence does not mean it did not occur." On 11 August, RNZ reported that official investigations had concluded that a man with no fixed abode had spent time in managed isolation, but had done so after returning from Australia, and hence had been present legitimately.
On 10 July, Woodhouse admitted that he had received private patient information from former National Party President
Michelle Boag
Michelle Ann Boag (born 10 December 1954) is a New Zealand public relations practitioner and former National Party president.
Biography
She was educated at Auckland Girls' Grammar School and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in political scie ...
in late June, which had led to Boag's resignation from the National Party and fellow National MP
Hamish Walker
Hamish Richard Walker (born 1985) is a New Zealand former politician and former Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for the National Party.
Political career
At the 2014 general election, Walker stood in , placing second in th ...
being stripped of his portfolios. Woodhouse confirmed that he had deleted the emails, stating that it was inappropriate to have leaked them. Woodhouse was criticised by
Health Minister 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.
Count ...
Chris Hipkins
Christopher John Hipkins (born 5 September 1978) is a New Zealand Labour Party politician and a member of the Sixth Labour Government's Cabinet as Minister of Education, Minister of Police, Minister for the Public Service and Leader of the ...
, who alleged that he had been "sitting on information" related to the recent COVID-19 leak. Following a
leadership election
A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party.
Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a l ...
within the National Party that was held on 15 July 2020, Woodhouse was stripped of his health spokesperson portfolio by newly elected leader
Judith Collins
Judith Anne Collins (born 24 February 1959) is a New Zealand politician who served as the Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the New Zealand National Party from 14 July 2020 to 25 November 2021. She was the second female Leader of the Natio ...
, who gave the role to
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 ...
.
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 ...
held on 17 October, Woodhouse contested the new
Dunedin electorate but was defeated again by
David Clark, by a final margin of 15,521 votes. Woodhouse was re-elected to Parliament on the party list. After Gerry Brownlee resigned as National Party deputy leader, ''
Stuff
Stuff, stuffed, and stuffing may refer to:
*Physical matter
*General, unspecific things, or entities
Arts, media, and entertainment
Books
*''Stuff'' (1997), a novel by Joseph Connolly (author), Joseph Connolly
*''Stuff'' (2005), a book by Jere ...
'' reported that Woodhouse was considering running for the position and was "taking soundings", though said that he was "unlikely to run if there is caucus consensus around
Reti">haneReti. In the end, Woodhouse did not stand and Reti was elected as deputy leader unopposed on 10 November. The next day, Woodhouse was announced as the party's new finance spokesperson.
In December 2021, following the
leadership election
A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party.
Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a l ...
of
Christopher Luxon
Christopher Mark Luxon (born 19 July 1970) is a New Zealand politician and former business executive who is currently serving as leader of the New Zealand National Party and the Leader of the Opposition. He has been the Member of Parliament (M ...
, Woodhouse lost the finance portfolio to
Simon Bridges
Simon Joseph Bridges (born 12 October 1976) is a former New Zealand politician and lawyer. He served as Leader of the National Party and Leader of the Opposition between 2018 and 2020, and as the Member of Parliament for Tauranga from the to ...
.
Views
Woodhouse voted against the
Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill, a bill allowing same-sex couples to marry in New Zealand. He also opposed the
End of Life Choice Bill
The End of Life Choice Act 2019 is an Act of Parliament in New Zealand that seeks to give people with a terminal illness the option of receiving assisted dying. The Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Health confirmed that, "The Bill uses “a ...
and the
Abortion Legislation Bill.
Woodhouse was one of only eight MPs to vote against the
Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Act 2022
The Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Act 2022 is an Act of Parliament in New Zealand that bans conversion therapy practices that seek to change or suppress a person's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. The Bil ...
at its final reading in February 2022.
Despite his opposition to the
on free speech grounds, Woodhouse voted in favour of the bill during its first Parliamentary reading because the public needed to have their say on the proposed legislation at the select committee stage. Woodhouse voted against the bill during its second and third readings.
Personal life
Woodhouse is married to Amanda; the couple has three children.
He is an avid
rugby
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby league: 13 players per side
*** Masters Rugby League
*** Mod league
*** Rugby league nines
*** Rugby league sevens
*** Touch (sport)
*** Wheelchair rugby league
** Rugby union: 1 ...
fan, having played for
Otago
Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...
and South Island representative teams in his youth. He has been active in the Parliamentary Sports Trust as a rugby player and referee, having also refereed the game before and during his parliamentary career.
References
External links
Michael Woodhouseat Parliament
Michael Woodhouseat the National Party
Michael Woodhouse– personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodhouse, Michael
New Zealand National Party MPs
Politicians from Dunedin
University of Otago alumni
Living people
New Zealand list MPs
People educated at Kavanagh College
1965 births
Government ministers of New Zealand
Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives
21st-century New Zealand politicians
Candidates in the 2017 New Zealand general election
Candidates in the 2020 New Zealand general election