Sarah Maree Dowie (born 1974) is a New Zealand former politician of the
National Party. She was the Member of Parliament for
Invercargill
Invercargill ( , mi, Waihōpai is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of t ...
from 2014 to 2020.
Early life and career
Dowie's parents, Ann and Alan Dowie,
were both police officers.
At age 15 in 1990, she was a member of a semi-professional dance group that performed in the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
.
Before her election to Parliament, she worked as a lawyer.
Dowie attended 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 ...
, studying law and ecology. After graduating, Dowie worked for the law firm Macalisters and later the
Department of Conservation
An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment ...
.
Dowie joined the
National Party and was affiliated with their "Blue Greens" environmentalist faction.
Member of Parliament
Political career
Dowie was selected by the National Party to replace retiring MP
Eric Roy as the party's for the . At the time, she was described in the media as "relatively unknown" but was able to retain to retain the seat for National with a large margin over Labour's
Lesley Soper
Lesley Frances Soper (born 5 November 1954) is a former New Zealand politician of the New Zealand Labour Party, Labour Party.
Political career
She was a Labour Party List MP, list member of Parliament for several months in 2005, replacing ...
.
Dowie was returned again in 2017 with a slightly reduced margin over new Labour candidate
Liz Craig
Elizabeth Dorothy Craig (born 1967) is a New Zealand politician and Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for the Labour Party. As a public health physician, she has become known for her research work on child poverty.
Early life ...
and sitting
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 ...
list MP
Ria Bond
Ria Iris Daphne Bond (née Shortland, born 1976) is a New Zealand politician and former hairdresser. She was appointed to the House of Representatives as a New Zealand First list MP following Winston Peters winning the March 2015 Northland by ...
.
During her first term, Dowie served on a range of select committees. She was deputy chairperson of the Government Administration committee, deputy chairperson of the Local Government and Environment committee and chairperson of the Justice and Electoral committee.
In Dowie's second term, National was in Opposition. She was appointed 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 ...
'
shadow cabinet as conservation spokesperson and one of only a few members who had not been a minister in the
previous Government. In this role she campaigned against
Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage
Eugenie Meryl Sage (born 1958) is a New Zealand politician and environmentalist. Since the , she has been a Green Party list MP in the House of Representatives and served as the Minister of Conservation and Land Information and the Associate Min ...
's proposed
tahr
Tahrs ( , ) or tehrs ( ) are large artiodactyl ungulates related to goats and sheep. There are three species, all native to Asia. Previously thought to be closely related to each other and placed in a single genus, ''Hemitragus'', genetic stud ...
cull, supported recreational whitebaiting, and promoted a member's bill aimed at regulating the shark cage diving industry. She also opposed the Labour government's plans to merge the country's polytechnics into a single entity,
Te Pūkenga – New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology.
Jami-Lee Ross scandal and retirement
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 ...
MP
Jami-Lee Ross
Jami-Lee Matenga Ross (born 1985) is a New Zealand former politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Botany electorate in Auckland from the March 2011 Botany by-election, when he became the youngest MP at the time, until 2020. He ...
split from National in October 2018. Shortly after this
Newsroom
A newsroom is the central place where journalists—reporters, editors, and producers, associate producers, news anchors, news designers, photojournalists, videojournalists, associate editor, residence editor, visual text editor, Desk Head, s ...
reported that four women claimed to have been sexually harassed by Ross and Ross revealed in a radio interview that he had been having an affair with two women including a fellow MP. On 25 January 2019, that MP was revealed to be Dowie. Ross had disclosed her identity to news media in October 2018, but they chose not to name her until it was learned that a police investigation had been launched into a text message allegedly sent by Dowie to Ross.
However, the police decided that no further action was needed.
In 2019 Dowie was re-selected unopposed as National's Invercargill candidate, but in February 2020 announced her decision not to stand for re-election. Her change of heart was attributed to the fallout from the Ross scandal.
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 ...
chief executive
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 ...
was announced as the replacement candidate.
Dowie delivered her valedictory speech on 29 July 2020. She criticised the news media for the way it portrayed her when the news broke of her relationship with Ross and accused journalists and political commentators of inaccurate reporting and “downright lies”. She described Ross as a “predator” who was able to “manipulate the media for his agenda” and said when the “media is directly party to it, it is the media fraternity that needs to audit themselves as to their ethics and their conscious peddling of sexism and patriarchy”. Dowie said if it takes for her to be “New Zealand’s ‘scarlet woman’ to highlight that situation, “then so be it”, and that New Zealand has a long way to go with how it views women.
Her speech was met with a standing ovation by MPs throughout the debating chamber. Dowie gave a number of high-profile interviews with news media following the announcement of her retirement from Parliament, including with ''
New Zealand Herald
''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...
'' senior writer David Fisher,
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 ...
’s Andrea Vance, and
Newsroom
A newsroom is the central place where journalists—reporters, editors, and producers, associate producers, news anchors, news designers, photojournalists, videojournalists, associate editor, residence editor, visual text editor, Desk Head, s ...
’s Melanie Reid. In these interviews she described Ross as psychologically, sexually and emotionally abusive and called for an overhaul of the way in which women MPs are treated.
Dowie also wrote an op-ed for Newsroom providing advice to other women caught in abusive relationships including breaking off contact with the abuser and reaching out to and confiding in friends.
Post-Parliamentary career
In exit interviews, Dowie stated her intention to work as a consultant championing Southland and shepherding policy through central and local government.
In January 2021 she was announced as the chief executive of Able Charitable Trust, a mental health charity.
Personal life
Sarah Dowie is married to
Mark Billcliff
Mark Billcliff (born 21 April 1977) is a New Zealand former cricketer. He played two first-class matches for Otago in 1998/99. Billcliff was married to Sarah Dowie, a Member of Parliament, but they separated in 2018. His brother is cricketer I ...
, a former first class cricketer 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 ...
, but it is understood they have separated.
Dowie has two young children.
References
External links
Sarah Dowie MPofficial site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dowie, Sarah
1974 births
Living people
New Zealand National Party MPs
Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives
Women members of the New Zealand House of Representatives
New Zealand MPs for South Island electorates
21st-century New Zealand politicians
21st-century New Zealand women politicians
Candidates in the 2017 New Zealand general election