Simon James Power (born 5 December 1969) is a former New Zealand National Party politician and who served as a

Cabinet Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, � ...

for the first parliamentary term of the

Fifth National Government of New Zealand The Fifth National Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand for three parliamentary terms from 19 November 2008 to 26 October 2017. John Key served as National Leader and Prime Minister until December 2016, after which Bill En ...

and as Member of Parliament for Rangitīkei. Power held the roles of

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...

Minister for State Owned Enterprises The Minister of State Owned Enterprises is the government minister in New Zealand responsible for trading enterprises owned by the New Zealand Government (see State-owned enterprises of New Zealand), usually in conjunction with the minister r ...

Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs The Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs is a minister in the government of New Zealand with the responsibilities including corporate law and governance, financial markets, competition policy, consumer policy, protecting intellectual prop ...

and Deputy Leader of the House. He was appointed

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

TVNZ , type = Crown entity , industry = Broadcast television , num_locations = New Zealand , location = Auckland, New Zealand , area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the So ...

in 2021, having previously served as Acting CEO of Westpac New Zealand. He also serves as the chairman of the King's College Board of Governors.

Early years

Power was educated in

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...

, attending St Peter's College. He was prominent in the life of St Peter's, captaining two senior sports teams and chairing the School Council. He later studied at

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

, gaining first a Bachelor of Arts degree in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

and then a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

degree. For two years, he was president of the Victoria University Law Students' Society. He completed his university study in 1993. After leaving university, Power worked as a lawyer in Palmerston North. For a brief period, he also worked 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 ...

. In 1998, he decided to enter national politics. Having been a member of the National Party since the year he left university, he secured the party's nomination for Rangitikei, a predominantly rural area just outside Palmerston North. The incumbent, National MP Denis Marshall, retired from Parliament in 1999.

Member of Parliament

In the 1999 election, Power won Rangitikei. He defeated his opponent, the Labour Party's Craig Walsham, by slightly under three hundred votes. Once in parliament, Power became his party's spokesman on Labour, Industrial Relations, and Youth Affairs. After he retained his seat in the 2002 election, these roles were swapped for Justice, Tertiary Education, and Workplace Skills. In 2003, when

Don Brash Donald Thomas Brash (born 24 September 1940) is a former New Zealand politician who was Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the New Zealand National Party from October 2003 to November 2006, and the Leader of ACT New Zealand from April to No ...

became leader of the National Party, Power's responsibilities were once again reshuffled, giving him the portfolios of Defence, Veterans' Affairs, and Youth Affairs. In May 2004, Power caused controversy for his statement that (as regards defence and foreign affairs) "where Britain, the United States and Australia go, we go". Power later expressed regret for how the statement was interpreted, and party leader Don Brash said that it did not reflect National Party policy. In August of the same year, Power was moved from the defence position to that of

chief whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom ...

. Between 2005 and 2008, Power was Opposition Spokesperson on Law and Order and repeatedly called for an inquiry into the management of the Corrections Department. A few months before the election in 2008, Parliament's Law & Order Select Committee agreed to hold a wide-ranging inquiry. When National won the election in 2008, Power was appointed Minister of Justice.

Life after Parliament

On 2 March 2011 Power announced he would step down at the end of the term in late 2011. In April 2011, Power's ministerial portfolio for State-Owned Enterprises was transferred to

Tony Ryall Anthony Boyd Williams Ryall (born 19 November 1964) is a former New Zealand politician. He represented the National Party in the New Zealand Parliament from 1990 to 2014. Between 2008 and 2014 he served as a cabinet minister, holding the post ...

in preparation for Power's transition into business; he wanted to avoid potential conflicts of interest. In December 2011 Power was granted the right to retain the title of

The Honourable ''The Honourable'' (British English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific style that is used as a prefix before the names or titles of certain ...

in recognition of his term as a Member of the

Executive Council of New Zealand The Executive Council of New Zealand ( mi, Te Komiti Matua o Aotearoa) is the full group of " responsible advisers" to the governor-general, who advise on state and constitutional affairs. All government ministers must be appointed as executive ...

and became The Hon. Simon Power. In January 2012 he became the head of the bank

Westpac Westpac Banking Corporation, known simply as Westpac, is an Australian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered at Westpac Place in Sydney, New South Wales. Established in 1817 as the Bank of New South Wales, it ...

's Private Bank. In the 2012 Queen's Birthday Honours Power was appointed a

Companion of the Queen's Service Order The Queen's Service Order, established by royal warrant of Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, is used to recognise "valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to the Crown or similar services within the pu ...

(QSO) for services as a Member of Parliament.The Queen's Birthday and Diamond Jubilee Honours 2012
(29 June 2012) 74 ''

New Zealand Gazette The ''New Zealand Gazette'' ( mi, Te Kāhiti o Aotearoa), commonly referred to as ''Gazette'', is the official newspaper of record (Government gazette) of the New Zealand Government. Published since 1840, it is the longest-running publication i ...

'' 2091. In late December 2021, Power was appointed as the chief executive of the public broadcaster

. Power had recently stepped down as acting chief of Westpac Bank when the bank appointed Catherine McGrath as chief executive in November 2021. Power is scheduled to assume office in March 2022.

Early years

Member of Parliament

Life after Parliament

References

External links