Stephanie Anne "Steve" Chadwick (née Frizzell, born 15 December 1948) is a New Zealand politician. She served as

mayor of Rotorua The Mayor of Rotorua officiates over the Rotorua Lakes district of New Zealand, which is administered by the Rotorua Lakes Council (RLC), whose seat is in Rotorua. An elected borough council first came together in February 1923; prior to that, t ...

from 2013 to 2022. She previously held the positions of Minister of Conservation, Women's Affairs, and Associate

Health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

in the

Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand The Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand from 10 December 1999 to 19 November 2008. Labour Party leader Helen Clark negotiated a coalition with Jim Anderton, leader of the Alliance Party. While undertakin ...

Early life

Born Stephanie Frizzell in

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

, New Zealand, Chadwick is the sister of painter

Dick Frizzell Richard John Frizzell (born 1943) is a New Zealand artist known for his pop art paintings and prints. His work often features Kiwiana iconography combined with motifs from Māori art traditions, such as the tiki and tā moko. He is based in ...

. She attended

Karamu High School Karamu High School is a co-educational state high school in Hastings, New Zealand for students in Years 9 to 13. The school is the main co-ed secondary school within Hastings City itself. The school’s campus is located to the easternmost end o ...

, then did nursing training in

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 metr ...

. She married lawyer John Te Manihera Chadwick in 1968, and the couple went on to have three children. After holding many roles in the health sector, including a term from 1976 to 1986 as union representative for the New Zealand Nurses Association, Steve Chadwick was elected to the Rotorua District Council in 1996.

Member of Parliament

In the 1999 election, Chadwick stood as the Labour Party candidate for the Rotorua seat, and defeated incumbent National Party MP

Max Bradford Maxwell Robert Bradford (born 19 January 1942) is a former New Zealand politician and cabinet minister. He was an MP for the National Party from 1990 to 2002. He is best known for introducing the " Bright Future" economic initiative in 1999, a ...

. At the 2005 election she was narrowly returned to

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

by 662 or 2.2% more votes than her opponent. In 2006, Chadwick's Shop Trading Hours Act Repeal (Easter Trading) Amendment Bill was drawn from the member's ballot. The bill passed its first reading and was sent to select committee, but was narrowly defeated at the second reading, 64 to 57. In 2007, she was appointed to Cabinet as Minister of Conservation and Women's Affairs, as well as becoming an Associate Minister of Health. In the 2008 general election, Chadwick lost her seat to

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, c ...

Todd McClay Todd Michael McClay (born 22 November 1968) is a New Zealand politician and former ambassador. He is the Member of Parliament for Rotorua. He was previously an ambassador for the Cook Islands and Niue to the European Union. Early life McClay ...

, whose margin was over 5000. Chadwick's loss was predicted by some commentators due to boundary changes which incorporated more rural areas into the electorate. However, due to Chadwick's list place of 30 she was able to return to parliament. In 2010, Chadwick attempted to introduce a bill to Parliament to partially liberalise abortion law. This bill was defeated at the caucus stage and was not brought before Parliament. Chadwick failed to regain her seat in the 2011 election, losing to

by a margin of more than 7,000 votes. On 27 November 2011 she announced that she would be retiring from politics. As a cabinet minister, Chadwick was entitled to 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 ...

and became The Hon. Mrs Stephanie (Steve) Chadwick which is a title she was granted for the rest of her life after leaving parliament.

Mayor of Rotorua

Chadwick contested the Rotorua mayoralty in the local elections of that year, challenging sitting mayor Kevin Winters. Chadwick defeated Winters and three other candidates, receiving more than 11,000 votes from a total 19,596 votes cast. At the 2016 local-body elections, Chadwick again ran for mayor, defeating six other candidates, receiving 8,990 of a total 21,408 votes cast Chadwick's husband, John Chadwick, died in Rotorua on 26 May 2017. In 2020, Chadwick announced a zero percent rates increase in the Rotorua Lakes Council's 2020/2021 annual plan to cushion the financial blow of 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 identi ...

, which had severely impacted the district's tourism industry. Chadwick did not stand for re-election as mayor in the 2022 elections. In the

2022 New Year Honours The 2022 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations ...

, Chadwick 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 ...

, for services to local government and as a Member of Parliament.

References

External links

Parliamentary website pageSteve Chadwick's website
, - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Chadwick, Stephanie 1948 births Living people New Zealand Labour Party MPs Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand Local politicians in New Zealand New Zealand nurses People from Hastings, New Zealand People from Rotorua Women government ministers of New Zealand New Zealand list MPs Unsuccessful candidates in the 2011 New Zealand general election Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand MPs for North Island electorates Mayors of Rotorua People educated at Karamu High School 21st-century New Zealand politicians 21st-century New Zealand women politicians Women members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Companions of the Queen's Service Order

Early life

Member of Parliament

Mayor of Rotorua

References

Further reading

External links