Gerry Brownlee: Difference between revisions

The Honourable Gerry Brownlee MP
Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery
Prime Minister	John Key
Minister for Transport
Incumbent
Assumed office 12 December 2011
Prime Minister	John Key
Preceded by	Steven Joyce
Minister for Economic Development
In office 19 November 2008 – November 2011
Prime Minister	John Key
Preceded by	Pete Hodgson
Succeeded by	Steven Joyce
Leader of the House
Incumbent
Assumed office 19 November 2008
Prime Minister	John Key
Preceded by	Michael Cullen
Minister of Energy and Resources
In office 19 November 2008 – November 2011
Prime Minister	John Key
Preceded by	David Parker
Succeeded by	Phil Heatley
Deputy Leader of National Party
In office 17 November 2003 – 27 November 2006
Leader	Don Brash
Preceded by	Nick Smith
Succeeded by	Bill English
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Ilam
Incumbent
Assumed office 1996
Preceded by	Seat Established
Personal details
Born	1956 Christchurch, New Zealand
Political party	National Party
Alma mater	St Bede's College
Occupation	Teacher
Committees	Privileges Committee (Deputy Chairperson)

Gerard Anthony "Gerry" Brownlee (born 1956) is a New Zealand politician. He served from 17 November 2003 to 27 November 2006 as deputy-leader of the National Party – during that period the second-largest party in the New Zealand Parliament, and thus forming the core of the Opposition. In November 2008 he became a senior front-bench Minister in John Key's coalition cabinet.

Personal biography

Born in Christchurch, Brownlee has lived there ever since. After leaving high school, he worked in his family's timber business, and received training in carpentry. Later he qualified as a teacher. He then taught woodwork and crafts at high-school level at Ellesmere College, and later at St Bede's College (which he himself had attended as a pupil). At St Bede's he taught woodwork and graphics.

Member of Parliament

In the 1993 elections, Brownlee stood as the National Party candidate in the Sydenham electorate, where he campaigned – unsuccessfully – against Jim Anderton of the newly formed Alliance. In the 1996 elections he contested the nearby seat of Ilam, and won by a comfortable margin. He has remained the MP for Ilam since that point, although his majority declined until making a strong recovery in the 2005 election.

Junior Parliamentary Whip

In Parliament, Brownlee has served as the National Party's Junior Whip and as its spokesperson on superannuation, energy, transport, local government, and the ACC.

Alleged assault

Brownlee received criticism during the 1999 election campaign when during a private closed meeting he ejected an elderly protester from a platform containing several National Party candidates. The ejection took place with what many, including watching media-representatives, considered excessive force. The protester brought charges against Brownlee, seeking damages of $60,000. After a brief trial the Court ordered Brownlee to pay the protester $8,500 in damages.^[1]

In Opposition

In 2003, Phil Goff and Scoop columnist Paulo Politico considered Brownlee a potential challenger to the party leadership of Bill English (2001–2003), as he had run for the deputy leadership position against English in early 2001.^[2][3] Eventually, on 28 October 2003, however, English gave way to Don Brash, a former governor of the Reserve Bank. Brownlee then featured high on the list of potential deputy-leaders, but he declined to pursue the position, and on 28 October 2003 Nick Smith became Brash's deputy.

Shortly after his selection, however, Smith opted to take two weeks of stress-leave, saying that the protracted leadership disputes had exhausted him. When Smith returned to Parliament, Brownlee challenged him for the deputy-leadership. Informed of the challenge, Smith resigned, and on 17 November 2003 Brownlee won the caucus vote unopposed. (For an alternative version of events, see Nick Smith.) Initially, Smith alleged that while he was on stress-leave; “a campaign to oust me was conducted in the media while I was under the leader's instructions to make no comment”.^[4] Audrey Young wrote in the New Zealand Herald that Brownlee and Murray McCully were rumoured to have been behind the campaign to oust Smith as deputy leader.^[5]

After becoming a deputy leader, Brownlee continued his confrontational and colourful style of political debate. Following the controversy surrounding Brash's Orewa speech of 27 January 2004, Brownlee became the National Party's spokesman for Maori Affairs in place of Georgina Te Heuheu, who resigned from the position after refusing to endorse party-leader Brash's comments. Brownlee's approach to this portfolio involved criticising the government's policies regarding perceived special treatment for Māori, an issue at the core of National's 2005 election manifesto.

After the resignation of former National Party Leader of the Opposition Don Brash (27 November 2006), internal party discussion apparently ensued over the post of deputy parliamentary party leader. Bill English, Simon Power and Judith Collins all appeared to aspire to the position.^[6]

On 26 November 2006 Brownlee announced that he would step aside as Deputy Leader. A special National Party caucus meeting confirmed the proposed new hierarchy the following day. On 1 December 2006 John Key confirmed Brownlee as the third-ranked National Party MP with responsibility for Energy, SOEs, and State Services; the Shadow Leader of the House, and the chair the National Party's Strategy Committee.

Return to office

On 19 November 2008, Sir Anand Satyanand, Governor General of New Zealand, swore Brownlee in the Ministerial portfolios of Economic Development, Energy and Resources, and also as Associate Minister for the Rugby World Cup. Brownlee also became the Leader of the House, making him responsible for the schedule of Government business, allocating time for non-governmental and opposition business to be presented to the house and announcing the Business Statement for the Parliamentary sitting dates to the house and its members.

In August 2009, Brownlee was criticised by Forest and Bird Spokesperson Kevin Hackwell for playing down government considerations to possibly mine Conservation estate land. Mr Hackwell was reported as stating that "If the Government's to go down this line they could be buying a fight with the people of the Coromandel, with the people of New Zealand generally, who have put these areas aside and want them protected for their conservation values".^[7] There were signs within the New Zealand mining industry that the move would be welcomed if the considerations were carried out.^[8] In early December 2009, a leaked document showed that there were considerations to remove part of the conservation status of Mount Aspiring National Park for mining purposes.^[9] The result of the controversy was that the government decided not to explore considerations amongst significant debate on the issue in the House, in submissions to the Select Committees and within the National Party's own parliamentary caucus.^[10] On the withdrawal Brownlee stated "I suspect few New Zealanders knew the country had such considerable mineral potential before we undertook this process, and I get a sense that New Zealanders are now much more aware of that potential". He went on that it might contribute to economic growth and further stated that "New Zealanders have given the minerals sector a clear mandate to go and explore that land, and where appropriate, within the constraints of the resource consent process, utilise its mineral resources for everyone's benefit". An additional announcement from Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson pronounced that future National Park land would receive protections, stating that, "This is an added layer of protection for New Zealand's most highly valued conservation land..."^[11]

After the Canterbury Earthquake of 4 September 2010, Brownlee, due to his position as his Party's only Electorate MP in Christchurch, was appointed Earthquake Recovery Minister on 7 September 2010. On 14 September 2010, Brownlee introduced the Canterbury Earthquake Response and Recovery Bill into the house with leave to pass the legislation in one sitting. This Bill was passed by the time the House adjourned at 10.02 pm.^[12]

Comments about Finland

In March 2012 Brownlee sparked a near-diplomatic incident with Finland, after he suggested during a parliamentary session that Finns are uneducated, unemployed murderers who don't respect women. With his comments Brownlee rejected New Zealand Labour Party's plans to model the economy on Finland, and added that Finland "has worse unemployment than us, has less growth than us, can hardly feed the people who live there, has a terrible homicide rate, hardly educates its people, and has no respect for women." After the comments Ari Hallenberg, Finland's consul-general in Auckland, said Brownlee's comments were inaccurate. Hallenberg said in an interview that he thought Brownlee's comments would have been better left unsaid. Hallenberg was also considering calling the Finnish embassy in Canberra to complain, and said that the Finnish media would create a storm when the comments go back to Finland.^[13]

The story became one of the main news in Finland where Brownlee's comments sparked a lot of criticism. The main newspaper in Finland Helsingin Sanomat interviewed Juha Parikka, the Minister-Counsellor of Finland in the embassy in Canberra, who said that the embassy would take action and try to clarify what exactly Bronwlee ment by his comments.^[14] With the best educational system in Europe,^[15][16] Finland has recently ranked as one of the world's most peaceful, competitive and livable countries.^{[17][18][19][20]}

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gerry Brownlee.

• Profile at National party
• Profile at New Zealand Parliament
• Releases and speeches at Beehive.govt.nz

Template:Persondata