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The Honourable
Dr Nick Smith MP |
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|---|---|
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In office 31 January 1999 – 10 December 1999 |
|
| Prime Minister | Jenny Shipley |
| Preceded by | Wyatt Creech |
| Succeeded by | Trevor Mallard |
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| Incumbent | |
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Assumed office 19 November 2008 |
|
| Prime Minister | John Key |
| Preceded by | Trevor Mallard (Acting) |
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Minister for ACC
|
|
| Incumbent | |
|
Assumed office 19 November 2008 |
|
| Prime Minister | John Key |
| Preceded by | Maryan Street |
|
Member of the
New Zealand Parliament
for Tasman |
|
|
In office 1990 – 1996 |
|
| Preceded by | Seat Established |
| Succeeded by | Seat Abolished |
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|
|
| Incumbent | |
|
Assumed office 1996 |
|
| Preceded by | John Blincoe |
|
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| Born | December 24, 1964 North Canterbury,  New Zealand |
| Nationality | New Zealand |
| Political party | National Party |
| Occupation | Engineer |
| Website | http://www.nick4nelson.co.nz/ |
Nicolas Rex "Nick" Smith[1] (born 24 December 1964) is a New Zealand politician and a member of the New Zealand Parliament as a National Party MP. He is a Cabinet minister holding the posts of Minister for the Environment, Minister for Climate Change Issues, Minister for ACC.[2]
Between 1996 and 1999 he was in Cabinet, holding various portfolios including Minister of Corrections, Minister of Conservation and Minister of Education. For a brief time between October and November 2003 he was the deputy leader of the National Party, then in opposition under Bill English.
Contents |
Smith was educated at Canterbury University achieving 1st Class Honours in Civil Engineering, was an AFS Scholar to the U.S. and eventually gained a Ph.D. with a thesis on New Zealand landslides.[3] Before entering parliament, he worked as an engineer for the Rangiora County Council, and as director of his family construction company. He also served on the Rangiora District Council.
| Parl. | Electorate | List Pos. | Party |
| 43rd | Tasman | n/a | National |
| 44th | Tasman | n/a | National |
| 45th | Nelson | 30 | National |
| 46th | Nelson | 8 | National |
| 47th | Nelson | 3 | National |
| 48th | Nelson | 5 | National |
| 49th | Nelson | 5 | National |
After having been involved in the National Party since his university days, Smith stood in the 1990 elections as the party's candidate in the Tasman electorate (based around Nelson). He has retained that seat (now called Nelson) since that time.
In 1996, after serving six years in parliament, Smith was elevated to Cabinet, becoming Minister of Conservation. A year later, in 1997, he gained the additional responsibility of Minister of Corrections. He also held a number of Associate Minister positions during this time. In early 1999, he dropped the Corrections portfolio and became Minister of Education. When National was defeated in the 1999 elections, Smith continued to serve as his party's education spokesperson.
Smith was a supporter of Bill English's bid to replace Jenny Shipley as party leader. When English was successful, Smith's position within the party rose. When English was himself challenged by Don Brash, Smith was one of English's strongest defenders, working very hard to win support against Brash. Eventually, however, English was defeated.
Smith was appointed to the position of deputy leader, presumably to placate members of the English camp. He took up this position on 28 October 2003. Soon, however, he was challenged from within the party on the basis of his behaviour after his elevation, which critics described as "irrational" and "paranoid". Smith's defenders said that the claims were exaggerated, and that Smith was merely suffering from stress and exhaustion. Smith returned to Nelson on "stress leave".
When Smith returned to parliament, however, he found himself challenged for the deputy leadership by Gerry Brownlee. Smith and his supporters were angry at this, saying that Brownlee's supporters had taken advantage of Smith's absence to deliberately misrepresent Smith as unstable. Smith was also angry that neither Brownlee or Brash (who appeared now to support Brownlee) had given any indication of the upcoming challenge. Smith was defeated, and lost the deputy leadership on 17 November 2003.
In late March 2004, Smith was found guilty of contempt of court. He had been asked to assist a constituent with a Family Court case and made a number of public comments which broke the court's confidentiality rules and was also found to have pressured a witness in the case. Smith's defence was that he was exercising his responsibility as a constituency MP to aid a constituent and that his public utterances in the matter had served the public interest, but these claims were rejected by the court. The Speaker, Jonathan Hunt, held that contempt of court was insufficient to warrant expulsion from Parliament, as it did not fall within the statutory definition of a crime.
Smith considered seeking a renewed public mandate through a by-election, but no by-election was held after leaders of other parties criticised the idea. Smith stood again in the 2005 general election and kept his seat with a greatly increased majority, his personal share of the vote increasing from 46.8% to 54.9% and his overall majority from 4,232 to 10,226.
Smith is nominally ranked fifth in the National Party's hierarchy.
| Assembly seats | ||
|---|---|---|
| New constituency | Member of Parliament for
Tasman 1990-1996 |
Constituency abolished |
| Preceded by John Blincoe |
Member of Parliament for
Nelson 1996 |
Incumbent |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Wyatt Creech |
Minister of
Education 1999 |
Succeeded by Trevor Mallard |
| Preceded by Trevor Mallard |
Minister for the
Environment 2008 |
Incumbent |
| Preceded by Maryan Street |
Minister for ACC 2008 |
|
| | |
|---|---|
| In office 31 January 1999 – 10 December 1999 | |
| Prime Minister | Jenny Shipley |
| Preceded by | Wyatt Creech |
| Succeeded by | Trevor Mallard |
| | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 19 November 2008 | |
| Prime Minister | John Key |
| Preceded by | Trevor Mallard (Acting) |
| Minister for ACC
| |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 19 November 2008 | |
| Prime Minister | John Key |
| Preceded by | Maryan Street |
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Tasman | |
| In office 1990 – 1996 | |
| Preceded by | Seat Established |
| Succeeded by | Seat Abolished |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 1996 | |
| Preceded by | John Blincoe |
| Born | December 24, 1964 North Canterbury, New Zealand |
| Nationality | New Zealand |
| Political party | National Party |
| Occupation | Engineer |
| Website | http://www.nick4nelson.co.nz/ |
Nick Smith (born 24 December 1964) is a New Zealand politician and a member of the New Zealand Parliament as a National Party MP. He is a Cabinet minister holding the posts of Minister for the Environment, Minister for Climate Change Issues, Minister for ACC.[1]
Between 1996 and 1999 he was in Cabinet, holding various portfolios including Minister of Corrections, Minister of Conservation and Minister of Education. For a brief time between October and November 2003 he was the deputy leader of the National Party, then in opposition under Bill English.
He is not to be confused with another New Zealand-based Nick Smith, a financial journalist for the Independent Financial Review.
Contents |
Smith was educated at Canterbury University achieving 1st Class Honours in Civil Engineering, was an AFS Scholar to the U.S. and eventually gained a Ph.D. with a thesis on New Zealand landslides[1]. Before entering parliament, he worked as an engineer for the Rangiora County Council, and as director of his family construction company. He also served on the Rangiora District Council.
| Parl. | Electorate | List Pos. | Party |
| 43rd | Tasman | n/a | National |
| 44th | Tasman | n/a | National |
| 45th | Nelson | 30 | National |
| 46th | Nelson | 8 | National |
| 47th | Nelson | 3 | National |
| 48th | Nelson | 5 | National |
| 49th | Nelson | 5 | National |
After having been involved in the National Party since his university days, Smith stood in the 1990 elections as the party's candidate in the Tasman electorate (based around Nelson). He has retained that seat (now called Nelson) since that time.
In 1996, after serving six years in parliament, Smith was elevated to Cabinet, becoming Minister of Conservation. A year later, in 1997, he gained the additional responsibility of Minister of Corrections. He also held a number of Associate Minister positions during this time. In early 1999, he dropped the Corrections portfolio and became Minister of Education. When National was defeated in the 1999 elections, Smith continued to serve as his party's education spokesperson.
Smith was a supporter of Bill English's bid to replace Jenny Shipley as party leader. When English was successful, Smith's position within the party rose. When English was himself challenged by Don Brash, Smith was one of English's strongest defenders, working very hard to win support against Brash. Eventually, however, English was defeated.
Smith was appointed to the position of deputy leader, presumably to placate members of the English camp. He took up this position on 28 October 2003. Soon, however, he was challenged from within the party on the basis of his behaviour after his elevation, which critics described as "irrational" and "paranoid". Smith's defenders said that the claims were exaggerated, and that Smith was merely suffering from stress and exhaustion. Smith returned to Nelson on "stress leave".
When Smith returned to parliament, however, he found himself challenged for the deputy leadership by Gerry Brownlee. Smith and his supporters were angry at this, saying that Brownlee's supporters had taken advantage of Smith's absence to deliberately misrepresent Smith as unstable. Smith was also angry that neither Brownlee or Brash (who appeared now to support Brownlee) had given any indication of the upcoming challenge. Smith was defeated, and lost the deputy leadership on 17 November 2003.
In late March 2004, Smith was found guilty of contempt of court. He had been asked to assist a constituent with a Family Court case and made a number of public comments which broke the court's confidentiality rules and was also found to have pressured a witness in the case. Smith's defence was that he was exercising his responsibility as a constituency MP to aid a constituent and that his public utterences in the matter had served the public interest, but these claims were rejected by the court. The Speaker, Jonathan Hunt, held that contempt of court was insufficient to warrant expulsion from Parliament, as it is not a crime.
Smith considered seeking a renewed public mandate through a by-election, but no by-election was held after leaders of other parties criticised the idea. Smith stood again in the 2005 general election and kept his seat with a greatly increased majority, his personal share of the vote increasing from 46.8% to 54.9% and his overall majority from 4,232 to 10,226.
Smith is nominally ranked fifth in the National Party's hierarchy.
Template:Start box
|-
! colspan="3" style="background: #cccccc" | Assembly seats
|-
|width="30%" align="center" rowspan="1"|New constituency
|width="40%" style="text-align: center;" rowspan="1"|Member of Parliament for Tasman
1990-1996
|width="30%" align="center" rowspan="{{{rows}}}"|Constituency abolished
|- style="text-align:center;"
|width="30%" align="center" rowspan="1"|Preceded by
John Blincoe
|width="40%" style="text-align: center;" rowspan="1"|Member of Parliament for Nelson
1996
|width="30%" align="center" rowspan="1"|Incumbent
|-
|-
! colspan="3" style="background: #ccccff;" | Political offices
|- style="text-align:center;"
|width="30%" align="center" rowspan="1"|Preceded by
Wyatt Creech
|width="40%" style="text-align: center;" rowspan="1"|Minister of Education
1999
|width="30%" align="center" rowspan="1"| Succeeded by
Trevor Mallard
|-
|- style="text-align:center;"
|width="30%" align="center" rowspan="1"|Preceded by
Trevor Mallard
|width="40%" style="text-align: center;" rowspan="1"|Minister for the Environment
2008
|width="30%" align="center" rowspan="2"|Incumbent
|-
|- style="text-align:center;"
|width="30%" align="center" rowspan="1"|Preceded by
Maryan Street
|width="40%" style="text-align: center;" rowspan="1"|Minister for ACC
2008
|}
| Wikinews has related news: Nick Smith responds to claims he is New Zealand's worst behaved politician |
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   | Official website - Nick Smith. MP for Nelson, New Zealand |
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