Damien O'Connor

Damien Peter O'Connor (born 16 January 1958) is a New Zealand politician from the West Coast of the South Island. He is a member of the Labour Party, Member of Parliament and a cabinet minister.

The Honourable Damien O'Connor MP
34th Minister of Agriculture
Incumbent
Assumed office 26 October 2017
Prime Minister	Jacinda Ardern
Preceded by	Vacant (last held by David Carter)
Minister for Biosecurity
Incumbent
Assumed office 26 October 2017
Prime Minister	Jacinda Ardern
Preceded by	Vacant (last held by David Carter)
Minister for Food Safety
Incumbent
Assumed office 26 October 2017
Prime Minister	Jacinda Ardern
Preceded by	David Bennett
Minister for Rural Communities
Incumbent
Assumed office 26 October 2017
Prime Minister	Jacinda Ardern
Preceded by	Office Created
17th Minister of Tourism
In office 19 October 2005 – 19 November 2008
Prime Minister	Helen Clark
Succeeded by	John Key
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for West Coast-Tasman
Incumbent
Assumed office 26 November 2011
Preceded by	Chris Auchinvole
In office 12 October 1996 – 8 November 2008
Preceded by	Seat established
Succeeded by	Chris Auchinvole
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Labour Party list
In office 5 May 2009 – 26 November 2011
Preceded by	Michael Cullen
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for West Coast
In office 6 November 1993 – 12 October 1996
Preceded by	Margaret Moir
Succeeded by	Seat abolished
Personal details
Born	(1958-01-16) 16 January 1958 Westport, New Zealand
Nationality	New Zealand
Political party	Labour
Relations	Greg O'Connor (cousin)
Alma mater	Lincoln University
Committees	Primary Production Committee

Early years

O'Connor was born in Westport in 1958.[1] He attended primary school in his home town before going on to St Bede's College, Christchurch, a Roman Catholic school, and Lincoln University.

Before becoming an MP, he worked in a variety of jobs in farming and tourism. During a five-year stint in Australia, he worked as a machinery operator and in sales. On his return to New Zealand he established Buller Adventure Tours, an adventure tourism company, which he owned and operated in a partnership.

Member of Parliament

New Zealand Parliament
Years	Term	Electorate	List	Party
1993–1996	44th	West Coast		Labour
1996–1999	45th	West Coast-Tasman	32	Labour
1999–2002	46th	West Coast-Tasman	none	Labour
2002–2005	47th	West Coast-Tasman	none	Labour
2005–2008	48th	West Coast-Tasman	none	Labour
2009–2011	49th	List	37	Labour
2011–2014	50th	West Coast-Tasman	none	Labour
2014–2017	51st	West Coast-Tasman	22	Labour
2017–present	52nd	West Coast-Tasman	18	Labour

He was first elected to Parliament in the 1993 election, recapturing the West Coast seat after the upset victory of National's Margaret Moir in the 1990 election. He said in 2018 that his 1993 support for Mike Moore rather than Helen Clark set his career back.[2]

He won the reconfigured West Coast-Tasman seat in the 1996 election, and was the MP for the electorate until 2008.

O'Connor is regarded as being on the right of the Labour Party and has, with permission, voted against his colleagues on at least one occasion.

He was the Minister of Rural Affairs, the Minister of Tourism, Minister of Immigration and Associate Minister of Health.

At the 2008 general election O'Connor was beaten by National candidate Chris Auchinvole, who had previously been a list MP. Auchinvole's majority was 971.[3] His position on the Labour Party list meant that O'Connor couldn't return to Parliament immediately. When the list MP Michael Cullen retired in May 2009, O'Connor regained his position as Member of the House of Representatives because he was the highest-ranked candidate on the list not already an MP.[4]

In the 49th Parliament of New Zealand, O'Connor was Labour's spokesperson for Rural Affairs, Spokesperson for Biosecurity and Associate Spokesperson for Agriculture. For the election of the 50th New Zealand Parliament O'Connor announced he would only contest the electorate and not seek another selection for the list.

In April 2011 O'Connor attracted criticism from Labour Party leader Phil Goff after describing the list MP selection process as being run by "self-serving unionists and a gaggle of gays."[5]

At the 2011 general election O'Connor regained the West Coast-Tasman electorate from National's Chris Auchinvole with a majority of 2287 votes.[5]

In 2012, O'Connor voted against the Marriage Amendment Bill, which aims to permit same sex marriage in New Zealand. With fellow labour MPs William Sio, Rino Tirikatene, Ross Robertson.[6]

In the 2014 election, O'Connor defended a challenge by former Mayor of Westland District, Maureen Pugh.[7]

Following the 2017 election, O'Connor was appointed Minister for Agriculture, Biosecurity, Food Safety, and Rural Communities, and Associate Minister for Trade and Export Growth.,[8] which has meant managing the 2017 Mycoplasma bovis outbreak [9]

Business activities

O'Connor is past president of the Buller Promotion Association, a member of the West Coast Tourism Development Group, a member of the West Coast Business Development Board and a founding director of Buller Community Development Company. He also won West Coast Young Farmer of the Year.

References

1. "New Zealand Official Yearbook 1997". Statistics New Zealand. Archived from the original on 1 May 2012. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
2. "Helen Clark coup set my career back". Stuff (Fairfax). 9 June 2018.
3. "Official Count Results – West Coast-Tasman". Chief Electoral Office, Wellington. Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
4. "O'Connor to return to Parliament". Radio New Zealand. 13 April 2009. Archived from the original on 14 April 2009.
5. Basham, Laura (28 November 2011). "Time for action to stop asset sales, says O'Connor". Retrieved 20 September 2014.
6. "Marriage equality bill: How MPs voted". The New Zealand Herald. 29 August 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
7. Mathewson, Nicole; Stylianou, Georgina; Fulton, Tim (21 September 2014). "Election 2014: Canterbury decides". The Press. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
8. "Ministerial List". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
9. "Coaster and new minister has farming in his blood". Stuff (Fairfax). 25 October 2017.

External links

• Parliamentary website page

New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by Margaret Moir	Member of Parliament for West Coast 1993–1996	Constituency abolished
New constituency	Member of Parliament for West Coast-Tasman 1996–2008 2011–present	Succeeded by Chris Auchinvole
Preceded by Chris Auchinvole		Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Paul Swain	Minister of Corrections 2005–2007	Succeeded by Phil Goff
Preceded by Vacant David Carter (2008–11)	Minister of Agriculture 2017–present	Incumbent
New office	Minister for Biosecurity 2017–present
Preceded by David Bennett	Minister for Food Safety 2017–present
New office	Minister for Rural Communities 2017–present