Jonathan Young (politician)

Jonathan Edgar Joseph Young (born 1958) is a National Party Member of the New Zealand House of Representatives for New Plymouth. He was first elected in the 2008 general election, with the country's smallest election night majority, beating incumbent Harry Duynhoven.[1]

Jonathan Young

MP
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for New Plymouth
Assumed office
8 November 2008
Preceded byHarry Duynhoven
Majority7,733
Personal details
Born1958 (age 61–62)
NationalityNew Zealand
Political partyNational Party
RelationsVenn Young (father)
Occupationformerly Church Minister, teacher

Early years

Jonathan Young is the son of Venn Young, a National MP from 1966 to 1990.[2]He attended New Plymouth Boys High School but later finished his education at Hawera High School. Before entering politics, Young was the Senior Minister at CityChurch Waitakere in West Auckland for 18 years. He has also been a primary school teacher, and a financial administrator. In addition, he has been involved in development work in Cambodia.[3]

Member of Parliament
New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate List Party
2008–2011 49th New Plymouth 66 National
2011–2014 50th New Plymouth 45 National
2014–2017 51st New Plymouth 38 National
2017–present 52nd New Plymouth 35 National

In the 2008 election, Young was narrowly victorious in the New Plymouth seat against long-standing Labour incumbent Harry Duynhoven. Young's final majority was 105 votes - a margin of 0.3% of the total vote count in that electorate.[4] New Plymouth had been one of the seats that the party had focused on as they had won the party vote in the 2005 election and campaign head Steven Joyce felt that 'it had swung further our way'.[5]

Young voted against the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill in 2013 which would legalise same-sex marriage, saying "marriage had always been a heterosexual institution" [6][7].

Young also voted against the Abortion Legislation Act 2020 which would liberalise abortion law in New Zealand.[8][9]

In a debate on the controversially rushed-through Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Act 2008, which was aimed at controlling internet piracy, he described the internet as being akin to Skynet from The Terminator movies.[10]

Homophobia Controversy

Shortly after the 2008 New Zealand general election, Young was criticised by the GayNZ.com website for his statement that 'one of my associates was an ex-lesbian' and for his involvement with Teen Challenge, a Christian youth organisation with links to the ex-gay movement.[11] When commenting further, Young noted, "One of the things I do strongly object to in terms of the people [homosexuals] who have made this choice is the presentation of it as a normal alternative."[12]

gollark: I only said that taxation was theft ironically, however?
gollark: I technically actually have a job now.
gollark: Unironically, I ironically you unironically.
gollark: Wow, taxation is actually really theft.
gollark: I don't know if it's a good thing. But it probably affects YouTubers, or would if anyone implied the implications.

References
  1. Llewellyn, Ian (21 November 2008). "Final election results could see minor changes". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 8 October 2011.
  2. Trevett, Claire (12 January 2009). "New Voices: Jacinda Ardern, Chris Hipkins and Jonathan Young". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 8 October 2011.
  3. National Party website: Jonathan Young biography.
  4. Chief Electoral Office - Official Count Results - New Plymouth.
  5. Eames, David (10 November 2008). "How the West was won - by National". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 8 October 2011.
  6. Marriage equality bill - How MPs voted Stuff.co.nz 17 April 2013
  7. Opponents unlikely to stop history Stuff.co.nz 17 April 2013
  8. "Abortion Legislation Bill 2019", Wikipedia, 13 November 2019, retrieved 13 February 2020
  9. Herald, N. Z. "Abortion law reform: How the MPs voted". ZB. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  10. Rilkoff, Matt (15 April 2011). "MP's Skynet talk attracts attention". Fairfax New Zealand.
  11. Jonathan Young is a cause for concern GayNZ.com, 1 December 2008
  12. New MPs under fire for gay remarks The New Zealand Herald, 16 November 2008
New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by
Harry Duynhoven		 Member of Parliament for New Plymouth
2008 – present		 Incumbent
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