Megan Woods

Megan Cherie Woods (born 4 November 1973) is a New Zealand Labour Party politician who serves as a Cabinet Minister in the Sixth Labour Government and has served as Member of Parliament for Wigram since 2011.

The Honourable Megan Woods MP
Megan Woods in 2018
28th Minister of Housing
Incumbent
Assumed office 27 June 2019
Prime Minister	Jacinda Ardern
Preceded by	Phil Twyford
17th Minister of Energy and Resources
Incumbent
Assumed office 26 October 2017
Prime Minister	Jacinda Ardern
Preceded by	Judith Collins
Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration
Incumbent
Assumed office 26 October 2017
Prime Minister	Jacinda Ardern
Preceded by	Nicky Wagner
26th Minister for Research, Science and Innovation
Incumbent
Assumed office 26 October 2017
Prime Minister	Jacinda Ardern
Preceded by	Paul Goldsmith
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Wigram
Incumbent
Assumed office 2011
Preceded by	Jim Anderton
Majority	4,040
Personal details
Born	(1973-11-04) 4 November 1973
Political party	Labour (since 2007)
Other political affiliations	Progressive Party (1999–2007)
Website	Profile on Labour website
Academic background
Alma mater	University of Canterbury
Thesis	Integrating the nation: Gendering Maori urbanisation and integration, 1942–1969 (2002)
Doctoral advisor	Katie Pickles

Early life

Woods was born and grew up in Wigram, Christchurch.[1] She attended high school at Catholic Cathedral College and has a PhD in history obtained at the University of Canterbury[2] with a thesis titled Integrating the nation: Gendering Maori urbanisation and integration, 1942–1969.[3]

Professional life

Woods was a business manager for Crop & Food Research (2005–08) and its successor organisation Plant and Food Research (2008), based at Lincoln.[1]

Political career

Woods and Anderton at the Riccarton Market

Woods was a member of the Progressive Party from 1999 to 2007 and was involved in several of Jim Anderton's re-election campaigns.[4] She contested the Christchurch Central electorate in the 2005 general election and came fourth, receiving 1077 votes (3.2% of the electorate votes).[5] She was placed fourth on the Progressive party list. As the party obtained only 1.2% of the party vote, she did not enter Parliament that year.

She was a member of the Spreydon-Heathcote community board in Christchurch from 2004 to 2007.[1]

Woods joined the Labour Party in 2007.[4] In the same year, she contested the Christchurch mayoralty for the centre-left Christchurch 2021 group, receiving 32,821 votes and coming second against Bob Parker (47,033 votes), but beating Jo Giles (14,454 votes) in the election contested by ten candidates.[6][7] She did not contest the 2008 general election or the 2010 mayoral election.

Woods was selected as the Labour candidate for the 2011 election in the Wigram electorate.[1][4] She succeeded Jim Anderton, who had announced that he would retire either after winning the Christchurch mayoralty (he was unsuccessful) or at the end of the term of the 49th Parliament in November 2011. Woods was a key member of Anderton's campaign committee, along with key Progressive Party members like Jeanette Lawrence and Liz Maunsell, and Labour activists such as campaign manager Tony Milne, Ben Ross and Liana Foster.[8] Until the 2010 Canterbury earthquake, Anderton was leading in the opinion polls, and winning the mayoralty would have caused a by-election in the Wigram electorate.[9] The earthquake resulted in a mood swing in Christchurch, and Anderton lost against Bob Parker.[10] Anderton remained an MP until the end of the term of the 49th Parliament, and Woods won in the 2011 general election in the Wigram electorate.[4]

Member of Parliament

New Zealand Parliament
Years	Term	Electorate	List	Party
2011–2014	50th	Wigram	47	Labour
2014–2017	51st	Wigram	20	Labour
2017–present	52nd	Wigram	6	Labour

Woods' candidacy, which began in late 2010, was centred on job creation in her electorate. She stated in her Labour selection speech that "Growing up here in the 1980s, I watched people lose their jobs. I saw workplaces like the Addington Workshops shut their doors forever. Now I am 36 years old and am watching jobs disappear from our communities again."[4] Woods also cited the rising cost of living for everyday people as a major concern.

At the election, Woods won the seat with 45.11% of the vote and a majority of 1,500 votes.[11] Woods won re-election in the 2014 election with an increased majority.[12]

Woods was previously Labour Party's spokesperson for the Environment and Climate Change and has served prior as the Party's spokesperson for Tertiary Education and associate spokesperson for Science and Innovation.[13][14]

Woods was elected as a Cabinet Minister by the Labour Party caucus following Labour's formation of a coalition government with New Zealand First and the Greens.[15] As of 2018, Woods is the Minister of Energy and Resources. On 12 April, Woods announced that the Government would halt future gas and oil exploration but clarified that the existing 22 contracts would be allowed to continue.[16]

On 27 June 2019, in Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's first major reshuffle of the coalition government, Woods was appointed Minister of Housing, replacing Phil Twyford.[17]

On 19 June 2020, Woods was given joint responsibility with Air Commodore Darryn Webb for overseeing isolation and quarantine facilities for travellers entering New Zealand, as part of the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[18][19]

References

1. Conway, Glenn (20 September 2010). "Anderton follower chosen for Wigram". The Press. Archived from the original on 21 September 2010. Retrieved 21 September 2010.
2. "Dr Megan Woods". Plant & Food Research. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
3. Woods, Megan (2002). Integrating the nation: Gendering Maori urbanisation and integration, 1942–1969 (Thesis). University of Canterbury. Archived from the original on 1 July 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
4. "Megan Woods to stand for Labour in Wigram". Newshub. 19 September 2010. Archived from the original on 20 June 2020. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
5. "Official Count Results – Christchurch Central". Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 27 May 2010. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
6. Edward Gay and James Ihaka (13 October 2007). "New faces aplenty in local government shake-ups". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
7. "Christchurch City Mayor". Local Elections 2010. Archived from the original on 27 August 2010. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
8. The People's Mayor Announces. 18 July 2010. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
9. Booker, Jarrod (12 September 2010). "Anderton presses on with mayoral bid". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 28 October 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
10. "Parker re-elected in Christchurch". The Dominion Post. 9 October 2010. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
11. "Official Count Results – Wigram". Electoral Commission. 10 December 2011. Archived from the original on 19 January 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
12. "Official Count Results – Wigram". Electoral Commission. 20 September 2014. Archived from the original on 21 January 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
13. "About Megan". Megan Wood's website. Archived from the original on 20 October 2017.
14. "Megan Woods". New Zealand Labour Party. Archived from the original on 26 November 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
15. "Who's in? Who's out?". Radio New Zealand. 20 October 2017. Archived from the original on 20 July 2018. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
16. "Oil, gas exploration move a 'kick in the guts' for Taranaki – mayor". Radio New Zealand. 11 April 2018. Archived from the original on 12 November 2019. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
17. Cooke, Henry (27 June 2019). "PM takes housing off Phil Twyford in first major reshuffle". Stuff. Archived from the original on 17 December 2019. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
18. Cooke, Henry (19 June 2020). "Housing Minister Megan Woods taking on responsibility for border management". Stuff. Archived from the original on 20 June 2020. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
19. "Housing Minister Megan Woods to oversee managed isolation and quarantine facilities". Radio New Zealand. 19 June 2020. Archived from the original on 20 June 2020. Retrieved 20 June 2020.

New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by Jim Anderton	Member of Parliament for Wigram 2011–present	Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Judith Collins	Minister of Energy and Resources 2017–present	Incumbent
Preceded by Nicky Wagner	Minister for Greater Canterbury Regeneration 2017–present
Preceded by Paul Goldsmith	Minister for Research, Science and Innovation 2017–present