Damien O'Connor

The Honourable Damien O'Connor MP
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
In office 1993 – 1996
Preceded by	Margaret Moir
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for West Coast-Tasman
In office 1996 – 2008
Succeeded by	Chris Auchinvole
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Labour Party list
In office 2009 – 2011
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for West Coast-Tasman
Incumbent
Assumed office 2011
Preceded by	Chris Auchinvole
Personal details
Born	(1958-01-16) 16 January 1958 Westport
Nationality	New Zealand
Political party	Labour
Committees	Primary Production Committee
Religion	Roman Catholic

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 and a Member of Parliament.

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

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 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.^[2] 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.^[3]

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."^[4]

At the 2011 general election O'Connor regained the West Coast-Tasman electorate from National's Chris Auchinvole with a majority of 2287 votes.^[4] He is currently the Labour spokesperson for Primary Industries, Biosecurity and Food Safety.^[5]

In 2012, O'Connor voted against the passing the first reading of the Marriage Equality Bill which aims to permit gay marriage in New Zealand.^[6]

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

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

External links

• Parliamentary website page