Jenny Shipley | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Shipley in 2020 | |
| 36thPrime Minister of New Zealand | |
| In office 8 December 1997 – 10 December 1999 | |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Governor-General | Michael Hardie Boys |
| Deputy | Winston Peters Wyatt Creech |
| Preceded by | Jim Bolger |
| Succeeded by | Helen Clark |
| 28thLeader of the Opposition | |
| In office 10 December 1999 – 8 October 2001 | |
| Prime Minister | Helen Clark |
| Deputy | Wyatt Creech Bill English |
| Preceded by | Helen Clark |
| Succeeded by | Bill English |
| 8thMinister for State Owned Enterprises | |
| In office 16 December 1996 – 8 December 1997 | |
| Prime Minister | Jim Bolger |
| Preceded by | Philip Burdon |
| Succeeded by | Tony Ryall |
| 32ndMinister of Health | |
| In office 29 November 1993 – 16 December 1996 | |
| Prime Minister | Jim Bolger |
| Preceded by | Bill Birch |
| Succeeded by | Bill English |
| 19thMinister for Social Welfare | |
| In office 2 November 1990 – 29 November 1993 | |
| Prime Minister | Jim Bolger |
| Preceded by | Michael Cullen |
| Succeeded by | Peter Gresham |
| Member of theNew Zealand Parliament forRakaia Ashburton (1987–1990) | |
| In office 15 August 1987 – 27 July 2002 | |
| Preceded by | Rob Talbot |
| Succeeded by | Brian Connell |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Jennifer Mary Robson (1952-02-04)4 February 1952 (age 73) Gore, New Zealand |
| Political party | National |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
Dame Jennifer Mary ShipleyDNZM PC (néeRobson; born 4 February 1952)[1] is a New Zealand former politician who served as the 36thprime minister of New Zealand from 1997 to 1999. She was the first female prime minister of New Zealand, and the first woman to lead theNational Party.[2][3]
Shipley was born inGore,Southland. She grew up in ruralCanterbury, and attendedMarlborough Girls' College and theChristchurch College of Education. Before entering politics, she worked as a schoolteacher and was involved with various community organisations. Shipley was elected toParliament at the1987 election, winning theAshburton electorate (later renamedRakaia). When the National Party returned to powerin 1990, she was appointed toCabinet underJim Bolger. Shipley subsequently served asMinister of Social Welfare (1990–1996),Minister for Women's Affairs (1990–1996),Minister of Health (1993–1996), andMinister of Transport (1996–1997).
Shipley chafed at the government's slow pace, and in December 1997 convinced her National colleagues to support her as leader. Bolger resigned as Prime Minister rather than face being voted out, and Shipley was elected as his replacement unopposed. She inheritedan uneasy coalition withNew Zealand First, led byWinston Peters. The coalition was dissolved in August 1998, but Shipley was able to remain in power with the aid ofMauri Pacific, an NZ First splinter group. At the1999 election, her government was defeated by theLabour Party, led byHelen Clark. Shipley continued asLeader of the Opposition until October 2001. Shipley involved herself with business and charitable interests since leaving politics, and is a member of theCouncil of Women World Leaders. She was found liable for $9 million for her role in the financial failure of Mainzeal, a construction company.[4]
Born inGore, New Zealand, Shipley was one of four sisters.[5] Her father was Rev. Leonard Cameron Robson, a Presbyterian minister.[6] After attendingMarlborough Girls' College, she qualified in 1971 as a teacher through theChristchurch College of Education and taught in New Zealand primary schools until 1976. In 1973 she married Burton Shipley and settled inAshburton.[5]
| Years | Term | Electorate | List | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987–1990 | 42nd | Ashburton | National | ||
| 1990–1993 | 43rd | Ashburton | National | ||
| 1993–1996 | 44th | Rakaia | National | ||
| 1996–1999 | 45th | Rakaia | 4 | National | |
| 1999–2002 | 46th | Rakaia | 1 | National | |
Having joined theNational Party in 1975, Shipley successfully stood inAshburton, a safe National seat in the country areas surroundingChristchurch, in the1987 election. Entering parliament at age 35, she was one of parliament's youngest members.[5]
Shipley rose quickly in the National caucus. In February 1990, while still in her first term, party leaderJim Bolger named her the party's spokeswoman on social welfare.[7] When Bolger led the National Party to victory in the1990 general election, Shipley was reelected inRakaia, essentially a reconfigured Ashburton. She becameMinister of Social Welfare, and also served asMinister for Women's Affairs (1990–1996).[8]
In her role as Minister of Social Welfare, Shipley presided over sharp cutbacks to state benefits. Later, when she becameMinister of Health in 1993, she caused further controversy by attempting to reform the public health service, introducing an internal market. National won another term at the1996 election, but was forced into a coalition withNew Zealand First. Shipley left the Women's Affairs portfolio and took on several others, including responsibility forstate-owned enterprises andtransport.[9]
In 1993, Shipley was awarded theNew Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal.[10]
 | |
| Premiership of Jenny Shipley 8 December 1997 – 10 December 1999 | |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
|---|---|
| Cabinet | Fourth National Government of New Zealand |
| Party | New Zealand National Party |
| Appointed by | Michael Hardie Boys |
| Seat | Premier House |
Shipley grew increasingly frustrated and disillusioned with the cautious pace of the National-led government underJim Bolger, and with what she saw as the disproportionate influence of New Zealand First. She began gathering support to replace Bolger in mid-1997. Later that year, while Bolger attended theCommonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, Shipley convinced a majority of her National Party colleagues to back her bid for theleadership. When Bolger returned to New Zealand, he discovered that Shipley had enough support in the party room to oust him. Facing an untenable situation, he resigned, and Shipley wasunanimously elected to succeed him. As leader of the governing party, she became Prime Minister on 8 December 1997.[11] On 21 May 1998 Shipley was appointed to thePrivy Council, and was given the right to the styleThe Right Honourable for life.[12]
Despite continued economic growth, the Shipley government became increasingly politically unstable. In particular, the relationship between National and New Zealand First deteriorated. While Bolger had been able to maintain good relations with New Zealand First and with its leader,Deputy Prime MinisterWinston Peters, the alliance became strained after Shipley rose to power. Finally, on 14 August 1998, Shipley sacked Peters from Cabinet.[13][14][self-published source]
Shipley was nicknamed "the perfumed steamroller," when she first became prime minister.[15] During a later interview withGuyon Espiner, Shipley stated that female politicians were labelled differently in the media; she uses the example that male politicians are called bold where female politicians are called vindictive; although she notes that this is an observation, not something that hurts her personally.[16] Shipley's ascension to the leadership marked a shift to the right politically with subtle returns to the neo-liberal policies of the first term of the Bolger government. This was labelled by some commentators (usually critically) as "Jennycide", a portmanteau of "Jenny" and "genocide".[17]
Shipley, along with theNew Zealand Tourism Board, backed the quasi-national emblem of thesilver fern on a black background as apossible alternative flag,[18][19] along the lines of theCanadian flag, but she took pains to publicly dissociate herself from Bolger's support forrepublicanism. As the debate continued in 1999, thePrincess Royal visited New Zealand, and Shipley stated, "I am an unashamed royal supporter, along with many New Zealanders".[20] However, the debate was muted by the controversy surrounding Tourism Board contracts going to the public-relations firmSaatchi & Saatchi, whose World CEOKevin Roberts, also an advocate of thesilver fern flag, was a good friend of Shipley.[21]
TheAPEC Summit was hosted in Auckland in September 1999. Shipley met with thePresident of the United States,Bill Clinton, in one of only twostate visits to New Zealand by a US president.[22]
Shipley was the first Prime Minister to attend the gay and lesbianHero Parade,[23] being the first National Party leader to seek to make electoral overtures to the gay and lesbian voting public. She advocated lowering thealcohol purchase age from 20 to 18 and achieved this in 1999.[14] This was part of her expressed desire to expand the traditional National Party voting base.
Shipley became a member of theCouncil of Women World Leaders, an international network of current and former women presidents and prime ministers.[24]
Shipley led the National Party into the1999 election, hoping to become the first woman to be elected prime minister in her own right. However, she was defeated by theLabour Party, also led by a woman,Helen Clark. This election was a significant moment in history for New Zealand as it was the first New Zealand election in which the leaders of both major parties were women.[25]
Shipley served as theLeader of the Opposition until October 2001, whenBill English took over as National Party leader.[26] She retired from Parliament in January 2002.[27]
In the2003 New Year Honours, Shipley was appointed aDistinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services as a Member of Parliament.[28]
Shipley suffered a heart attack in 2000, leading to an emergencyangioplasty procedure.[29] She made modifications to her lifestyle and lost weight, though she was diagnosed withdiabetes in 2004. She underwentgastric bypass surgery in late 2007.[24]
After leaving politics, Shipley involved herself with business and charitable interests. In 2007, she joined the financial services firm Source Sentinel, and from 2009 to 2018 was chair of theGenesis Energy Limited board.[30][31] As of 2012[update], she was on the board of the New Zealand branch of the state-ownedChina Construction Bank.[32][33] She resigned from the Bank's Board after being prosecuted for her role in the collapse of construction company Mainzeal.
In December 2012, Shipley resigned from the board of directors ofMainzeal Property & Construction (MPCL), which went into receivership on 6 February 2013. At mid-day on 5 February 2013 she was one of four independent directors who resigned from the board of Mainzeal Group Ltd.[34] MPCL and Mainzeal Group Limited are part of the Richina group, controlled and majority owned by Yan Ci Lang (also known as Richard Yan).[35][36][37][38] Mainzeal went into liquidation on 28 February 2013, owing some NZ$110 million. In May 2015, thereceiver of Mainzeal,BDO, filed a civil lawsuit against the former Mainzeal directors, including Shipley, for an alleged breach of directors' duties.[39] In February 2019, theHigh Court of New Zealand found that the Mainzeal directors had breached their duty to avoid reckless trading and assessed their total liability at NZ$36 million, of which Shipley's share was assessed at NZ$6 million.[40] Within a week of the Court delivering its verdict, Shipley resigned from her Chair of the China Construction Bank New Zealand. An appeal against this judgment was filed along with a counter claim brought by the original plaintiffs for a vastly higher award against the Directors.[41] Both appeals failed.[42] In August 2023 New Zealand's Supreme Court upheld the long-contested judgements, determining "“Mainzeal was balance sheet insolvent from 2005, albeit this was not apparent from its financial statements” and ordered the four directors, of whom Shipley was one, to pay $39.8m together with interest, although the liability of Shipley is limited to $6.6m plus interest.
Shipley accepted redesignation as aDame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit on 14 August 2009, following the reintroduction of titular honours by theFifth National Government.[43]
Also in 2009, Shipley appeared on an episode of the television reality/travel showIntrepid Journeys, where she visitedNamibia.[44] She later started a charity to help a school she came across on that trip called the Namibian Educational Trust.[45] Shipley chaired Global Women NZ until 2015,[46] and was replaced as Patron of theSir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre byGraeme Dingle in 2019,[47] and was the New Zealand National Heart Foundation's campaign "Go Red for Women".[24]
| New Zealand Parliament | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forAshburton 1987–1993 | Constituency abolished |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament forRakaia 1993–2002 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Minister for Social Welfare 1990–1993 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Women's Affairs 1990–1996 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Health 1993–1996 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of New Zealand 1997–1999 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Leader of the Opposition 1999–2001 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Leader of theNational Party 1997–2001 | Succeeded by |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by | Chair of theAsia-Pacific Economic Cooperation 1999 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
