Clayton Cosgrove | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 52ndMinister of Immigration | |
| In office 11 November 2007 – 19 November 2008 | |
| Prime Minister | Helen Clark |
| Preceded by | David Cunliffe |
| Succeeded by | Jonathan Coleman |
| 3rdMinister for Building Issues | |
| In office 19 November 2005 – 5 November 2007 | |
| Prime Minister | Helen Clark |
| Preceded by | Chris Carter |
| Succeeded by | Shane Jones |
| 24thMinister of Statistics | |
| In office 19 November 2005 – 5 November 2007 | |
| Prime Minister | Helen Clark |
| Preceded by | Pete Hodgson |
| Succeeded by | Darren Hughes |
| Member of theNew Zealand Parliament forWaimakariri | |
| In office 27 November 1999 – 27 November 2011 | |
| Preceded by | Mike Moore |
| Succeeded by | Kate Wilkinson |
| Member of theNew Zealand Parliament forLabour Party list | |
| In office 27 November 2011 (2011-11-27) – 23 September 2017 (2017-09-23) | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1969-10-31)31 October 1969 (age 56) Nelson, New Zealand |
| Political party | Labour |
| Alma mater | University of Canterbury |
Clayton James Cosgrove (born 31 October 1969) is a former New Zealand politician. He is a member of theLabour Party.
Cosgrove was born inNelson, New Zealand. He received a BA (Triple Major), in History, American Studies and Political Science, from theUniversity of Canterbury in 1992 and received anMBA in 1996. Before entering politics, he worked in the Corporate Affair field within the Minerals and Telecommunications industries. He was also a small business owner.
Cosgove has been a member of theLabour Party since he was fourteen, and has held a number of posts within the party. He was chairman of the party'sCanterbury branch from 1989 to 1994.
He was a strong supporter ofMike Moore, and opposed Moore's replacement byHelen Clark. Before the1996 election he was involved in discussions with Moore to form anew party but this failed to eventuate.[1]
| Years | Term | Electorate | List | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999–2002 | 46th | Waimakariri | none | Labour | |
| 2002–2005 | 47th | Waimakariri | none | Labour | |
| 2005–2008 | 48th | Waimakariri | none | Labour | |
| 2008–2011 | 49th | Waimakariri | 18 | Labour | |
| 2011–2014 | 50th | List | 8 | Labour | |
| 2014–2017 | 51st | List | 8 | Labour | |
Cosgrove himself stood for election in Moore's formerWaimakariri seat in the1999 election, and was successful. During 2002 he was selected and graduated theWorld Economic Forum's Global Leaders of Tomorrow programme[2] (later calledYoung Global Leaders). He was re-elected in the2002,2005 and2008 general elections. However, he was defeated in the electorate byNational'sKate Wilkinson in2011 and was subsequently elected aslist MP. Wilkinson retired at the end of the parliamentary term and was replaced as National's candidate for the2014 election byMatt Doocey, who had previously contested the2013 by-election inChristchurch East.[3][4] Doocey beat Cosgrove with an increased majority.[5] Being again in eighth place on the Labour list, Cosgrove remained a list MP.[6]
He was appointed Minister for Building and Construction,Minister of Statistics,Associate Minister of Finance, Associate Minister of Justice and Associate Minister of Immigration (responsible for individual immigration cases) after the 2005 election. At the October 2007 Cabinet reshuffle, he was promoted and replaced his Building and Construction and Statistics portfolio responsibilities; with the Immigration, Small Business, Sport and Recreation portfolios, and ministerial responsibility for the Rugby World Cup. He retained his roles as Associate Minister of Justice and Finance. Cosgrove lost his ministerial position when Labour was defeated in the 2008 election.[7]
Cosgrove was selected to attend theWorld Economic Forum's Annual meeting in New York and Davos in 2001 and 2002, and was appointed to the Forum's task force on Free Trade. He is generally considered to be on the right of the Labour Party.[8]
In August 2007 Cosgrove was targeted after raising considerable concerns aboutboy racers, who have caused numerous and significant problems throughout his electorate and Christchurch in general.[9][10] Boy racers attempted to intimidate Cosgrove in a number of ways, including defacing billboards and driving past his house on Saturday nights.[11] New Zealand has considerable problems with boy racers, leading to many car seizures[12] and a new law being mooted to crush the vehicles of the worst offenders.[13]
WhenLianne Dalziel confirmed that she would contest the2013 Christchurch mayoralty, her Christchurch Earthquake Recovery portfolio was split and assigned to Cosgrove andRuth Dyson in July 2013.[14] He considered standing in theby-election resulting from Dalziel's resignation from Parliament, but in the end decided not to put his name forward for the Labour nomination.[15]
He announced he would be retiring from politics at the2017 general election in April 2016.[16][17]
After leaving parliament, Cosgrove worked as consultant and lobbyist, including for the ill-fated attempt to mineFoulden Maar for pig food[18][19] and the Greymouth Hospital construction.[20]
| New Zealand Parliament | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament for Waimakariri 1999–2011 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Minister of Statistics 2005–2007 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Building Issues 2005–2007 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Immigration 2007–2008 | Succeeded by |
| New title | Minister for the Rugby World Cup 2007–2008 | Succeeded by |
