Chris Bishop (politician)
Early life
Bishop grew up in Lower Hutt and attended Hutt Intermediate School and Hutt International Boys' School in Upper Hutt. His father, John Bishop, was a political journalist and founder of the Atlas Network affiliated New Zealand Taxpayers' Union. His mother, Rosemary Dixon, is an environmental lawyer. In 2000 he was a member of the New Zealand Youth Parliament, selected to represent List MP Muriel Newman. He graduated Victoria University of Wellington with first-class honours in Law and a Bachelor of Arts in History and Politics. He claims to have won 10 intervarsity debating tournaments, including at the Cambridge Union and Sydney Union, and a range of awards for legal argument and oratory. He met his partner, Jenna Raeburn, through the Victoria University Debating Society. Bishop worked as a summer clerk at Russell McVeagh and Crown Law while at university. While at university he had a part-time position at the Ministry of Education to draft letters for the then Minister of Education, Trevor Mallard.
After the 2008 general election, he worked as a ministerial advisor for Gerry Brownlee for 2 years 7 months. Then he worked as a Corporate Affairs Manager for the tobacco company Philip Morris, claiming to be a member of the NZ Management Team despite only being less than 3 years out of University. Then worked as a staffer to Steven Joyce. Bishop is a former tobacco lobbyist for Phillip Morris.
Political career
| Years | Term | Electorate | List | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014–2017 | 51st | List | 49 | National | |
| 2017–2020 | 52nd | Hutt South | 40 | National | |
| 2020–2023 | 53rd | List | 7 | National | |
| 2023–present | 54th | Hutt South | 3 | National | |
Bishop's work for Philip Morris attracted headlines and comments when he stood for parliament for the National Party, given he worked against the party's plans to increase tobacco excise and introduce plain packaging. On the day of his selection as a candidate he announced that he supported both policies.
First term: 2014–2017
He contested the Hutt South electorate at the 2014 election, where he placed second behind incumbent Labour MP Trevor Mallard but entered Parliament as a list MP for the 2014–2017 term. Redistribution of electorate boundaries prior to the election saw Hutt South lose the Labour-leaning suburb of Naenae for the National-leaning western hill suburbs, helping Bishop cut Mallard's majority from 4,825 to 709.
Let me just say finally that I come to this House with the desire to serve, to represent the people of the Hutt Valley, to apply my mind to the challenges facing New Zealand now and in the future, and to work hard each and every day for and on behalf of New Zealanders. Much faith has been placed in me by many people. I intend to work hard to repay that faith.
— Bishop in his maiden speech, 21 October 2014
Bishop served on the Finance and Expenditure, Justice and Electoral, and Regulations Review select committees. Bishop was also part of a cross-party group initiated by Jan Logie to look at and advocate for LGBTI rights. A member's bill in Bishop's name, the Compensation for Live Organ Donors’ Act 2016, passed the house unanimously. The bill aims to remove a financial deterrent to the donation of organs by live donors.
Second term: 2017–2020
Bishop won the Hutt South electorate at the 2017 New Zealand general election. Long-serving Member of Parliament for Hutt South Trevor Mallard did not contest the election, instead choosing to only appear on the Labour list to become Speaker of the House. Ginny Andersen stood as the Labour candidate. Bishop defeated her by a margin of 1,530 votes. In doing so, Bishop became the first-ever National MP for the seat. This result was credited to a 4-year campaign in the area that donned him the title "Mr Everywhere Man".
The formation of the Sixth Labour Government saw Bishop serve in Opposition. Following Bill English's resignation in February 2018, Bishop publicly endorsed Amy Adams for Leader of the National Party. Adams represented the more liberal wing of the National Party. Adams lost the leadership vote to Simon Bridges. Bridges promoted Bishop into his shadow cabinet in June 2019, allocating him the portfolios of Transport and Regional Development.
In February 2018 it was disclosed that Bishop was using the social media platform Snapchat to communicate with his constituents including teenage girls. Parents of the affected stated that his intentions appeared misguided and not malicious. Bishop has since stated that he was running the Snapchat account to help young people become interested in politics and has changed his account so to only allow for communication with his close friends. ACT party leader David Seymour has stated his backing for Bishop, saying that "an MP's job is to engage with the young, which is what Bishop was doing".
In March 2020 Bishop went into voluntary isolation for the COVID-19 virus after visiting Australia.
Bishop played a significant role in the May 2020 leadership coup that saw Simon Bridges removed as leader and replaced by Todd Muller, acting as Muller's "numbers man" alongside Nicola Willis. He was subsequently promoted to 12th in caucus with the portfolios of Transport and Infrastructure. Muller resigned after 55 days becoming the shortest serving leader of any political party represented in Parliament in New Zealand's history, being replaced by Judith Collins. Bishop was promoted to the front bench as 7th in caucus, retaining his portfolios and gaining "Shadow Leader of the House". With Muller's backers Bishop and Willis rising under Collins, political commentators speculated that "potential dissenters are being kept busy with big new portfolios".
In June 2020, claims were made by Health Minister David Clark that Bishop lobbied for the early release from the quarantine of two sisters who later tested positive for COVID-19. Bishop later stated that he only forwarded their concern through the appropriate channels. He also stated they should have been tested before being released.
Third term: 2020–2023
Bishop again contested the Hutt South electorate in the 2020 New Zealand general election. He lost the seat to Labour MP Ginny Andersen by a final margin of 3,777 votes. Despite this loss, Bishop was re-elected to Parliament on the National Party list.
On 28 August 2021, Bishop was stripped by party leader Collins of his Shadow Leader of the House portfolio during a reshuffle of her shadow cabinet. Collins claimed that Bishop was stepping down from the portfolio to focus on his role as the National Party's COVID-19 spokesperson. According to Stuff, Bishop had disagreed with the Party's stance on conversion therapy and pushed for a conscience vote on the proposed Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill. On 30 August, Collins denied losing her temper at Bishop and fellow National MP Erica Stanford for publicly suggesting that they disagreed with the Party's stance on the conversion therapy legislation.
After Collins was deposed as National leader in November 2021, and Christopher Luxon was elected in her place, Bishop was promoted to 4th in the National line up, retaining his COVID-19 Response portfolio in Luxon's Shadow Cabinet, and being reappointed Shadow Leader of the House. In March 2022 he was promoted to third rank in the National line-up and took on the Housing and Infrastructure portfolios. In September 2022 he was appointed as the Chairperson of National's 2023 Election Campaign, and gave up the COVID-19 Response portfolio.
On 19 January 2023, Bishop became the National Party's urban development and Resource Management Act (RMA) Reform spokesperson following a reshuffle of Luxon's Shadow Cabinet.
Fourth term: 2023–present
During the 2023 New Zealand general election held on 14 October, Bishop defeated Labour incumbent Ginny Andersen to reclaim Hutt South for the National Party by an election night margin of 1,332 votes.
In early November 2023, Bishop attracted media attention after emailing a forceful email condemning Hamas' actions during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war. Luxon subsequently spoke to Bishop about the email, stating that the "strong language" was "also representative of strong emotions on all sides of this debate."
Following the formation of the National-led coalition government in late November 2023, Bishop became Minister of Housing, Minister for Infrastructure, Minister responsible for RMA Reform, Minister for Sport and Recreation, Leader of the House, and Associate Minister of Finance.
On 15 March 2024 Bishop, as Leader of the House, expressed disagreement with the New Zealand Free Speech Union's (FSU) criticism of the National-led Government's repeated use of "urgency" in passing legislation during its first 100 days in power. The Government had passed 14 laws under urgency over a period of 17 weeks compared with average of 10 across a whole term. The FSU expressed concern that bills passed under urgency received less scrutiny from MPs and the public, and could become law without going through the full Select Committee process. They also wrote that the Government was not mandated explicitly to pass legislation which was not included in the policy manifestos of any of the three governing parties. In response, Bishop rejected the FSU's assertion that the frequent use of parliamentary urgency amounted to a free speech issue and cancelled his FSU membership.
On 20 March 2024, Housing Minister Bishop and Finance Minister Nicola Willis ordered state housing provider Kāinga Ora to end the previous Labour Government's "Sustainable Tenancies Framework" and take disciplinary action against tenants with behavioural issues and persistent rent arrears. While the Government's new housing policy was criticised by the opposition Green and Labour parties' housing spokespersons Tamatha Paul and Kieran McAnulty as vindictive, ACT Party leader David Seymour and Manurewa-Papakura Ward Councillor Daniel Newman welcomed the eviction of unruly state housing tenants. By mid-July 2024, 14 state housing tenancies had been revoked in the past three months due to behavioural issues or persistent rent arrears. In addition, 80 Section 55A formal warning notices had been issued to tenants for disruptive behaviour over the past three months, compared to 13 warnings for the same period in 2023. Housing Minister Bishop praised the increase in disciplinary actions against unruly tenants, saying that "the message to Kāinga Ora tenants is clear: if your actions are causing your neighbours to live in fear and misery, your time is up. Change your behaviour now or face the consequences…" Bishop also said that the Government would prioritise families on the social housing wait list and those living in emergency housing motels.
On 23 April 2024, Bishop as RMA Reform Minister announced that the Government would scrap or ease several farming, mining, environmental and other industrial regulations as part of its planned overhaul of the Resource Management Act 1991.
On 11 June 2024, Bishop as Housing Minister announced that the Government would introduce legislation to amend the Overseas Amendment Act 2005 to support the Government's "Build to Rent" housing development programme.
Personal life
Bishop has a son born in June 2022 with his wife, Jenna Raeburn.
In 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand, and following the lowering of COVID-19 alert levels, Bishop appeared in parliament with a mullet, nicknamed the 'Bishmullet'. He states he did it to raise money for a local charity Good Bitches Baking, raising $10,000 for the charity through online donations.