Katrina Shanks

Katrina May Shanks (born 12 May 1969)[2][3] is a New Zealand politician who was a list member of parliament for the National Party from 2007 to 2014. Shanks became a Member of Parliament on 7 February 2007, following the resignation of Don Brash from Parliament.[4][5] She resigned from the 50th Parliament before the end of the parliamentary term, and her resignation became effective in January 2014.

For the Adventures in Odyssey character, see Katrina Shanks-Meltsner.

Katrina Shanks
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for National Party List
In office
2007–2014
Personal details
Born (1969-05-12) 12 May 1969
Dannevirke
NationalityNew Zealand
Political partyNational Party
Spouse(s)Bob Shanks[1]
ResidenceKarori, Wellington
Alma materMassey University
ProfessionMember of Parliament
Websitehttp://katrinashanks.co.nz

Early years

Shanks was born in Dannevirke in 1969, and attended St Matthew's Collegiate for Girls in Masterton and Dannevirke High School. She graduated with a Bachelor of Business Studies from Massey University.[2]

Shanks' father, Graeme Hislop, twice stood against National Prime Minister Keith Holyoake as a Social Credit candidate, in 1975 and in the 1977 by-election.[6][7]

Prior to entering politics, Shanks worked as a self-employed accountant. She had previously worked as a project accountant for the Westpac Banking Corporation, in retail client services for Newton Investment Management in the United Kingdom, and as a senior auditor for Audit New Zealand.[8] Shanks has three children.[9]

Shanks joined the New Zealand National Party in 2001 as a member of the Karori branch and was a member of the party's executive committee for the Wellington Central electorate until 2004, when she joined the Ohariu-Belmont branch.

Member of Parliament
New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate List Party
2007–2008 48th List 46 National
2008–2011 49th List 46 National
2011–2014 50th List 38 National

Shanks sought the National party's nomination as their candidate for the Ohariu-Belmont electorate at the 2005 general election in 2004. She was one of two final challengers, along with Simon Wright.[10] Shanks was eventually confirmed by National Party Ohariu-Belmont electorate chairman Tony Heyward.[11]

Shanks was placed 46th on the National party's list for the 2005 election.[12] In the electorate vote, she placed third behind the incumbent MP, United Future leader Peter Dunne and Labour's Charles Chauvel, with Shanks gaining 7,329 votes, a gain of 2% from the 2002 result for National candidate Dale Stevens. However, National's party vote within the electorate increased by nearly 19% and exceeded that of Labour (although they had also improved slightly on their 2002 result).[13]

The initial results for the election on 17 September 2005 (election night) would have seen Shanks elected as a list MP; but the official count including special votes resulted in Shanks not going into Parliament on the list. The number of National list seats was reduced by one when the Māori Party share of the party vote rose above 2% and they were entitled to three not two seats from the party vote. They had won four electorate seats so the number of overhang seats in Parliament reduced from two to one. As National had the 120th seat allocated under the party vote, National lost one list seat that they appeared to have on election night. However Shanks' list position meant that if any National list MP resigned, Shanks would become the next National MP. This happened when former party leader Don Brash resigned on 7 February 2007.

Shanks became her party's Associate Spokeswoman for Commerce and Associate Spokeswoman for Economic Development, as well as a member of the Social Services Select Committee, which she held for the remainder of the 48th Parliament.[2]

Shanks, along with Dunne and Chauvel, contested the same seat again in 2008, within the newly named Ōhariu electorate (with modified boundaries from the former Ohariu-Belmont electorate). Shanks placed third again in the election, although National received 46.3% of the party vote in the electorate.[14]

Shanks was again placed 46th on the party's list for the 2008 general election, and her party's result meant that she returned to Parliament. She was not offered a ministerial role as part of the new National Government.

In 2013, Shanks was co-chairperson of the Regulations Review Select Committee, a member of the Māori Affairs Select Committee and also a member of the Justice and Electoral Select Committee in the 50th Parliament.[2]

Shanks had an office in Johnsonville, Wellington, which was officially opened in September 2009 with Prime Minister John Key in attendance.[15]

In April 2011, Shanks delivered a speech praising the pending anti-file-sharing copyright bill known as "The Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill". Opponents of the controversial bill quickly responded on Twitter and created YouTube parodies comparing Shanks' speech to a contestant's bumbling speech during the 2007 Miss Teen USA beauty pageant. The bill, which aims to prevent Internet piracy, passed overwhelmingly with a 111 to 11 vote.[16][17]

Shanks originally planned to step down at the 2014 election,[18] but instead retired at the end of 2013 to become Chief Executive of the New Zealand Funeral Directors Association. [19] The resignation became effective on 21 January 2014,[20] and Shanks was succeeded as a list MP by Jo Hayes.

References
  1. "MP a typical New Zealander", Patrick Credson, The Dominion Post, 1 December 2006
  2. "Katrina Shanks". www.parliament.nz. 23 May 2010. Archived from the original on 23 May 2010. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
  3. "Katrina Shanks MP". katrinashanks.co.nz. 21 November 2009. Archived from the original on 5 June 2010. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
  4. "Don Brash gone at lunchtime". The New Zealand Herald. 23 November 2006. Retrieved 8 October 2011.
  5. Chief Electoral Office (7 February 2007). "New List MP For National Party". Scoop. Scoop Media Group. Retrieved 19 July 2008. The Chief Electoral Officer has declared KATRINA SHANKS from Wellington to be elected to Parliament from the National Party's list.
  6. "New MP fulfilling dad's dream". The New Zealand Herald. Auckland: APN News & Media. 1 December 2006. Retrieved 19 July 2008. She is fulfilling a dream of her father, Graham W E Hislop, who stood for Parliament when he was 36 - the same age Mrs Shanks was during the election campaign last year.
  7. Norton, Clifford (1988). New Zealand Parliamentary Election Results 1946-1987: Occasional Publications No 1, Department of Political Science. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington. p. 305. ISBN 0-475-11200-8.
  8. Heyward, Tony (21 December 2004). "National selects Dunne challenger". Scoop (news website). Retrieved 29 October 2008. Katrina Shanks is a self-employed accountant. She has previously worked as a Project Accountant for the Westpac Banking Corporation, in Retail Client Services for Newton Investment Management in the United Kingdom and as a Senior Auditor for Audit New Zealand.
  9. "Key unveils more centrist line-up". Television New Zealand. 1 December 2006. Retrieved 8 October 2011.
  10. "National narrows down hunt for Dunne challenger | Scoop News". Scoop.co.nz. 16 December 2004. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  11. "National selects Dunne challenger | Scoop News". Scoop.co.nz. 21 December 2004. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  12. "News". National.org.nz. Archived from the original on 6 September 2011. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  13. "Ohariu-Belmont electorate". www.nzvotes.org. 2005. Archived from the original on 23 December 2006. Retrieved 7 February 2007.
  14. "Official Count Results - Ōhariu". Electionresults.govt.nz. 22 November 2008. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  15. "Key faces protest over opening of electorate office". 3 News. 10 September 2009. Retrieved 8 October 2011.
  16. "Copyright law: Net parodists target Nat MPs". Stuff.co.nz. 14 April 2011. Retrieved 8 October 2011.
  17. "Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill — Third Reading". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
  18. "Shanks to leave politics". Stuff NZ (Fairfax). 11 July 2013. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
  19. "National MP quits early". Stuff NZ (Fairfax). 12 October 2013. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
  20. "Katrina Shanks". New Zealand Parliament. 22 January 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
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