Amy Adams (politician)


Amy Juliet Adams is a member of the New Zealand Parliament representing the Selwyn electorate and a member of the National Party. When in Government, she has been the Minister of Justice, Minister for Communications, Associate Minister of Finance, Minister for Courts and Social Housing, and Minister Responsible for Housing New Zealand Corporation and Social Investment.

Early life

Adams was born in 1971. When she was two, her mother divorced her father, raising her and her sister Belinda alone. Adams attended Rangitoto College on the North Shore of Auckland, where she was friends with Louise Upston, then graduated from the University of Canterbury with a Bachelor of Laws with First-Class Honours. Her first employment as a lawyer was in Invercargill, but she soon moved back to Canterbury. She became a partner in the Christchurch law firm Mortlock McCormack.

Political career

Fifth National Government, 2008–2017

Adams was selected as the National Party candidate for the Selwyn seat for the 2008 general election after a contested selection. She won the seat with a comfortable majority, achieving 60% of the electorate votes cast. This compares with the National Party achieving 55% of party votes. In the, she won more than 70% of the electorate votes based on preliminary results.
In 2009 her Fair Trading Amendment Bill was drawn from the member's ballot. The bill required fundraising companies to disclose the proportion of funds they passed on to the charities they collect for. The bill passed and became the Fair Trading Amendment Act 2012.
Adams was made Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee and the Electoral Legislation Committee for the final months of the 49th Parliament and was appointed Cabinet Minister for Internal Affairs, Communications and Associate Earthquake Recovery after the National Party won a second term in Government in 2011. After a reshuffle of cabinet responsibilities caused by the resignation of Nick Smith, Adams was made Minister for the Environment, while the responsibility for Internal Affairs was passed to Chris Tremain.
After National won the 2014 general election in September, Adams became the Minister of Justice, Minister for Courts, Minister of Broadcasting and Minister for Communications. Following the election of Bill English to Prime Minister in 2016, Adams also took on the roles of Minister for Social Housing, Minister Responsible for Social Investment and Minister Responsible for Housing, dropping the Broadcasting and Communications portfolio.

Opposition, 2017–present

Following the formation of a Labour-led coalition government after the 2017 general election, English resigned as Leader and Adams contested the subsequent leadership election. Simon Bridges was elected, with Adams considered the next closest contestant. She became National's spokesperson on finance in Bridges' Shadow Cabinet with a Cabinet ranking of 3 and served on the "finance and expenditure" and "privileges" select committees. On 22 January 2019, Adams was designated as the shadow Attorney General following the resignation of Christopher Finlayson.
In June 2019, Adams announced that she would retire from politics at the 2020 general election, and that she would step down from her Shadow Cabinet roles immediately. After Todd Muller replaced Bridges as Leader following a leadership challenge in May 2020, she rescinded her retirement and was given the party's Covid-19 Recovery portfolio and a ranking of 3 in Muller's Shadow Cabinet. On 2 July 2020, Adams assumed the Drug Reform portfolio after former Deputy Leader Paula Bennett announced that she would not be contesting the 2020 election. In July 2020, after the election of Judith Collins as leader of the National Party, Adams confirmed that she would leave politics at the September election.

Personal life

Adams' house in Aylesbury stands close to the fault line and epicentre of the 2010 Canterbury earthquake, which caused significant damage to her property, but inspection deemed it safe to live in.
She and her husband Robert Donald "Don" Adams own three farms – in Darfield, Kirwee, and Te Kauwhata. The first two of these are sheep and crop farms in Canterbury, and within the area of the Central Plains Water scheme. Through their company Amdon Farms Ltd, they are shareholders of Central Plains Water. The Te Kauwhata farm is located in the Waikato.
Her sister Belinda Milnes was an advisor to Social Development Minister Paula Bennett, and when Bennett appointed her as Families Commissioner in 2013, the Opposition complained of cronyism. David Ware, chief executive of NZX-listed company Team Talk, husband of Milnes and brother-in-law of Adams, has publicly criticised Adams in her role as Communications and Information Technology Minister, where government policies favour big telecommunications companies. Ware feels "dreadfully let down" by the Communications and Information Technology Minister.

Views

Amy Adams describes herself as "socially liberal, economically conservative." She considers herself a feminist and supported the Abortion Legislation Act 2020. She has defended abortion on the grounds of women's reproductive rights and urged religious opponents of abortion reform to stop teaching that contraception is a sin. Adams has also voted in favour of legalising same-sex marriage and legalising assisted dying for people with terminal illnesses.