Louise Upston

Louise Claire Upston MP (née McGill, born 14 March 1971) is a New Zealand politician of the National Party. She has represented the Taupō electorate in the House of Representatives since the 2008 election. In the Fifth National Government, led by Prime Minister Bill English, she was the Minister of Corrections.

Early life

Louise McGill was born in North Shore and grew up in East Coast Bays. Her parents are Ian and the late Norma McGill. The youngest of four children, she has two sisters and one brother. She attended Rangitoto College, from which she graduated in 1988, and where she was friends with Amy Adams. Since before the age of ten, she had wanted to become a member of parliament.

McGill dropped out of law school and instead founded a management consultancy firm, McGill Manning, when she was 19. Her clients included Air New Zealand, Russell McVeagh, and Datacom Group. She then studied at the Waikato Management School and graduated with a Master of Business Administration.

McGill married Craig Upston, and they have three children. The Upston family lives in Karapiro.

Member of Parliament

Upston was elected to Parliament at the 2008 general election for the Taupō electorate, where she unseated Mark Burton, a Labour cabinet minister who had represented the area for 15 years. She received attention in the media for comments made in her maiden statement to the House of Representatives, such as her slogan approach to crime: "The police are good. The criminals are bad. It's that simple."

In the 2011 election, she more than doubled her majority to 14,115 votes. This made Taupō one of the safest seats in the country. Her majority increased to 15,046 votes in the 2014 election.

Upston was appointed to Junior Whip for the National Government after the 2011 election. Following the February 2013 reshuffle by John Key, Upston was elected Chief Whip and joined by Tim Macindoe and Jami-Lee Ross who act as Junior and Third Whip in Parliament.

Upston is conservative on conscience issues: she voted against the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill in 2013, and voted to raise the purchase age of alcohol to 20.

In October 2014, she became the Minister of Land Information and the Minister for Women.

In November 2014, Upston stated she is not a feminist when she sang praises of beauty pageants.

In April 2015, Upston refused to comment on women's rights in the work place after it was revealed John Key was forced to apologise to a Parnell cafe worker for repeatedly pulling her hair. Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei accused Upston of abdicating her responsibilities as Minister for Women.

After Bill English was elected as Prime Minister in December 2016, Upston served as the Minister of Corrections.