New Zealand National Party politician
Erica Louise Stanford
(nee
Poppelbaum
; born 1978)
[1]
[2]
is a New Zealand politician and
Member of Parliament
in the
House of Representatives
for the
National Party
. She currently serves as the 49th
Minister of Education
and the 60th
Minister of Immigration
in the
Sixth National Government of New Zealand
.
Personal life
[
edit
]
Stanford lives in
Okura
in the
Auckland
region and is the daughter of a
Dutch
immigrant father.
[3]
She holds a Bachelor of Arts in politics from the
University of Auckland
, and cites a lecturer, Dr Raymond Miller, as the reason for her passion for politics.
[4]
She is married, meeting her husband Kane while at
Rangitoto College
, and has two children.
[5]
[4]
Stanford has worked in export sales as well as producing local television shows.
[5]
This included being the producer of a reality TV show called
Noise Control
, in which she and a camera operator followed a noise control team around Auckland. In filming one episode, a person pointed a gun at her and her cameraman; the episode was one of the most-watched in the series.
[6]
She also produced the show
Last Chance Dog
, and wrote scripts and did other work on
Piha Rescue
for more than six years.
[4]
[6]
Political career
[
edit
]
In 2013, Stanford started working in the office of
Murray McCully
, the MP for
East Coast Bays
. She took the place of her sister who previously worked for McCully.
[7]
She joined the National Party at the same time. When she started in the office, she worked there two days a week as one of three jobs while also having two children.
[6]
[4]
She later worked there full time,
[4]
and prior to running for parliament, she held the role of Senior MP Support.
[8]
Stanford describes McCully as her mentor,
[6]
calling him "a political master."
[4]
In opposition, 2017–2023
[
edit
]
McCully retired from Parliament in 2017, and the National Party selected Stanford as his replacement for
East Coast Bays
.
[8]
Stanford had not previously stood for parliament or other office. The East Coast Bays electorate has been a safe seat for National since 1987; since then McCully held either East Coast Bays or
Albany
, which covered a similar area. In the
2017 general election
, Stanford won the electorate easily, with 66% of the vote.
[9]
In the
2020 election
, Stanford stood again for East Coast Bays. During the campaign she also attended a debate of
Auckland Central
candidates, as National had not selected a new candidate for the electorate by the debate.
[10]
Stanford retained East Coast Bays by a margin of 8,764 votes.
[11]
Stanford was promoted as the spokesperson for education and associate spokesperson for Ethnic Communities while retaining her portfolio for immigration on 6 December 2021, in the
Shadow Cabinet of Christopher Luxon
.
[12]
This led to her ranking being promoted from 25 under the
Shadow Cabinet of Judith Collins
to 7 under the
Shadow Cabinet of Christopher Luxon
.
[13]
In Government, 2023–present
[
edit
]
During the
2023 election
, Stanford retained East Coast Bays by a margin of 20,353 votes, defeating Labour's candidate
Naisi Chen
.
[14]
Following the formation of the
National-led coalition government
, she assumed the portfolios of
Minister of Education
and
Minister of Immigration
.
[15]
On 26 January 2024, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon added responsibility for the government's response to
The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care
to Stanford's portfolios.
[16]
Stanford succeeds previous
Ministers of Internal Affairs
Jan Tinetti
and
Tracey Martin
in having responsibility for the Royal Commission.
[
citation needed
]
On 27 January Stanford, in her capacity as Education Minister, announced an inquiry into school property projects. She said that the Government had inherited an education system "bordering on crisis". Stanford confirmed that the Ministry of Education had identified 350 projects that had exceeded their budget and had paused 20 building projects.
[17]
On 7 April Stanford, as Immigration Minister, announced that the Government would be revising the Accredited Employer Worker Visa programme to address migrant exploitation and "unsustainable" net migration.
[18]
On 29 April, Stanford announced the Government's top six educational priorities to mark the start of the second term. These included a clearer curriculum, focusing on literacy and numeracy, more consistent assessment and achievement reporting, better teacher training, targeted support for students with special needs and an evidence-based approach to educational improvement.
[19]
That same day, the Government's school cellphone ban came into force.
[20]
On 2 May, Stanford confirmed that the Government would be mandating a
structured literacy
approach in all state schools from 2025.
[21]
In addition, Stanford confirmed that the Government would end funding for the existing reading recovery programme, which utilises a "
whole language
" approach based on using pictures to help children guess words.
[22]
On 26 May, Stanford announced that the Government would invest NZ$53 million in education including in-school training for new teachers and recruiting, retaining and training 1,500 new teachers (including 300 overseas teachers) over the next four years.
[23]
Views and positions
[
edit
]
In her
maiden speech
Stanford spoke on matters of conservation, sustainability, marriage based on love rather than gender, and a desire to see political parties work with one another to seek enduring, practical solutions.
[24]
In a 2018 interview, she said her priorities in her first term included resourcing police stations in her electorate, improving local roading projects, and supporting local schools.
[2]
Stanford's political views sit on the progressive side of the National Party. She supported
decriminalising abortion
and
allowing euthanasia
in conscience votes in 2019. She has sat on the environmental select committee and has been involved in developing National's environmental policies.
[6]
In 2019 she supported students who were striking for
climate action
, despite her party leader and many other National MPs initially opposing them.
[25]
She believes that the
Green Party
could work with National, saying that if the Greens "could just relax a little bit... they could do so much good."
[4]
Stanford says that her blood "runs blue and it always will", but acknowledges a touch of green, saying "maybe it's a tealy blue".
[6]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Roll of members of the New Zealand House of Representatives, 1854 onwards"
(PDF)
. New Zealand Parliament. 24 May 2019
. Retrieved
3 September
2020
.
- ^
a
b
Bennett, Aidan (March 2018).
"A Chat with Erica Stanford"
.
www.channelmag.co.nz
. Retrieved
21 October
2020
.
- ^
"Meet the backbencher: Erica Stanford"
.
The New Zealand Herald
. 4 January 2017
. Retrieved
5 January
2017
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Murphy, Tim (26 June 2017).
"The Sure Things: Erica Stanford"
.
Newsroom
. Retrieved
21 October
2020
.
- ^
a
b
"National selects East Coast Bays candidate ? Scoop News"
.
www.scoop.co.nz
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
Walls, Jason (22 October 2019).
"A short lunch: For years she produced reality TV shows, now she sits in Parliament ? meet Erica Stanford"
.
NZ Herald
. Retrieved
21 October
2020
.
- ^
Vance, Andrea (14 November 2021).
"National's Erica Stanford ? a shining star in a dull sky?"
.
Stuff.co.nz
. Retrieved
14 November
2021
.
- ^
a
b
"New candidate selected to contest National's East Coast Bays electorate"
.
Stuff
. 10 January 2017.
- ^
"East Coast Bays ? Official Result"
.
Electoral Commission
. Retrieved
21 October
2020
.
- ^
Adams, Josie (10 August 2020).
"Central heating: fringe parties pipe up from crowd in first Auckland debate"
.
The Spinoff
. Retrieved
21 October
2020
.
- ^
"East Coast Bays ? Official Result"
.
Electoral Commission
. Retrieved
6 November
2020
.
- ^
"National reshuffle: Judith Collins and Todd McClay the losers, Chris Bishop, Erica Stanford shoot up ranks"
.
NZ Herald
. Retrieved
6 December
2021
.
- ^
Whyte, Anna; Producer, Senior Digital Political.
"Opinion: The winners and losers in National's new line up"
.
1 News
. Retrieved
6 December
2021
.
- ^
"East Coast Bays ? Official Result"
.
Electoral Commission
. 3 November 2023.
Archived
from the original on 23 November 2023
. Retrieved
10 December
2023
.
- ^
"Who gets what? List of New Zealand's new ministers"
.
1 News
.
TVNZ
. 24 November 2023.
Archived
from the original on 23 November 2023
. Retrieved
23 November
2023
.
- ^
Luxon, Christopher (26 January 2024).
"New Associate Minister and Under-Secretary portfolio allocations"
.
Beehive.govt.nz
.
New Zealand Government
. Retrieved
1 March
2024
.
- ^
"School building inquiry 'absolutely not' a cost cut exercise ? Erica Stanford"
.
Radio New Zealand
. 27 February 2024
. Retrieved
1 March
2024
.
- ^
"Immigration changes to target 'unsustainable' migration"
.
Radio New Zealand
. 7 April 2024.
Archived
from the original on 7 April 2024
. Retrieved
7 April
2024
.
- ^
Pearse, Adam; Trevett, Claire (29 April 2024).
"Education: PM Christopher Luxon, Education Minister Erica Stanford outline Government's six priorities"
.
The New Zealand Herald
. Archived from
the original
on 29 April 2024
. Retrieved
29 April
2024
.
- ^
Burns, Adam (29 April 2024).
"School phone ban: How effective will it be?"
.
RNZ
. Archived from
the original
on 28 April 2024
. Retrieved
29 April
2024
.
- ^
Swift, Molly (2 May 2024).
"Structured literacy: Government to roll out new approach to reading in all state schools"
.
Newshub
.
Archived
from the original on 2 May 2024
. Retrieved
3 May
2024
.
- ^
"Erica Stanford confirms end of reading recovery programme in schools, doesn't rule out job losses"
.
Newshub
. 3 May 2024.
Archived
from the original on 2 May 2024
. Retrieved
3 May
2024
.
- ^
"$53m extra for teacher training, recruitment, Education Minister Erica Stanford announces"
.
RNZ
. 26 May 2024.
Archived
from the original on 26 May 2024
. Retrieved
27 May
2024
.
- ^
"New National MP wants cross-party pragmatic solutions"
.
The New Zealand Herald
. 14 November 2017.
- ^
McIlraith, Brianna (3 May 2019).
"National MP Erica Stanford backs school climate strikes, unlike party leaders"
.
Stuff
. Retrieved
21 October
2020
.
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