| Honorific-Prefix: | The Honourable | ||||||||
| Megan Woods | |||||||||
| Office1: | 17th Minister of Energy and Resources | ||||||||
| Primeminister1: | Jacinda Ardern Chris Hipkins | ||||||||
| Term Start1: | 26 October 2017 | ||||||||
| Term End1: | 27 November 2023 | ||||||||
| Predecessor1: | Judith Collins | ||||||||
| Successor1: | Simeon Brown | ||||||||
| Office2: | 28th Minister of Housing | ||||||||
| Primeminister2: | Jacinda Ardern Chris Hipkins | ||||||||
| Term Start2: | 27 June 2019 | ||||||||
| Term End2: | 27 November 2023 | ||||||||
| Predecessor2: | Phil Twyford | ||||||||
| Successor2: | Chris Bishop | ||||||||
| Office3: | 9th Minister for Building and Construction | ||||||||
| Term Start3: | 14 June 2022 | ||||||||
| Term End3: | 27 November 2023 | ||||||||
| Primeminister3: | Jacinda Ardern Chris Hipkins | ||||||||
| Predecessor3: | Poto Williams | ||||||||
| Successor3: | Chris Penk | ||||||||
| Order4: | 5th Minister for Infrastructure | ||||||||
| Term Start4: | 1 February 2023 | ||||||||
| Term End4: | 27 November 2023 | ||||||||
| Primeminister4: | Chris Hipkins | ||||||||
| Predecessor4: | Grant Robertson | ||||||||
| Successor4: | Chris Bishop | ||||||||
| Office5: | Minister for Economic Development (Acting) | ||||||||
| Term Start5: | 28 March 2023 | ||||||||
| Term End5: | 12 April 2023 | ||||||||
| Primeminister5: | Chris Hipkins | ||||||||
| Predecessor5: | Stuart Nash | ||||||||
| Successor5: | Barbara Edmonds | ||||||||
| Office6: | Minister of Forestry (Acting) | ||||||||
| Term Start6: | 28 March 2023 | ||||||||
| Term End6: | 12 April 2023 | ||||||||
| Primeminister6: | Chris Hipkins | ||||||||
| Predecessor6: | Stuart Nash | ||||||||
| Successor6: | Peeni Henare | ||||||||
| Office7: | Minister of Police (Acting) | ||||||||
| Term Start7: | 15 March 2023 | ||||||||
| Term End7: | 20 March 2023 | ||||||||
| Primeminister7: | Chris Hipkins | ||||||||
| Predecessor7: | Stuart Nash | ||||||||
| Successor7: | Ginny Andersen | ||||||||
| Office8: | 26th Minister for Research, Science and Innovation | ||||||||
| Primeminister8: | Jacinda Ardern | ||||||||
| Term Start8: | 26 October 2017 | ||||||||
| Term End8: | 14 June 2022 | ||||||||
| Predecessor8: | Paul Goldsmith | ||||||||
| Successor8: | Ayesha Verrall | ||||||||
| Office9: | Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration | ||||||||
| Primeminister9: | Jacinda Ardern | ||||||||
| Term Start9: | 26 October 2017 | ||||||||
| Term End9: | 6 November 2020 | ||||||||
| Predecessor9: | Nicky Wagner | ||||||||
| Successor9: | Office abolished | ||||||||
| Constituency Mp10: | Wigram | ||||||||
| Term Start10: | 26 November 2011 | ||||||||
| Parliament10: | New Zealand | ||||||||
| Predecessor10: | Jim Anderton | ||||||||
| Majority10: | 14,770 | ||||||||
| Birth Date: | 4 November 1973 | ||||||||
| Party: | Labour (since 2007) | ||||||||
| Otherparty: | Progressive Party (1999–2007) | ||||||||
| Website: | Profile on Labour website | ||||||||
| Module: |
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Megan Cherie Woods (born 4 November 1973) is a New Zealand Labour Party politician who served as a Cabinet Minister in the Sixth Labour Government and has served as Member of Parliament for Wigram since 2011.
Woods was born and grew up in Wigram, Christchurch.[1] She attended high school at Catholic Cathedral College. She obtained a master's degree from the University of Canterbury with her thesis being titled Re/producing the nation : women making identity in New Zealand, 1906–1925.[2] She went on to obtain a PhD in history again at the University of Canterbury[3] with a thesis titled Integrating the nation: Gendering Maori urbanisation and integration, 1942–1969.[4]
Woods was a business manager for Crop & Food Research (2005–08) and its successor organisation Plant and Food Research (2008), based at Lincoln.
Woods was a member of the Alliance Party from 1999 until 2002, when she joined the breakaway Progressive Party. She was involved in several of Jim Anderton's re-election campaigns.[5] She contested the Christchurch Central electorate in the 2005 general election and came fourth, receiving 1077 votes (3.2% of the electorate votes).[6] She was placed fourth on the Progressive party list. As the party obtained only 1.2% of the party vote, she did not enter Parliament that year.
She was a member of the Spreydon-Heathcote community board in Christchurch from 2004 to 2007.
Woods joined the Labour Party in 2007. In the same year, she contested the Christchurch mayoralty for the centre-left Christchurch 2021 group, receiving 32,821 votes and coming second against Bob Parker (47,033 votes), but beating Jo Giles (14,454 votes) in the election contested by ten candidates.[7] [8] She did not contest the 2008 general election or the 2010 mayoral election.
Woods was selected as the Labour candidate for the 2011 election in the Wigram electorate. She succeeded Jim Anderton, who had announced that he would retire either after winning the Christchurch mayoralty (he was unsuccessful) or at the end of the term of the 49th Parliament in November 2011. Woods was a key member of Anderton's campaign committee, along with key Progressive Party members like Jeanette Lawrence and Liz Maunsell, and Labour activists such as campaign manager Tony Milne, Ben Ross and Liana Foster.[9] Until the 2010 Canterbury earthquake, Anderton was leading in the opinion polls, and winning the mayoralty would have caused a by-election in the Wigram electorate.[10] The earthquake resulted in a mood swing in Christchurch, and Anderton lost against Bob Parker.[11] Anderton remained an MP until the end of the term of the 49th Parliament, and Woods won in the 2011 general election in the Wigram electorate.
Woods's candidacy, which began in late 2010, was centred on job creation in her electorate. She stated in her Labour selection speech that "Growing up here in the 1980s, I watched people lose their jobs. I saw workplaces like the Addington Workshops shut their doors forever. Now I am 36 years old and am watching jobs disappear from our communities again."[5] Woods also cited the rising cost of living for everyday people as a major concern.
During the 2011 election, Woods won the seat with 45.11% of the vote and a majority of 1,500 votes.[12] Woods won re-election in the with an increased majority.[13]
Woods was previously Labour Party's spokesperson for the Environment and Climate Change and has served prior as the Party's spokesperson for Tertiary Education and associate spokesperson for Science and Innovation.[14] [15]
During the 2017 general election, Woods retained Wigram for Labour by a margin of 4,594 votes.[16]
Woods was elected as a Cabinet Minister by the Labour Party caucus following Labour's formation of a coalition government with New Zealand First and the Greens.[17] As of 2017, Woods is the Minister of Energy and Resources. On 12 April, Woods announced that the Government would halt future gas and oil exploration but clarified that the existing 22 contracts would be allowed to continue.[18]
On 27 June 2019, in Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's first major reshuffle of the coalition government, Woods was appointed Minister of Housing, replacing Phil Twyford.[19]
On 19 June 2020, Woods was given joint responsibility with Air Commodore Darryn Webb for overseeing isolation and quarantine facilities for travellers entering New Zealand, as part of the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[20] [21]
During the 2020 general election, Woods served as the Labour Party's campaign chairperson.[22] She retained her seat of Wigram by a final margin of 14,770 votes.[23] In early November 2020, she retained her ministerial portfolios of Housing, Energy and Resources, and Research, Science and Innovation, while picking up the position of Associate Minister of Finance.[24]
In late February 2021, Woods defended the Government's Progressive Home Ownership Scheme, which had cost NZ$17 million but only resettled 12 families in the last seven months. In response, National's housing spokesperson Nicola Willis described the programme as a failure and contended that Woods was out of touch.[25]
During the 2023 general election campaign, Woods served as Labour's campaign chairperson for a second time. In early June 2023, she attracted media attention after publishing a Twitter post likening the opposition National Party's proposal to bring back the NZ$5 prescription fee to the dsytopian novel and TV show The Handmaid's Tale. In response, National's deputy leader Willis stated she was offended by Woods' post and accused the Labour Government of "going into the gutter" and making "ridicolous, baseless attacks."[26]
During the 2023 election held on 14 October, Woods was re-elected in Wigram by a margin of 1,179 votes.[27] On 5 December 2023, she was granted retention of the title The Honourable, in recognition of her term as a member of the Executive Council.[28]
In late November 2023, Woods became spokesperson for climate change, energy, resources and associate finance in the Shadow Cabinet of Chris Hipkins.[29]
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