Gerry Brownlee

Gerard Anthony Brownlee (born 4 February 1956) is a New Zealand politician who has served as the 32nd speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives since 2023. He was first elected as a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives for Ilam in 1996, representing the National Party. He became a list MP in 2020.

Brownlee was a senior member of the Fifth National Government, serving as Leader of the House, Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery and Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was twice deputy leader of the National Party, first from November 2003 until November 2006 and again from July until November 2020. As the longest continuously serving member of Parliament, Brownlee became Father of the House in October 2022.

Brownlee was born in Christchurch to Leo (a sawmiller, who died in 1989) and Mary Brownlee. He is the eldest of five children. His uncle, Mark Brownlee, represented New Zealand in rowing at the Summer Olympic Games in 1964 and 1968, and his cousin Scott Brownlee (Mark's son), represented New Zealand in rowing at the Olympics in 1992, 1996, and 2000.

A Roman Catholic, he attended St Bede's College where he twice failed to gain University Entrance. After leaving high school, he worked in his family's timber business and received training in carpentry. After qualifying as a builder, he retrained as a teacher and taught woodwork, technical drawing and Māori, over a period of twelve years, at Ellesmere College, and at his alma mater, St Bede's.

In the 1989 local elections, Brownlee stood in the Riccarton ward of Christchurch City Council for a seat on the Riccarton–Wigram community board as part of the Christchurch Action ticket formed by Margaret Murray. Of fourteen candidates, he came second and was thus declared elected as one of the three board members for Riccarton. He stood as a candidate for the Canterbury Regional Council in 1992 on the Citizens' Association ticket, but was unsuccessful.

Brownlee first stood for National in the 1993 election, unsuccessfully contesting Sydenham against Jim Anderton, the Alliance leader. In the 1996 election he contested the nearby seat of Ilam, a longstanding conservative bastion, and won by a comfortable margin. He remained the MP for Ilam until losing his seat in the 2020 election. Before that his closest brush with defeat occurred in the 2002 election wherein he had a majority of 3,872 votes – 11.52%. Brownlee stood as a list-only candidate in 2023, fuelling speculation he would be National's candidate for speaker should it win the election.

As a junior government MP from 1997 to 1999, Brownlee was a member of the education and science committee and the internal affairs and local government committee, and deputy chair of the social services committee. He chaired the Accident Insurance Bill committee in 1998. When National went into opposition in 1999, was appointed the party's new junior whip and spokesperson for ACC. From 1999 to 2001, he was on the transport and industrial relations committee; in 2001, promoted to education spokesperson, he was on the education and science committee.

Brownlee has held senior roles within the National Party since October 2001, when the new National leader Bill English appointed him shadow leader of the House, a position he continued to hold under subsequent leaders Don Brash and John Key. Brownlee was the Leader of the House and a senior minister in the Fifth National Government, including Minister of Foreign Affairs. He returned to the shadow House leadership from 2018 to 2020. He was also deputy leader to Brash from 2003 to 2006 and to Judith Collins in 2020.