Member of Parliament
Parliament of New Zealand | ||||
Years | Term | Electorate | List | Party |
1996–1999 | 45th | List | 26 | National |
1999–2002 | 46th | List | 11 | National |
2002–2005 | 47th | List | 10 | National |
2005–2008 | 48th | List | 20 | National |
2008–2011 | 49th | Botany | 18 | National |
Wong was elected to Parliament as a list MP in the 1996 elections, becoming New Zealand's first ethnically Asian MP.
She unsuccessfully contested the electorate of Auckland Central in the 2005 election. During the 48th New Zealand Parliament she served as National's spokesperson for Commerce and Liaison with Asian New Zealanders and associate spokesperson for Education (International Education), Revenue and Immigration.
She won the new seat of Botany in the 2008 election. The Botany electorate included part of the old Clevedon electorate held by Judith Collins, her National Party colleague. Collins had originally indicated to seek nomination for the seat of Howick (which the Electoral Commission later redrew and renamed to Botany following objections to the boundaries to the neighbouring electorate of Pakuranga), but then stood for the Papakura seat, which also shared common boundaries with Clevedon. Wong's decision was based partly on the fact that 33% of the Botany electorate is Asian.
On 12 November 2010 Wong resigned as a Minister after misusing her parliamentary travel perks for a trip to China on which her husband conducted private business activities, which is specifically prohibited.
Wong resigned as an MP on 17 January 2011, resulting in the 2011 Botany by-election.
On 15 September 2011 Wong was granted the right to retain the title of the Honourable for her lifetime.
Read more about this topic: Pansy Wong
Famous quotes containing the words member of, member and/or parliament:
“We live in a highly industrialized society and every member of the Black nation must be as academically and technologically developed as possible. To wage a revolution, we need competent teachers, doctors, nurses, electronics experts, chemists, biologists, physicists, political scientists, and so on and so forth. Black women sitting at home reading bedtime stories to their children are just not going to make it.”
—Frances Beale, African American feminist and civil rights activist. The Black Woman, ch. 14 (1970)
“Oh, had I received the education I desired, had I been bred to the profession of the law, I might have been a useful member of society, and instead of myself and my property being taken care of, I might have been a protector of the helpless, a pleader for the poor and unfortunate.”
—Sarah M. Grimke (17921873)
“What is the historical function of Parliament in this country? It is to prevent the Government from governing.”
—George Bernard Shaw (18561950)