Jenny Shipley

The Right Honourable Dame Jenny Shipley DNZM
Shipley (centre) with United States President Bill Clinton, 15 September 1999
36th Prime Minister of New Zealand
In office 8 December 1997 – 5 December 1999
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Governor General	Michael Hardie Boys
Deputy	Winston Peters Wyatt Creech
Preceded by	Jim Bolger
Succeeded by	Helen Clark
28th Leader of the Opposition
In office 5 December 1999 – 8 October 2001
Preceded by	Helen Clark
Succeeded by	Bill English
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Rakaia
In office 27 October 1990 – 27 July 2002
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Brian Connell
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Ashburton
In office 15 August 1987 – 27 October 1990
Preceded by	Rob Talbot
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	(1952-02-04) 4 February 1952 Gore, New Zealand
Political party	National Party
Spouse(s)	Burton Shipley (1972–present)
Children	2
Profession	Teacher
Religion	Presbyterianism

Dame Jenny Shipley, DNZM (born 4 February 1952), served as the 36th Prime Minister of New Zealand from December 1997 to December 1999, the first woman to hold this office and the first, and to date only, woman to serve as parliamentary leader of the National Party of New Zealand.

Early life

Shipley was born as Jennifer Mary Robson in Gore, New Zealand, one of four sisters. After attending Marlborough Girls' College, she qualified in 1971 as a teacher and taught in New Zealand primary schools until 1976. In 1973 she married Burton Shipley and settled in Ashburton. She assisted in a number of educational and child-care organisations, such as the Plunket Society.

Member of Parliament

Parliament of New Zealand
Years	Term	Electorate	List	Party
1987–1990	42nd	Ashburton		National
1990–1993	43rd	Ashburton		National
1993–1996	44th	Rakaia		National
1996–1999	45th	Rakaia	4	National
1999–2002	46th	Rakaia	1	National

Having joined the National Party in 1975, Shipley successfully stood for the Ashburton electorate in the 1987 election, entering parliament at age 35, at the time one of parliament's youngest members. She would represent this electorate until her retirement from politics in 2002, though it was renamed Rakaia in 1990.

Cabinet Minister

When National under Jim Bolger won the election of 1990, Shipley became Minister of Social Welfare, having been National's shadow minister in that portfolio while in Opposition. She also served as Minister of Women's Affairs (1990–1996).

In her role as Minister of Social Welfare, Shipley sparked controversy with her cutbacks to state benefits. Later, when she became Minister of Health in 1993, she caused further controversy by attempting to reform the public health service, introducing an internal market. When National gained re-election in 1996, Shipley dropped the Women's Affairs portfolio and gained a number of others, including responsibility for state-owned companies and Transport.

Prime Minister

Main article: Fourth National Government of New Zealand

Joining toast with United States President Bill Clinton, 15 September 1999

Shipley grew increasingly frustrated and disillusioned with the cautious pace of National's leader, Jim Bolger, as well as what she saw as the disproportionate influence of coalition partner New Zealand First. She began gathering support to replace him in mid-1997. Later that year, while Bolger attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, Shipley convinced a majority of her National Party colleagues to back her bid for the leadership. Bolger, seeing that he no longer had the support of his party, resigned, and Shipley replaced him. As leader of the governing party, she became Prime Minister on 8 December 1997.

Despite continued economic growth, the Shipley government became increasingly unstable. In particular, the relationship between National and New Zealand First deteriorated. While Bolger had been able to maintain good relations with New Zealand First, and its leader, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, the alliance became strained after Shipley rose to power. Finally, on 14 August 1998, Shipley sacked Peters from Cabinet.

Peters immediately withdrew support for Shipley's government. However, several New Zealand First MPs wanted to continue the coalition. Led by deputy leader Tau Henare, they tried to oust Peters as party leader. When they failed, they left their party, either becoming independents or trying to form their own parties. Shipley gained sufficient support from these MPs to keep National in power.

On the same day Shipley unexpectedly backed Cultural Affairs Minister Marie Hasler's call for the New Zealand flag to be changed. Shipley, along with the New Zealand Tourism Board, backed the quasi-national emblem of the silver fern on a black background as a possible alternative flag, along the lines of the Canadian flag, but she took pains to publicly disassociate herself from Bolger's republicanism. As the debate continued in 1999, the Princess Royal visited New Zealand, and Shipley stated, "I am an unashamed royal supporter, along with many New Zealanders." However, the debate was muted by the controversy surrounding Tourism Board contracts going to the public relations firm Saatchi and Saatchi, whose World CEO Kevin Roberts, also an advocate of the silver fern flag, was a good friend of Shipley.

Shipley was the first New Zealand Prime Minister to attend the gay and lesbian Hero Parade. She was the first National Party leader to seek to make electoral overtures to the gay and lesbian voting public. Under her administration, Shipley personally advocated lowering the alcohol purchase age from 20 to 18 and achieved this in 1999.^{[citation needed]} This was part of Shipley's expressed desire to expand the traditional National Party voting base.

Shipley is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders, an International network of current and former women presidents and prime ministers whose mission is to mobilise the highest-level women leaders globally for collective action on issues of critical importance to women and equitable development. She is also a member of the Club of Madrid.

Defeat and resignation

In the 1999 election, the Labour Party, led by Helen Clark defeated the National Party. Shipley continued to lead the Party until October 2001, when Bill English took over the leadership and the role of Leader of the Opposition, and she subsequently retired from Parliament.

Shipley suffered a heart attack in 2000.

Life after politics

In 2007, Shipley joined the financial services firm Source Sentinel. She also has business interests in China and heads the board of the China Construction Bank. In 2010 the China Construction Bank agreed to help finance a proposal to invest in the New Zealand dairy industry.

She appeared on an episode of the television reality/travel show Intrepid Journeys where she visited Namibia. She later started a charity to help a school she came across as part of that trip.

Shipley accepted a damehood on 14 August 2009 after the Fifth National Government reinstated them. Since 2009, Shipley has chaired the Genesis Power board.. She is also a member of the Club de Madrid, a group of more than 80 former Presidents and Prime Ministers of democratic states, which works to strengthen democratic leadership and governance worldwide.

External links

• Prime Minister's Office biography

• Interview:Scherer, Karyn (4 February 2008). "The prime of Mrs Jenny Shipley". The New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10489952&pnum=0. 

Political offices

Parliament of New Zealand
Preceded by Rob Talbot	Member of Parliament for Ashburton 1987–1990	Constituency abolished
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Rakaia 1990–2002	Succeeded by Brian Connell
Political offices
Preceded by Jim Bolger	Prime Minister of New Zealand 1997–1999	Succeeded by Helen Clark
Preceded by Helen Clark	Leader of the Opposition 1999–2001	Succeeded by Bill English
Preceded by Margaret Shields	Minister of Women's Affairs 1990–1996	Succeeded by Christine Fletcher
Party political offices
Preceded by Jim Bolger	Leader of the National Party 1997–2001	Succeeded by Bill English