Background:
Bill, whose real name is Simon, was born in 1961 in the farming town of Dipton, north of Invercargill, in Southland where he attended Dipton School before being sent to St Patrick’s College Silverstream in Wellington for his secondary schooling.
His appetite to reach the top was evident during his time at St Pat’s and in 1979, he was appointed Head Boy before moving to Dunedin to become a scarfie.
After gaining a commerce degree at the University of Otago, English moved back to Wellington to study English literature, receiving honours in the subject.
His agricultural-rooted upbringing lured him back to Dipton after his time at university and he put his gumboots on for a short stint at farming.
In the years following, he married Mary, a doctor, and started a family. He worked at the Treasury for a few years and then in 1990, ran for Parliament and became the MP for Wallace (now Clutha-Southland).
Bill and Mary now reside in Wellington and have six children, three of which have followed in Bill’s footsteps by studying at Selwyn College at Otago University.
Career in Politics:
Bill became a signed up member of the National Party in 1980 and had stints working at a number of National branches in Southland and Wellington until he decided to run for office in 1990.
It took him six years in Jim Bolger’s Government before he got handed his first ministerial portfolio, which was Crown Health Services. He also became Associate Minister of Education and less than a year later, picked up the health portfolio.
After National’s coalition with New Zealand First imploded in 1998, Bolger reshuffled his cabinet and Bill spent time as Minister of Finance, Minister of Revenue and also became Treasurer, a position that no longer exists. He lost these portfolios when Labour rolled National in 1999.
Bill took over from Jenny Shipley as leader of the opposition in 2001 in a hope to rebuild the party’s support. However, his leadership failed to gain traction and in 2002, his party suffered their worst ever election defeat, receiving just over 20 percent of the party vote.
He stayed on as leader for a year afterward but support for National continued to wane, his time as leader was up and it was the turn of Don Brash to lead the Nats.
Under Brash, he became spokesperson of the SIS and Education and was deputy finance spokesperson but after Brash lost the election in 2005 and subsequently resigned, Bill took charge of the finance and revenue responsibilities under the leadership of John Key.
And all Bill’s dreams came true in 2008 when National won the election and he was appointed Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and Minister of Infrastructure.
The Clutha-Southland seat (formally Wallace) is a safe seat for Bill and he has continued to win the spot comfortably since he first entered politics more than two decades ago.
Notable actions:
Announced his “Zero Budget” this year with no new Government spending, in an attempt to counter a $15 billion deficit.
Started the process of introducing NCEA into secondary schools in the 1990s.
Opposed the decriminalisation of prostitution.
Opposed the civil union bill.
What you might not know:
Bill has ten siblings and his brother, Connor, is the chief executive of Federated Farmers.
Famous Quote:
(Secretly taped at a National Party conference in 2008)
“Delegate: Getting rid of Kiwibank? I mean.”
“Bill: Well, eventually, but not now. Well, it's working. A lot of our supporters get a bit antsy about it, but it's working.
(Then later in a statement)
“I did not choose my words well…I shouldn't have made the comments I made. National has had no discussions about Kiwibank and has no plans to sell it.”
Gaffes and Blunders:
Before the 2002 election, Bill took part in a charity boxing match, Fight for Life, which was a fundraiser for an anti-youth suicide campaign. Bill was beaten by Ted Clarke, an actor, and appeared in Parliament with a black eye in the weeks following.
Before the 2008 election, Bill was secretly taped at the National Party conference saying he had plans to sell Kiwibank. He also said he was worried “about the whole Obama and Europe thing” and “there still needs to be someone willing to pull the trigger”.
In 2009, it was discovered that Bill was claiming nearly $1000 every week as part of an accommodation allowance for MPs for the time he spent living in Wellington and away from his Southland electorate – but he hadn’t lived in his electorate for ten years.
In a sentence:
source: newshub archive
