Deborah Morris

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Deborah Morris (9 August 1970 - ) is a former New Zealand politician. She was an MP from 1996 to 1999, representing the New Zealand First party. She was first elected to Parliament in the 1996 elections as a list MP, and when her party formed a coalition with the National Party, she became a Minister. Her most prominent role was as Minister of Youth Affairs, where her own relative youth was seen as an asset — she was understood to be the youngest person ever appointed to ministerial rank.

When the coalition collapsed, and New Zealand First itself began to split up, Morris was one of the first MPs to leave the party, saying that she could no longer accept the "perpetual state of crisis" generated by its leader, Winston Peters. Unlike some other New Zealand First defectors, Morris did not make a deal with the National Party to keep her ministerial portfolios, resigning from her position on 18 August 1998. Morris remained an independent until her resignation from Parliament in 1999. As she had been elected on the New Zealand First list, her replacement, Gilbert Myles, was also drawn from that list.