Muriel Newman

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Parl.	Electorate	List Pos.	Party
45th	List	8	ACT
46th	List	7	ACT
47th	List	3	ACT

Dr. Muriel Newman (born 6 April 1950) was a New Zealand politician. Despite her current absence from Parliament, she is the deputy leader of the ACT New Zealand parliamentary party.

Newman was born in northern England, but arrived in New Zealand at the age of eight. She was raised in Whangarei. She gained a BSc in mathematics from Auckland University, and then a Ph.D. in mathematics education from Rutgers University in the United States. After working in the education sector for twenty years, she entered the business world, and eventually became president of the Northland Chamber of Commerce.

Newman was a founding member of the ACT New Zealand party, and was one of its candidates in its first election. She was elected to Parliament as a list MP. In 2004, when Richard Prebble stepped down as ACT's leader, Newman chose to step forward as a candidate to succeed him. In the end, the leadership was won by Rodney Hide, but Newman nevertheless emerged with the role of deputy leader.

She remained a list MP until the 2005 election, in which only two ACT MPs were returned.

Newman has courted controversy for her conservative moral views, even among members within her own party, who believe that such conservatism is anathema to what they see as the party's classical liberal doctrines. The New Anti-PC Problem

Since leaving Parliament Muriel Newman has started up a political think tank organisation, the New Zealand Centre for Political Debate which has had several prominent political guests write columns, including Sir Roger Douglas - Finance minister of the New Zealand Labour party from 1984 to 1988 and ACT New Zealand co-founder.