Katrina Shanks

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Parl. Electorate List Pos. Party
48th List 46 National

Katrina Shanks (Born 1970) is a New Zealand politician and a list member of Parliament for the National Party. Shanks became a member of Parliament on 7 February 2007, following the formal resignation of Don Brash from Parliament [1]. Shanks is the Associate Spokeswoman for Commerce and Associate Spokeswoman for Economic Development.

Prior to entering politics, Katrina Shanks was a self-employed accountant. She previously worked as a Project Accountant for the Westpac Banking Corporation, in Retail Client Services for Newton Investment Management in the United Kingdom and as a Senior Auditor for Audit New Zealand[2]. She is a mother of three [3].

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[edit] Entry into politics

Shanks stood as the National candidate for Ohariu-Belmont electorate against United Future New Zealand leader Peter Dunne at the 2005 general election. In the electorate vote she placed third behind Dunne and Labour's Charles Chauvel, gaining 7,329 votes. However, National's party vote for the electorate was greater than Labour's [4]. The initial results for the election on 17 September 2006 (election night) would have seen Shanks elected as a list MP, however the subsequent counting of special votes, and the reduction of list seats to National, meant that Shanks did not make it into Parliament. Her list position meant, however, that should any National list MP resign, Shanks would be the first new National MP elected to Parliament. This happened when former party leader Don Brash resigned on the 7 February 2007.

[edit] Trivia

  • Shanks' father, Graeme Hislop, once stood against National Prime Minister Keith Holyoake as a Social Credit candidate[5]. At the time, he was the same age as Shanks was when she stood for Parliament in 2005 (at the age of 36).

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ New Zealand Electoral Commission: New List MP For National Party. 7 February 2007 Source
  2. ^ National Party: National selects Dunne challenger - 21 December 2004Source
  3. ^ TVNZ: Key unveils more centrist line-up - 1 December 2006 Source
  4. ^ NZ Votes.org: Ohariu-Belmont electorate candidates and results Source
  5. ^ The New Zealand Herald, 1 December 2006, Source