Colin Craig

Colin Craig
Personal details
Born 8 January 1968[1]
Auckland, New Zealand
Political party Conservative Party of New Zealand
Spouse(s) Helen Craig
Children 1
Occupation Businessman
Religion Christian[2]

Colin Craig (born 8 January 1968) is a New Zealand businessman[3] and the founding leader of the Conservative Party of New Zealand.[4] Craig is currently a millionaire who owns companies which manage high-rise buildings.[5] His current company manages about $1.3 billion of assets.[6]

Contents

Personal life

Craig was born in Auckland and raised in the suburb of Howick.[1] He graduated from the University of Auckland with Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Arts degrees, before completing post-graduate study at Massey University.[1] He has one daughter with his wife Helen.[1] His father, Ross Craig, was a Rodney District councillor until 2010.[7]

While Craig says that the Conservative Party does not intend to "legislate morality",[8] he is a Christian and does not personally support homosexuality or common-law marriages.[2]

Political career

Craig first emerged as a conservative activist in 2009[5] when he organised a "march for democracy" to demand the government adhere to the recent referendum on the "anti-smacking" law.[9] Although he spent $450,000 organising the march,[9] it attracted only 5,000 participants.[10] In 2010 Craig contested the Auckland Mayoral election, finishing third[11][12] with 42,598 votes behind Len Brown (237,487 votes) and John Banks (171,542 votes).[13]

In 2011 Craig announced the formation of the Conservative Party of New Zealand.[14][15] In September 2011, he announced he would stand in the Rodney electorate for the 2011 general election.[16] After pre-election polling in this electorate, Craig claimed to have 47% support while the National Party candidate Mark Mitchell had 36.3%.[7][17] Prime Minister and National Party leader John Key said that the Conservative Party faced a "massive hurdle" to get a seat in Parliament.[18] According to preliminary election results, Mitchell won the seat with 52.6% of the vote, and Colin Craig came second with 21.4% of the vote. The Conservative Party also won 2.76% of the vote nation-wide, the fifth largest share of any party, but still insufficient to enter Parliament.[19]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Vote Colin Craig: About Colin Craig". votecolincraig.co.nz. 2010. http://www.votecolincraig.co.nz/aboutcolin.php. Retrieved 26 November 2011. 
  2. ^ a b Chisnall, Kim (3 August 2011). "Conservative party leader happy being 'traditional'". 3 News. http://www.3news.co.nz/Conservative-party-leader-happy-being-traditional/tabid/419/articleID/220943/Default.aspx. Retrieved 26 November 2011. 
  3. ^ "Managers' Apartments Limited". Ministry of Economic Development. http://www.business.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/companies/1110716?backurl=%2Fcompanies%2Fapp%2Fui%2Fpages%2Findividual%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dcolin+craig%26start%3D%26entitySearch%3D%26addressKeyword%3D%26postalCode%3D%26country%3D%26addressType%3D%26advancedPanel%3Dfalse%26roleType%3DALL%26indEntityTypes%3DALL%26indEntityStatusGroups%3DALL%26indDirStatus%3DALL%26sf%3D%26sd%3D. Retrieved 2011-09-20. 
  4. ^ "People". Conservative Party of New Zealand. http://www.conservativeparty.org.nz/index.php?page=people_page. Retrieved 2011-09-14. 
  5. ^ a b Fisher, David (07-31-2011). "Dreams of Act's demise". The New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10741939. 
  6. ^ "Making referendum count". New Zealand Centre for Political Research. http://www.nzcpr.com/guest243.htm. Retrieved 2011-09-20. 
  7. ^ a b Backhouse, Matthew; Bennett, Adam (2011-09-20). "Conservative leader confident he can take Rodney from Nats". The New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10752948. Retrieved 2011-09-20. 
  8. ^ Whitworth, Chris (7 November 2011). "Conservatives open to both Labour and National". 3 News. http://www.3news.co.nz/Conservatives-open-to-both-Labour-and-National/tabid/419/articleID/231969/Default.aspx. Retrieved 26 November 2011. 
  9. ^ a b Collins, Simon (2009-10-28). "Smacking law march aims to be big". The New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/democracy/news/article.cfm?c_id=171&objectid=10605777. Retrieved 2011-09-29. 
  10. ^ "One arrest as thousands join 'March for Democracy'". The New Zealand Herald. NZPA. 21 November 2009. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10610750. 
  11. ^ Orsman, Bernard (2010-06-29). "Organiser of democracy march joins mayoral race". The New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10655119. Retrieved 2011-09-29. 
  12. ^ "Len Brown beats John Banks in super-race". Stuff. 2010-10-09. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/local-elections-2010/4215301/Len-Brown-beats-John-Banks-in-super-race. Retrieved 2011-09-29. 
  13. ^ "Mayor (1) final results". Auckland Council. Auckland Council. http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/AboutCouncil/HowCouncilWorks/Elections/Pages/Finalresults-Mayor.aspx. Retrieved 2011-12-22. 
  14. ^ Donnell, Hayden; Bennett, Adam (08-04-2011). "Craig no threat to Banks in Epsom, says Brash". The New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10742803. Retrieved 2011-09-29. 
  15. ^ "Colin Craig announces new Conservative Party". The New Zealand Herald. 08-03-2011. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10742678. Retrieved 2011-09-29. 
  16. ^ "Colin Craig won't go up against John Banks". The New Zealand Herald. 2011-09-19. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10752761. Retrieved 2011-09-19. 
  17. ^ "Colin Craig to stand in Rodney". Radio Live. http://www.radiolive.co.nz/Colin-Craig-to-stand-in-Rodney/tabid/506/articleID/23214/Default.aspx. Retrieved 2011-09-19. 
  18. ^ "Key won't rule out working with new party". New Zealand Press Association. 08-08-2011. 
  19. ^ http://www.elections.org.nz

External links