| Jonathan Young MP |
|
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Nationality | New Zealand |
| Political party | National Party |
| Occupation | formerly Church Minister, teacher |
Jonathan Young (born 1958) is a National Party Member of the New Zealand House of Representatives for New Plymouth. He was first elected in the 2008 general election, with the country's smallest election night majority.[1]
Jonathan Young is the son of Venn Young, a National MP from 1966 to 1990.[2] Before entering politics, Young was the Senior Minister at CityChurch Waitakere in West Auckland for 18 years. He has also been a primary school teacher and an 'itinerant' teacher of the Māori language, and a financial administrator. In addition, he has been involved in development work in Cambodia.[3]
|
|
||||
| Years | Term | Electorate | List | Party |
| 2008–2011 | 49th | New Plymouth | 66 | National |
| 2011–present | 50th | New Plymouth | 45 | National |
In the 2008 election, Young was narrowly victorious in the New Plymouth seat against long-standing Labour incumbent Harry Duynhoven. Young's final majority was 105 votes - a margin of 0.3% of the total vote count in that electorate.[4] New Plymouth had been one of the seats that the party had focused on as they had won the party vote in the 2005 election and campaign head Steven Joyce felt that 'it had swung further our way'.[5]
Shortly after the election Young was criticised by the GayNZ.com website for his statement that 'one of my associates was an ex-lesbian' and for his involvement with Teen Challenge, a Christian youth organisation with links to the ex-gay movement.[6]
| Parliament of New Zealand | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Harry Duynhoven |
Member of Parliament for New Plymouth 1998 – present |
Incumbent |