Clayton Cosgrove
| The Honourable Clayton Cosgrove MP | |
|---|---|
| Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Waimakariri | |
| In office 27 November 1999 – 27 November 2011 | |
| Preceded by | Vacant (held by Mike Moore until his resignation in July 1999) |
| Majority | 390 |
| 1st Minister for the 2011 Rugby World Cup | |
| In office 5 November 2007 – 19 November 2008 | |
| Preceded by | New ministerial post |
| Succeeded by | Murray McCully |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 31 October 1969 Nelson, New Zealand |
| Nationality | New Zealand |
| Political party | Labour |
| Cabinet | Cabinet of New Zealand |
| Committees | Deputy-Chairperson of the Law and Order Committee |
Clayton James Cosgrove (born 31 October 1969) is a New Zealand politician. He is a member of the Labour Party.
Early life
Cosgrove was born in Nelson, New Zealand. He received a BA (Triple Major), in History, American Studies and Political Science, from the University of Canterbury in 1992 and received an MBA in 1996. Before entering politics, he worked in the Corporate Affair field within the Minerals and Telecommunications industries. He was also a small business owner.
Labour Party involvement
Cosgove has been a member of the Labour Party since he was fourteen, and has held a number of posts within the party. He was chairman of the party's Canterbury branch from 1989 to 1994, and served as campaign manager to Labour Party leader Mike Moore in the 1990 election and the 1993 election.
He was a strong supporter of Moore, and opposed Moore's replacement by Helen Clark. Before the 1996 election he was involved in discussions with Moore to form a new party but this failed to eventuate.
Member of Parliament
| Parliament of New Zealand | ||||
| Years | Term | Electorate | List | Party |
| 1999–2002 | 46th | Waimakariri | none | Labour |
| 2002–2005 | 47th | Waimakariri | none | Labour |
| 2005–2008 | 48th | Waimakariri | none | Labour |
| 2008–2011 | 49th | Waimakariri | 18 | Labour |
| 2011 – present | 50th | List | 8 | Labour |
Cosgrove himself stood for election in Moore's former Waimakariri seat in the 1999 election, and was successful. He was re-elected in the 2002, 2005 and 2008 general elections. However, he was defeated in the electorate by National's Kate Wilkinson in 2011 and was subsequently elected as list MP.
Cabinet minister
He was appointed Minister for Building and Construction, Minister of Statistics, Associate Minister of Finance, Associate Minister of Justice and Associate Minister of Immigration (responsible for individual immigration cases) after the 2005 election. At the October 2007 Cabinet reshuffle, he was promoted and replaced his Building and Construction and Statistics portfolio responsibilities; with the Immigration, Small Business, Sport and Recreation portfolios, and ministerial responsibility for the Rugby World Cup. He retained his roles as Associate Minister of Justice and Finance. Cosgrove lost his ministerial position when Labour was defeated in the 2008 election.
Cosgrove was selected to attend the World Economic Forum's Annual meeting in New York and Davos in 2001 and 2002, and was appointed to the Forum's task force on Free Trade. He is generally considered to be on the right of the Labour Party.
Opposition
When Lianne Dalziel confirmed that she would contest the 2013 Christchurch mayoralty, her Christchurch Earthquake Recovery portfolio was split and assigned to Cosgrove and Ruth Dyson in July 2013.[1] He considered standing in the by-election resulting from Dalziel's resignation from Parliament, but in the end decided not to put his name forward for the Labour nomination.[2]
Boy racers
In August 2007 Cosgrove was targeted after raising considerable concerns about "boy racers". Boy racers have caused numerous and significant problems throughout his electorate and Christchurch in general[3] .[4]
Boy racers attempted to intimidate Cosgrove in a number of ways, including defacing billboards and driving past his house on Saturday nights.[5]
New Zealand has considerable problems with boy racers, leading to many car seizures[6] and a new law being mooted to crush the vehicles of the worst offenders.[7]
Political offices
1999| New Zealand Parliament | ||
|---|---|---|
| Vacant Mike Moore resigned four months before general election |
Member of Parliament for Waimakariri 1999–2011 |
Succeeded by Kate Wilkinson |
| Political offices | ||
| New title | Minister for the Rugby World Cup 2007–2008 |
Succeeded by Murray McCully |
References
- ↑ Cairns, Lois (11 July 2013). "Two MPs to take over Dalziel's portfolio". The Press. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
- ↑ "Cosgrove not standing for Christchurch East". The Press. 6 September 2013. p. A5.
- ↑ "Boy racers, residents draw battle lines", Television New Zealand, 20 August 2006
- ↑ "Boyracers cause havoc in Christchurch", New Zealand Herald, 10 March 2008
- ↑ "Cosgrove hits back at boy racer website", The Press, 20 August 2007
- ↑ Hundreds of boy-racer cars seized, The New Zealand Herald, 22 May 2007
- ↑ Car crush law closer for boy racers, The New Zealand Herald, 30 March 2009
External links
- Clayton Cosgrove - personal website
- Clayton Cosgrove at the Labour Party