Michael Woodhouse

Michael Woodhouse (born c.1965) is a National member of the 49th New Zealand Parliament.

Early years

Woodhouse was born and raised in South Dunedin, the fifth of nine children. He attended St Patrick's, St Edmund's and St Pauls High School, now Kavanagh College, which he left at the end of sixth form in 1982. He worked for the National Bank of New Zealand in Dunedin and Wellington until 1987 when he embarked on a rugby sojourn to Scotland and England, playing for Dunfermline 1987/88 and Broughton Park in Manchester 1988/89. He returned to Dunedin where he studied Commerce and Accounting at Otago University, which he graduated from in 1993. He worked at Taylor Mclachlan Accountants in Dunedin, Dunedin Hospital and ACC. Recently in 2005 he earned a masters in Health at the University of New South Wales in Australia. Prior to his political career, Woodhouse was the CEO of Mercy Hospital in Dunedin from 2001 to 2008.

An avid rugby follower, Woodhouse played age group rugby for Otago and South Island rep teams and premier rugby for Dunedin and Western Suburbs in Wellington. He also refereed 84 premier and approximately 20 representative colts and 'B' provincial matches.^[1]

Personal life

Woodhouse is an avid Rugby fan having played for Otago in his youth. He has a wife Amanda and three children called Emily, Isabel and Chloe.

Member of Parliament

Woodhouse stood in Dunedin North in 2008 and, though he received 30.64% (9972) of the votes he was defeated by incumbent electorate Pete Hodgson who received 52.62% of the vote. He was still however elected to parliament through National's party list. In the 2011 election, Woodhouse reduced the majority from 7,155 in 2008^[2] to 3,489.^[3] National also lost the party vote by 420 votes.

A member of the Health and Transport & Industrial Relations Select Committees in the 49th Parliament, Woodhouse was elected as the National Party's senior whip on 20 December 2011.^[4] He is the head of the Parliamentarians for Arthritis group and is active in the Parliamentary Sports Trust as a rugby player and referee.

In a reshuffle in January 2013, Woodhouse was made a minister outside cabinet and was given the Immigration, Veteran's Affairs and associate transport portfolios.

References

External links

• Michael Woodhouse at Parliament
• Michael Woodhouse at the National Party
• Michael Woodhouse - personal website