Ginny Andersen

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Ginny Andersen
MP
Ginny Andersen.jpg
Andersen in 2020
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Hutt South
Incumbent
Assumed office
17 October 2020
Preceded byChris Bishop
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Labour party list
In office
23 September 2017 – 17 October 2020
Vice-President of the New Zealand Labour Party
In office
2015–2017
PresidentNigel Haworth
Preceded byRobert Gallagher
Succeeded byBeth Houston
Personal details
Born1975 (age 45–46)
New Zealand
Political partyLabour
Spouse(s)Geoff Gwyn
RelationsBill Andersen (great-uncle)
ChildrenFour
Alma materUniversity of Canterbury
WebsiteLabour Party profile

Virginia Ruby Andersen[1][2][3] (born 1975)[4] is a New Zealand politician and Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for the Labour Party.

Personal life[]

Andersen lives in Belmont, Lower Hutt.[5] Bill Andersen, a noted activist and trade union leader, was her great-uncle.[6] Ginny Andersen worked for the New Zealand Police as a policy unit manager from 2006 to 2017.[1] Prior to that, she worked at the Office of Treaty Settlements and was also a private secretary and senior political adviser in Parliament to several Labour MPs including Trevor Mallard, David Cunliffe, Mark Burton, and Margaret Wilson.[7]

Political career[]

Andersen stood in the electorate of Ōhāriu at the 2014 election, and was only narrowly defeated by the long-standing incumbent, Peter Dunne of United Future, by a margin of 610 votes (1.91%).[8][1] Andersen served as the Labour Party's Vice-President from 2015 to 2017, when she stood down to focus on her parliamentary candidacy.[1]

Member of parliament[]

New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate List Party
2017–2020 52nd List 28 Labour
2020–present 53rd Hutt South 45 Labour


In October 2016, Andersen was selected as Labour's candidate for the electorate of Hutt South for the 2017 election against Hutt City Councillor Campbell Barry and list candidate Sarah Packer.[1] She replaced long-serving member of parliament Trevor Mallard as the Labour Party candidate who had, in July of that year, said he would serve as a list-only candidate for the election with the intention of becoming Speaker of the House.[3][1][2][9] In the previous election Mallard had won Hutt South by only 709 votes (1.83%) over National's candidate, Chris Bishop.[10] Andersen was ranked 28 on Labour's party list, an increase of 9 from 2014.[11] While Andersen lost the Hutt South election to Bishop, she entered parliament via the party list under New Zealand's MMP electoral system.[12]

Andersen was Labour's Hutt South candidate for the 2020 New Zealand general election, and dropped 17 places to 45 on Labour's list.[13]

During the 2020 election which was held on 17 October, Andersen captured Hutt South, defeating incumbent Bishop by a final margin of 3,777 votes.[14][15]

In March 2021 Andersen admitted she knew about a secretive rent deal that saw $4500 in taxpayer cash funneled into the local Labour Party each year. She’d previously said she only understood the deal after she “looked at it” ahead of the 2020 election.The deal worked through a subletting arrangement whereby the local Labour Party rented office space from the building’s owner, the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union, for $1500 a year. It then sublet that office to Andersen for her MP’s duties, for $6000.[16]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Labour selects former Ohariu candidate Virginia Andersen to run in Hutt South electorate". Stuff. 31 October 2016. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  2. ^ a b "2017 Candidates". New Zealand Labour Party. Archived from the original on 5 January 2017. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  3. ^ a b "Ginny Andersen". New Zealand Labour Party. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  4. ^ "Roll of members of the New Zealand House of Representatives, 1854 onwards" (PDF). New Zealand Parliament. 24 May 2019. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  5. ^ Upper Hutt Leader, 2 Aug 2017 https://www.pressreader.com/new-zealand/upper-hutt-leader/20170802/281840053747806
  6. ^ Smith, Mike (11 May 2014). "Ginny Andersen a rising star". The Standard. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  7. ^ "Labour announces Ohariu candidate". Radio New Zealand. 20 February 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  8. ^ "Official Count Results – Ōhāriu". Electoral Commission. 10 October 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  9. ^ Boyack, Nicholas (25 July 2016). "Labour MP Trevor Mallard vacates Hutt South electorate to apply for Speaker position". Stuff. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  10. ^ "Official Count Results – Hutt South". Electoral Commission. 10 October 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  11. ^ "Revised Labour Party List for the 2017 Election". Scoop. 15 August 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  12. ^ "Successful Candidates". Electoral Commission. 23 September 2017. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
  13. ^ "Labour announces list for 2020 Election". New Zealand Labour Party. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  14. ^ "Hutt South – Official Result". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
  15. ^ Whyte, Anna (18 October 2020). "Analysis: The winners, losers, new faces and goodbyes of election 2020". 1 News. Archived from the original on 22 October 2020. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  16. ^ Coughlan, Thomas (19 March 2021). "Ginny Andersen admits knowledge of electorate office deal in 2017". Stuff. Retrieved 15 November 2021.

External links[]

New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by
Chris Bishop
 Member of Parliament for Hutt South
2020–present 		Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by
Robert Gallagher
 Vice-President of the New Zealand Labour Party
2015–2017 		Succeeded by
Beth Houston
Retrieved from ""