Simon O'Connor

Simon O'Connor
Simon David O'Connor (born 25 February 1976) is a New Zealand politician and a former member of the New Zealand House of Representatives for the National Party. He represented the Tāmaki electorate from 2011 to 2023.
Early life
O'Connor was raised in Whangārei, the eldest of three children, where he attended St Mary's Primary School and Pompallier College. He was a keen fencer and was president of the Auckland University Fencing Club.
O'Connor completed training to be a Catholic priest, which involved working on the island of Taveuni in Fiji for two years at a vocational training centre, prison chaplaincy at Mount Eden Prison, military chaplaincy at Waiouru Army Base, and spending time with people in hospitals and hospices. He did not seek ordination, deciding instead to study and pursue a career in politics.
O'Connor graduated from the University of Auckland with a Bachelor of Arts in Geography and Political Studies (his Political Studies Honours dissertation looked at the works of René Girard), a Bachelor of Theology, and a Master of Arts with First Class Honours (Political Studies). He has also worked as a contracts manager for Southern Cross Insurance.
O'Connor was the chairperson of Monarchy New Zealand between 2010 and 2012 and remains a board member.
Political career
O'Connor has been involved in the National Party since 2005. He was deputy chair of the party's Northern Region before seeking the National nomination for the Maungakiekie electorate in 2008. He lost the selection contest to Sam Lotu-Iiga, who went on to win the seat, but O'Connor was appointed as a list candidate for the 2008 general election, ranked 72nd.
He was selected as the party's candidate in the electorate following the withdrawal of sitting MP Allan Peachey shortly before the 2011 election and was elected to Parliament. In his first term, he was a member of the Education and Science committee and the Transport and Industrial Relations committee, and the deputy chair of the Finance and Expenditure committee. O'Connor held his electorate at the 2014 general election. In his second term, he chaired the Health committee. During his tenure as chair, the committee ran an inquiry into euthanasia which did not propose any changes to the law.
O'Connor was re-elected at both the 2017 general election and the 2020 general election. National was in opposition after these two elections. O'Connor held various National Party spokesperson roles during this period, including corrections (2017 to 2023), customs (2018 to 2023), arts, culture and heritage (2020 to 2023) and internal affairs (two separate periods in 2021 and 2023). He briefly resigned his portfolios in late 2021 when his brother-in-law, Simon Bridges, was demoted by National leader Judith Collins. He chaired the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade committee from 2017 to 2020 and was a member of the Justice committee from 2021 to 2023.
Since 2020, O'Connor was a co-chair of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), an international group of legislators working towards reform on how democratic countries approach China, and specifically, the Chinese Communist Party. In December 2020, he and fellow IPAC member Louisa Wall urged New Zealand to speak out against China's alleged "coercive diplomacy" and support Australia in the face of diplomatic and economic pressure from China. In August 2022, O'Connor, fellow IPAC member Labour MP Ingrid Leary, and other members from Australia, India and Japan launched a new local Indo-Pacific chapter to focus on increased Chinese militarisation in that region.
Defeat at the 2023 general election
On 30 September 2022, it was reported that three unknown people had launched campaigns to replace O'Connor as the National party's Tāmaki candidate at the 2023 New Zealand general election. On 21 October, O'Connor's challengers were identified as lawyer Andrew Grant and restaurant proprietor Sang Cho. Grant had publicly opposed "tough on crime" rhetoric. Ultimately, the challenge was unsuccessful and O'Connor was confirmed as the National Party candidate for Tāmaki at a party meeting in November 2022.
In late April 2023, ACT New Zealand confirmed that its deputy leader Brooke van Velden would be contesting O'Connor's Tāmaki electorate in a "two ticks" campaign during the 2023 general election. ACT leader David Seymour cited O'Connor's socially conservative views on abortion and euthanasia as factors in ACT's decision to seriously contest O'Connor's' seat. In August 2023, the National Party announced its party list for the election. O'Connor's position was 54th, down from 35th in 2020. An opinion poll released on 2 October showed van Velden tied with O'Connor. On election day, van Velden was ahead by 4,500 votes. Due to O'Connor's low list ranking, he was not eligible to return to Parliament.
Political views
O'Connor was one of National's most conservative MPs and a member of a subgroup of evangelical Christian National MPs known as "the Taliban". In conscience votes, O'Connor voted:
against raising the drinking age from 18 in 2012;
against the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill in 2013, a bill allowing same-sex couples to marry in New Zealand;
against changing the flag of New Zealand during the 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums;
in support of a bill to allow Easter Sunday trading in 2016;
against the End of Life Choice Bill in 2017 and 2019;
against the Abortion Legislation Bill in 2019 and 2020; and
against the Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill in 2022.
O'Connor has received criticism for comments he has made in relation to his conservative views.
On 10 September 2017, two weeks before the general election and on World Suicide Prevention Day, O'Connor posted on Facebook that it was "strange" how Labour leader Jacinda Ardern was "concerned about youth suicide" but was "happy to encourage the suicide of the elderly, disabled, and sick" by way of her support of the End of Life Choice Bill. The post was condemned by some politicians and social media.
In March 2020, he attracted attention for a statement he made as part of his speech in opposition to the third reading of the Abortion Legislation Bill, where he repeated a quotation from the Bible in Latin: "Mihi vindicta: ego retribuam, dicit Dominus," which is translated as "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” The contrast between this and the criticisms of the bill's opponents in the speech given in support of it by Amy Adams was noted by journalist Richard Harman as a public expression of deep divisions on the issue between liberals and conservatives within the National Party caucus.
O'Connor was one of only eight MPs to vote against the Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Act 2022. In early February, O'Connor spoke against the Bill during its second reading, claiming during his speech that banning conversion therapy would erase gay and lesbian individuals, who would then be encouraged to live as transgender people. He also claimed that the Bill violated free speech by focusing on "hurt feelings." O'Connor's remarks were described as "transphobic and cringeworthy" by LGBT activist Shaneel Lal, who contended that he underestimated the ability of queer children to have dialogue with their parents. Similar sentiments were echoed by Auckland Councillor Richard Hills and Labour MP Marja Lubeck. The Bill passed its third and final reading on 15 February 2022, becoming law.
In late June 2022, O'Connor published a Facebook post welcoming the United States Supreme Court's overtuning of Roe v. Wade. He subsequently removed the post after National Party leader Christopher Luxon stated that the post was "causing distress" and did not represent the party's position on abortion. In response to the controversy around O'Connor's post, several Tāmaki residents called for O'Connor to resign as their Member of Parliament. By contrast, former National MP Alfred Ngaro defended O'Connor's freedom of expression and accused Luxon of silencing National MPs. On 28 June, O'Connor apologised to his National Party colleagues for the hurt and distress that his Facebook post had caused. He denied that he had been "gagged" by Luxon and explained that he had offered to taken down the post because it had attracted " toxic and unhealthy" comments.
In March 2023, O’Connor apologised after making comments in Parliament that linked the 2023 Nashville school shooting to remarks that Marama Davidson, co-leader of the Greens, had made about white cisgender men.
Personal life
On 10 December 2016, he married Rachel Trimble, the sister of fellow National MP Simon Bridges, and has five step children.
References
External links
Profile at the New Zealand Parliament website
On Point podcast
1976 births
Living people
New Zealand National Party MPs
New Zealand Roman Catholics
New Zealand MPs for Auckland electorates
New Zealand monarchists
Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives
21st-century New Zealand politicians
Unsuccessful candidates in the 2008 New Zealand general election
Candidates in the 2011 New Zealand general election
Candidates in the 2014 New Zealand general election
Candidates in the 2017 New Zealand general election
Candidates in the 2020 New Zealand general election
Unsuccessful candidates in the 2023 New Zealand general election