Role Member of Parliament | Name Amy (politician) Spouse(s) Don Adams | |
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Full Name Amy Juliet Milnes Profiles | ||
Amy adams mp maiden statement
Amy Juliet Adams (née Milnes; born 19 May 1971) is a member of the New Zealand Parliament and Minister of Justice.
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Adams represents the Selwyn electorate and is a member of the National Party. She is the Minister of Justice, Associate Minister of Finance, Minister for Courts and Social Housing, and Minister Responsible for Housing New Zealand Corporation and Social Investment.
Early life
Adams was born in 1971 and when she was two, her mother divorced, raising her and her sister Belinda alone. Adams attended Rangitoto College where she became friends with Louise Upston, then graduated from the University of Canterbury with a Bachelor of Laws with First-Class Honours. Her first employment as a lawyer was in Invercargill, but she soon moved back to Canterbury. She became a partner in the Christchurch law firm Mortlock McCormack.
Political career
Adams was selected as the National party candidate for the Selwyn seat for the 2008 general election after a contested selection. She won the Selwyn seat with a comfortable majority, achieving 60% of the electorate votes cast. This compares with the National Party achieving 55% of party votes. In the 2014 election, she won more than 70% of the electorate votes based on preliminary results.
In 2009 her Fair Trading (Soliciting on Behalf of Charities) Amendment Bill was drawn from the member's ballot. The bill required fundraising companies to disclose the proportion of funds they passed on to the charities they collect for. The bill passed its third reading in June 2012.
Adams was made Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee and the Electoral Legislation Committee for the final months of the 49th Parliament and was appointed a Cabinet Minister for Internal Affairs, Communications and Associate Earthquake Recovery after the National Party won a second term in Government. After a reshuffle of cabinet responsibilities caused by the resignation of Nick Smith, Adams was made Minister for the Environment, while the responsibility for Internal Affairs was passed to Chris Tremain.
At 20 December 2016 Adams is the Minister of Justice, Associate Minister of Finance, Minister for Courts and Social Housing, and Minister Responsible for Housing New Zealand Corporation and Social Investment.
Personal life
Adams' house in Aylesbury stands close to the fault line and epicentre of the 2010 Canterbury earthquake, which caused significant damage to her property, but inspection deemed it safe enough to live in.
Together with her husband Robert Donald "Don" Adams, she owns three farms: in Darfield, Kirwee, and Te Kauwhata. The first two of these are in Canterbury, are sheep and crop farms, and within the area of the Central Plains Water scheme. The Te Kauwhata farm is located in the Waikato. Through their company Amdon Farms Ltd, they are shareholders of Central Plains Water.
Her sister, Belinda Milnes, was an advisor to Social Development Minister Paula Bennett, and when Bennett appointed her as Families Commissioner in 2013, the opposition complained of cronyism. David Ware, the husband of Milnes and thus brother-in-law of Adams, has publicly criticised Adams in her role as Communications and Information Technology Minister, where government policies favour big telecommunications companies. Ware is the chief executive of NZX-listed company Team Talk, and feels "dreadfully let down" by the Communications and Information Technology Minister.