Simon Upton

The Right Honourable Simon Upton
File:Simon Upton 01 crop.jpg Simon Upton at a sustainable development Forum in Prague, November 2014
30th Minister of Health
In office 2 November 1990 – 27 March 1993
Prime Minister	Jim Bolger
Preceded by	Helen Clark
Succeeded by	Bill Birch
2nd Minister for the Environment
In office 2 November 1990 – 10 December 1999
Prime Minister	Jim Bolger, Jenny Shipley
Preceded by	Geoffrey Palmer
Succeeded by	Marian Hobbs
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Waikato
In office 1981 – 1984
Preceded by	Lance Adams-Schneider
Succeeded by	Rob Storey
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Raglan
In office 1984 – 1996
Preceded by	Marilyn Waring (in 1978)
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for National Party list
In office 1996 – 2001
Personal details
Born	(1958-02-07) 7 February 1958
Political party	National

Simon David Upton (born 7 February 1958) is a former New Zealand politician and member of Parliament from 1981 to 2001, representing the National Party.

Early life

Upton was educated at Southwell School, St Paul's Collegiate School and the University of Auckland, where he gained degrees in English literature, music and law, and Wolfson College, Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar.

Member of Parliament

Parliament of New Zealand
Years	Term	Electorate	List	Party
1981–1984	40th	Waikato		National
1984–1987	41st	Raglan		National
1987–1990	42nd	Raglan		National
1990–1993	43rd	Raglan		National
1993–1996	44th	Raglan		National
1996–1999	45th	List	11	National
1999–2001	46th	List	12	National

Having joined the National Party in 1976, he served as Chairman of the New Zealand Young Nationals among other positions and became the then-youngest MP for Waikato in the 1981 elections. In the 1984 elections, he was elected MP for Raglan, which he held until the 1996 elections, when he chose to become a list MP.

Cabinet minister

See also: Fourth National Government of New Zealand

Upton became one of New Zealand's youngest ever Ministers in the Cabinet in 1990, when he became Minister of Health, Minister for the Environment, and Minister of Research, Science and Technology. In the environment post, Upton enacted the Resource Management Act 1991. He was responsible for establishing the Crown Research Institutes. He has an interest in sustainable development, and chaired the OECD's Round Table on Sustainable Development. He is a founding member of the Board of the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction.

He was sworn to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom in 1999.

Life after politics

He resigned from Parliament in 2001, and moved to France. He took up a full-time post at the OECD as the chair of the Round Table on Sustainable Development which he held until 2005. He was also a part-time consultant at PriceWaterhouseCoopers for several years. In April 2010 he was appointed as the head of the OECD Environment Directorate, in Paris, France.

Personal life

He has two children; Geoffrey (21) and Laura (18).

New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by Lance Adams-Schneider	Member of Parliament for Waikato 1981–1984	Succeeded by Rob Storey
Vacant Constituency abolished in 1978 Title last held by Marilyn Waring	Member of Parliament for Raglan 1984–1996	Constituency abolished
Political offices
Preceded by Helen Clark	Minister of Health 1990–1993	Succeeded by Bill Birch
Preceded by Geoffrey Palmer	Minister for the Environment 1990–1999	Succeeded by Marian Hobbs

External links

• Simon Upton's website
• NZ Vice Chancellors' Committee (PDF) "1982/Rt Hon Simon David Upton/Auckland/Wolfson "