Louise Upston

Louise Claire Upston (née McGill, born 14 March 1971) is a right-wing New Zealand politician. She was elected as a Member of the New Zealand House of Representatives for Taupō, representing the National Party, in the 2008 general election.

She was Minister for Women and Minister of Corrections in the Fifth National Government. She currently serves as the Minister for Social Development and Employment.

Early life
Louise McGill was born in North Shore to parents Ian and Norma McGill. The youngest of four children, she grew up in East Coast Bays. She attended Rangitoto College, from which she graduated in 1988, and where she was friends with Amy Adams. Since before the age of ten, she had wanted to become a member of parliament and intended to become a lawyer to further her political ambitions.

McGill began law school but did not achieve the minimum grades to enter the second year. When her mother died, she dropped out of university at the age of 19 and instead founded a management consultancy firm, McGill Manning. The firm provided event and project management services and its clients included Air New Zealand, Russell McVeagh, and Datacom Group. She then studied at the Waikato Management School and graduated with a Master of Business Administration.

In the 1990s, McGill became a single mother to her first child. She later described this experience as "the hardest time of my life." She later married Craig Upston, with whom she had two more children. They separated in 2012. Upston lives in Karapiro.

Early years, 2008–2014
Upston unsuccessfully sought a National Party candidacy in 2005. She was selected as the party's electorate candidate in 2008 where she unseated Mark Burton, a Labour cabinet minister who had represented the area for 15 years.

Upston entered parliament at the beginning of the Fifth National Government. In her first term, Upston was appointed to the local government and environment committee, the government administration committee, and the education and science committee. She gave her maiden speech on 16 December 2008, where she stated her priorities were education and "making New Zealand safe again." She received attention in the media for her comments on harsher sentences and sloganised approach to crime: "The police are good. The criminals are bad. It's that simple." Eventually she would soften her views and state her support for investments in prisoner rehabilitation.

During the 2011 New Zealand general election, Upston retained Taupō by a margin of 14,115 votes, defeating Labour candidate Frances Campbell.

In her second term, Upston was appointed the government's junior whip. Following the February 2013 Cabinet reshuffle, she became chief whip. She was also a member of the Māori affairs committee and the local government and environment committee.

Minister in Fifth National Government, 2014–2017
During the 2014 New Zealand general election, Upston retained Taupō by a margin of 15,406 votes, defeating Labour candidate Jamie Strange. Upston was promoted into the executive after the 2014 election, as minister outside of Cabinet. She was Minister for Land Information, Minister for Women, Associate Minister for Local Government, and Associate Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment from October 2014 until December 2016. At the same time, she was a member of the justice and electoral select committee.

As Minister for Women, Upston addressed the 59th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women on 11 March 2015. She used the speech to set out her goals in the portfolio, including supporting women in the workplace and preventing violence against women. The following month, she attracted criticism for refusing to comment on women's rights in the workplace after it was revealed Prime Minister John Key was forced to apologise to a Parnell cafe worker for repeatedly pulling her hair. She attracted further scrutiny in the portfolio for rejecting calls to remove GST on menstrual products and for refusing to comment on an incident involving the mistreatment of a stripper by Chiefs ruby players.

As Minister for Land Information, Upston oversaw the correction of several Māori placenames, including Whanganui and Waiotahe. She also introduced replacement legislation for the Land Transfer Act 1952. In the local government portfolio, she oversaw but later postponed a trial of online voting in the 2016 local elections. She was also involved in governance reviews and the appointment of commissioners at Kaipara District Council and Canterbury Regional Council. In the tertiary education, skills and employment portfolio, she had responsibility for industry training, private training establishments, and adult and community education.

Upston was promoted into Cabinet by new prime minister Bill English in December 2016. She became Minister of Corrections and an associate minister for primary industries (with responsibility for forestry), education, and tertiary education, skills and employment. She held these positions until the government changed in October 2017. As corrections minister, Upston announced that all corrections officers would be required to carry pepper spray, launched mental health pilot programmes for prisoners, and launched a new strategy to manage women offenders.

Opposition years, 2017–2023
National lost the 2017 and 2020 elections. Upston became a senior member in the successive National shadow cabinets, serving as social development spokesperson under each of Bill English, Simon Bridges, Todd Muller, Judith Collins, and Christopher Luxon, and sitting on the social services and community committee. She was also spokesperson for land information, social investment and whānau ora (2020–2021), employment (2020–2023), regional economic development (2021), child poverty reduction (2021–2023), and family violence prevention (2023). During the 2017 New Zealand general election, Upston retained Taupō by a margin of 14,335 votes, defeating Labour candidate Ala' Al-Bustanji.

In April 2019, Upston's private member's bill, the Rights for Victims of Insane Offenders Bill, was drawn from the ballot and introduced to Parliament. Upston began working on the bill in 2010 after being contacted by a constituent whose brother was murdered and whose killer was found not guilty by reason of insanity. The bill proposed that, even if they unable to be found guilty of a crime, the court may find an offender has been proven to have acted grievously. Although the bill received unanimous support from all parties, it was sent back to the justice committee for further consideration after the Chief Justice raised concerns. The concerns were ultimately addressed and the bill passed unanimously in December 2021.

During the 2020 New Zealand general election, Upston retained Taupō by a margin of 5,119 votes, defeating Labour candidate Ala' Al-Bustanji.

As social development spokesperson, Upston promoted National's policy of harsher penalties for unemployed people on the jobseeker benefit including a mandatory reapplications every six months, increased use of stand-downs from receiving welfare, and greater direct management of beneficiaries' incomes by the Ministry of Social Development. She claimed that the 2019 report of the Labour Government's Welfare Expert Advisory Group (WEAG) provided evidence that supported sanctions as being "effective in encouraging movement from benefits to work;" this was rejected by WEAG.

Minister in Sixth National Government, 2023–present
During the 2023 election, Upston retained the Taupō electorate by a margin of 16,505 votes.

In late November 2023, Upston was appointed as Minister of Social Development and Employment, Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector, and Minister for Child Poverty Reduction.

In mid February 2024, Upston as Social Development Minister announced that the Government would ramp up benefit sanctions from June 2024 including "work check-ins" for jobseekers who have been on a benefit for at least six months. These check-ins would not apply to those on a sole parent or supported living benefits. Following a Child Poverty Action Group report about high schoolers working long part-time jobs that affected their schooling, Upston attributed the problem to the high cost of living. While ruling out minimum wage increases and student allowances for high schoolers, Upston advocated tax cuts, rebates and helping their parents find work as a means of improving school attendance and educational performance.

On 24 April, Upston assumed Penny Simmonds' Disability Issues portfolio following a cabinet reshuffle. The Ministry for Disabled People falls under the oversight of the Ministry of Social Development, which Upston heads.

Political and social views
Upston has a conservative voting record on conscience issues. In 2012, she voted to raise the purchase age of alcohol to 20. She voted against the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill in 2013. She voted against the Abortion Legislation Bill in 2019 and 2020. She voted against the End of Life Choice Bill in 2017 and 2019, including voting against a proposal to hold a referendum on the issue. She was one of only seven MPs to vote against the second reading of the Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Act 2022, but voting in favour of it at its third and final reading. After that vote, she described herself as a "proud supporter of the LGBTQI+ community."

In November 2014, Upston stated she is not a feminist when she sang praises of beauty pageants.