Penny Simmonds

Penelope Elsie Simmonds (born September 1959) is a New Zealand politician, Member of Parliament and a Minister in the House of Representatives for the National Party. She previously served as the chief executive of the Southern Institute of Technology. Following the 2023 New Zealand general election, Simmonds assumed the disability issues, environmental, tertiary education and skills, and associate social development and employment portfolios in the Sixth National Government.

Early life and career
Simmonds was born in Southland and grew up in Riversdale and Te Tipua. She attended Gore High School and received a Bachelor of Science from the University of Otago. She served in the New Zealand Territorial Force for several years.

Simmonds was the chief executive of the Southern Institute of Technology (SIT) from 1997 to October 2020. During this time she implemented SIT's Zero Fees Scheme. She took leave from 29 June 2020 in order to focus on her political campaign, with deputy chief executive Maree Howden acting in her place. Upon her election to parliament she resigned her position with SIT.

Simmonds has had a close working relationship with Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt, as evidenced by him consulting with her during the 2010 Invercargill mayoral election. Shadbolt attended her 2020 election night party, for which he received criticism from city councillor and former Labour MP Lesley Soper for listing it as an official mayoral engagement.

She has been a director of the Southland Museum and Art Gallery and a board member of the Southland District Health Board.

2020 general election
Simmonds was selected as the National Party candidate for Invercargill in May 2020 following Sarah Dowie's decision to retire. Dowie had originally been selected to run again in September 2019. Simmonds had been rumoured as a potential candidate for about fifteen years prior.

Key points of Simmonds' campaign were opposing the merging of New Zealand's polytechnics and keeping the Tiwai Point Aluminium Smelter open. During the brief National Party leadership of Todd Muller, Simmonds felt so frustrated at the lack of communication that she began instead talking to Botany candidate Christopher Luxon, seen as a potential future party leader.

First term, 2020–2023
Simmonds defeated Labour list MP Liz Craig in the, retaining the Invercargill seat for National by a margin of 224 votes.

In mid-November 2021, Simmonds joined her party in expressing opposition to the Labour Government's COVID-19 Protection Framework ("traffic light system"), which she described as "confusing." She also voted against the Government's COVID-19 Response (Vaccinations) Legislation Act 2021, claiming that the vaccine mandate would hurt businesses and the disabled.

Simmonds also opposed the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion (Safe Areas) Amendment Act 2022, which established "safe zones" around abortion providers. The bill passed its third reading on 16 March 2022.

In response to a leaked report obtained by Radio New Zealand in May 2022 which identified several financial and capacity problems with the merger of the various polytechnics and industrial training organisations into the new mega polytechnic network Te Pūkenga, Simmonds in her capacity as National's tertiary education spokesperson urged the Government to abandon its polytechnic merger plans and instead invest more money into struggling institutions. Following reports of inadequate leadership, low enrollments, and a NZ$110 million deficit at Te Pūkenga, Simmonds questioned the viability of the new educational provider. She also criticised the creation of 180 administrative jobs at Te Pūkenga's Hamilton headquarters in the light of 600 projected redundancies resulting from the polytechnic merger process. Simmonds also claimed that Te Pūkenga's CEO Stephen Town's departure on "special leave" signaled significant problems with the new education provider. In mid-August 2022, Simmonds alleged that Town had been "shoulder-tapped" for the position of CEO of Te Pūkenga and lodged an Official Information Act request to identify the person who recommended Town for the executive job.

On 19 January 2023, Simmonds became the National Party's Workforce Planning spokesperson during a reshuffle of Party leader Christopher Luxon's shadow cabinet.

Second term, 2023–present
During the 2023 New Zealand general election, Simmonds retained the Invercargill seat by a margin of 10,945 votes, defeating Labour's candidate Liz Craig.

Following the formation of the National-led coalition government in late November 2023, Simmonds was appointed as Minister for Disability Issues, Minister for the Environment, Minister for Tertiary Education and Skills, and Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment.

In early December 2023 Simmonds, in her capacity as Tertiary Education Minister, confirmed that the Government would be dissolving the mega polytechnic Te Pūkenga and replacing it with eight to ten institutions. she stated that the Government would no longer centralise vocational training and education and that the polytechnics would regain their autonomy. Simmonds also said that the Government would introduce legislation entrenching the dissolution of Te Pūkenga into law over the next six to eight months. Simmonds has aimed for this revamp of the tertiary and vocational sector to be completed by 1 January 2025. While the Tertiary Education Union national secretary Sandra Grey expressed concern that the dissolution of Te Pūkenga would undermine staff morale and foster unnecessary competition within the polytechnic sector, former Otago Polytechnic CEO Phil Kerr welcomed the re-establishment of autonomous polytechnics.

On 19 March the Ministry for Disabled People abruptly announced that it would remove respite care funding in families with disabled children. As Disability Issues Minister, Simmonds announced the funding would run out within days. According to Stuff, Simmonds was first aware of funding issues back in December 2023. She said the Government was not going to increase funding to maintain support for disabled people and their families "because the Government's coffers are not an endless open pit". On 20 March, Simmonds said the Ministry had done an inadequate job in conveying changes to disabled people's funding. She also questioned how the money has been spent, and suggested some families were wasting their funding on “massages, overseas travel and pedicures”. The changes have caused widespread anguish within the disabled community and a petition opposing the changes has attracted more than 10,000 signatures in 24 hours. That same day, Finance Minister Nicola Willis called Disabilities officials and Simmonds in for an urgent briefing, after families were blindsided by news of cuts to respite care. Willis advised that news came as a surprise, and that she was unaware about how dire the situation was before news broke.

On 24 April, Simmonds was stripped of her Disability Issues portfolio by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon due to criticism of her handling of changes to Government disability funding policies. She was replaced as Disability Issues Minister by Minister for Social Development Louise Upston, whose Ministry has oversight over the Ministry for Disabled People.

Personal life
Simmonds is married with three daughters, the youngest of whom has Down's syndrome. She received a Woolf Fisher Fellowship in 2000, and was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to education, sport and the community, in the 2016 New Year Honours.