Tim Macindoe

Timothy Harley Macindoe (born 1961) is a New Zealand politician who has served as a member of the Hamilton City Council for the East Ward since 2024. Macindoe was previously a Member of Parliament for the Hamilton West electorate from 2008 to 2020. He served as the Minister of Customs for the final six months of the Fifth National Government.

Early life and career
Macindoe was born in Auckland, New Zealand and boarded at King's College for his secondary education. He later attended Otago University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in History. Macindoe was a secondary teacher for 17 years. He taught at several independent schools, including Christ's College, King's College, and St Peter's School in Cambridge, where he was deputy principal for six years. He has also held roles in retail, agriculture and as a prison tutor.

In 2009, Macindoe completed his second degree; an LLB from the University of Waikato.

Immediately prior to his election to Parliament in 2008, he was chief executive of the Music and Art Waikato Trust (Arts Waikato), based in Hamilton.

Early political career
Macindoe made four unsuccessful attempts to enter Parliament before finally seeing success at the 2008 general election.

In, Macindoe unsuccessfully stood for United New Zealand in the Karapiro electorate and was ranked 11th on the United party list. He thereafter joined the National Party and stood unsuccessfully in 1999 (as a list-only candidate, ranked 52nd), 2002 (in Tauranga, ranked 39th), and 2005 (in Hamilton West, ranked 62nd).

Through the same period, Macindoe held senior roles within the New Zealand National Party, including as chairman of the Hamilton West electorate, deputy chair of National's Central North Island regional organisation, and Central North Island regional policy chair.

Member of Parliament
In the 2008 election, Macindoe won the Hamilton West electorate by a margin of 1,618 votes, defeating incumbent Labour MP Martin Gallagher.

During his first term within Parliament, Macindoe was the deputy chair of the regulations review committee and a member of the social services committee.

In the 2011 New Zealand general election, Macindoe again won Hamilton West, defeating Labour Party list MP Sue Moroney by a margin of 4,418 votes. He continued sitting on the social services committee and also chaired the justice committee until 2013, when he was selected as the National Party's junior whip and transferred to the education and science committee.

In the 2014 New Zealand general election, Macindoe retained Hamilton West, defeating Moroney with a majority of 5,784 votes. Following the 2014 election, he was named as the National Party's senior whip.

During Prime Minister Bill English's second ministerial reshuffle in April 2017, Macindoe was appointed as Minister of Customs, Associate Minister of Education and Associate Minister of Transport. He held these positions for six months until the government was defeated at the 2017 general election.

In the 2017 New Zealand general election, Macindoe won Hamilton West by a margin of 7,731 votes, defeating Labour candidate Dr Gaurav Sharma. Following the formation of the Sixth Labour Government in October 2017, Macindoe was appointed the party's spokesperson for ACC, seniors and civil defense. He was also shadow attorney general between 2019 and 2020, sat on the education and workforce and the justice committee, and was deputy chair of the foreign affairs, defence and trade committee.

In late April 2020, Macindoe drew media attention and public criticism when he joked about pushing women off balconies during a live-stream session of the justice select committee during the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand. Macindoe subsequently apologised for his remarks but insisted he was joking.

At the 2020 general election, Macindoe was defeated in Hamilton West by Labour's Gaurav Sharma by a margin of 6,267 votes. At number 23 on the National Party list, Macindoe was ranked too low to return to Parliament on the party list. He did not seek the National Party nomination for the 2022 Hamilton West by-election, which was held following Sharma's resignation.

Hamilton City Council
Macindoe was elected to the East Ward of the Hamilton City Council in a February 2024 by-election, replacing Ryan Hamilton after he was elected to parliament.

Personal life and community involvement
He is married to Anne Macindoe, and they have two daughters. Outside Parliament, Macindoe is a parishioner at Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Forest Lake; and he is actively involved with a large number of organisations within his electorate including Orchestra Central Trustee, Waikato Chamber of Commerce, Hamilton Citizens' Band Society Vice-president, Epilepsy Waikato Charitable Trust (Patron), and NZ Agricultural Fieldays Society.

Macindoe served on the boards of two local schools. Subsequently, he was chairperson of Waikato Diocesan School's PTA for four years. For nearly five years he served as a trustee for Free FM (Waikato's access radio station). He also participated on the committee that planned Hamilton's 150th anniversary celebrations in 2014. Previously, he chaired the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Regional Orchestra Steering Committee, and he served on the steering committee that culminated in the establishment of Sistema Waikato. He was a supporter of the Hamilton Hydrotherapy Pool Trust and dyed his hair blue in a successful fundraiser for the project in 2008.

Smacking
Macindoe opposed the Crimes (Abolition of Force as a Justification for Child Discipline) Amendment Bill and supported the "no" vote in the corporal punishment referendum, 2009.

Same-sex marriage
Macindoe opposed the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Act 2013, which legalized same-sex marriage in New Zealand. In Parliament, Macindoe cited his committed Christian beliefs in supporting his position, arguing that same-sex relationships could "never be regarded as true marriage" because they were "intrinsically different", and that "the nature of marriage should not be interfered with".

Euthanasia
MacIndoe voted against the End of Life Choice Act 2019 at all three readings.

Abortion
MacIndoe voted against the Abortion Legislation Act 2020 at all three readings.