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John Key
John Key, Leader of the Opposition
31st Leader of the Opposition
Incumbent
Assumed office  27 November 2006
Preceded by	Don Brash
Born	9 August 1961 Auckland,
Constituency	Helensville
Political party	National
Spouse	Bronagh Key
Profession	Investment banker
Religion	None (see trivia below)

John Phillip Key (born 9 August 1961, in Auckland, New Zealand) is a New Zealand politician. He is a member of the National Party, representing the electorate of Helensville, New Zealand. On 27 November 2006 he was elected Leader of the National party, thus becoming the current Leader of the Opposition.

Contents 1 Early life and family 2 Member of Parliament 2.1 Political views 3 Leader of the Opposition 3.1 Burnside Speech 2007 4 Trivia 5 External link 6 References 7 Political offices

Key was raised by his Austrian-Jewish immigrant mother after his father died, which left the family in debt. He grew up in a Christchurch state house, and attended Burnside High School. His first job was as a project manager at a Christchurch-based clothing manufacturer. He gained a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Canterbury and later undertook management studies at Harvard University.

Before entering politics, Key was an investment banker, having worked for Merrill Lynch's Singapore, London and Sydney, Australia offices and as a member of the Foreign Exchange Committee of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

John is married to Bronagh and has two children. When he has some spare time he likes to spend time with the family, cooking, playing golf and watching rugby.

Parl.	Electorate	List Pos.	Party
47th	Helensville	43	National
48th	Helensville	7	National

In 2001, he returned to New Zealand to pursue a political career. Key controversially defeated sitting member of parliament Brian Neeson for selection in the Helensville electorate seat, which had absorbed much of Neeson's former Waitakere seat. In the 2002 elections, Key won the seat, with Neeson (who stood as an independent) coming third. In August 2004, he was ranked at tenth place in the National caucus, and made the party's spokesperson for finance.

After the 2005 election the National Party Leader Don Brash promoted him to number four in the caucus just behind Bill English in recognition of his role in selling the party's tax package during the campaign. He retained his seat with a 63% majority, or 12,778 votes^[1].

Key is considered socially liberal by his colleagues. However, he voted against the Civil Union Bill and favoured a split drinking age, with the age at 20 when the issue was debated in Parliament.^[2] In supporting an "inclusive New Zealand", he is seen by many to oppose his predecessor Don Brash, and Brash's controversial Orewa legacy. Key and his deputy Bill English represent a younger generation of New Zealand politicians and are expected to return to more centrist policies. Key has also indicated he will steer National away from a divisive approach to race relations after Dr Brash controversially claimed Maori received special treatment ^[3].

Key had also been a centre of speculation by political commentators as a possible future leader of the National Party. Some commentators had suggested that a leadership coup would occur before the 2008 election to replace Don Brash with Key. Both Brash and Key denied this however with Key threatening the "un-named Senior MP" leading such efforts ^{[4] [5]}.

Following the resignation of Don Brash on November 23, 2006, Key announced his candidacy for the leadership of the National Party ^[6], and was confirmed as the new leader of the National Party on 27 November 2006. He is aided by the new deputy leader of the Opposition, (and former Leader of the Opposition) Bill English.

John Key's first "state of the nation" speech as opposition leader aimed to set out to tackle the issues of an emerging underclass. John Key argued that under a Labour Party lead government the underclass had been growing. His speech mentioned McGehan Close in Mt Albert, Auckland and several Hamilton streets where post had not been delivered due to fears of gang violence after a shooting. He called these streets without hope. Soon after his speech he made a visit to McGehan Close and became involved in the Food In Schools programme. Cabinet minister Steve Maharey said this was "Tory charity"^{[citation needed]}.

• Key shares the same birth year as his deputy, Bill English, with both being 45 years old.
• Key does not profess any faith as such, describing himself as "not a heavy believer" and not a believer in life after death, although his mother was Jewish ^[7] If elected to government, and subsequently as Prime Minister, Key would be the third premier of New Zealand with Jewish ancestry (Julius Vogel and Francis Bell being the other two).
• Key's first day as Leader of the Opposition 27 November 2006 was the seventh anniversary of the election of the current government.
• He once sent his mother (a Labour supporter) a National rosette as a birthday present.^[2]
• Key lives with his family in Parnell, Auckland.

• Official website
• Electorate website

Preceded by (constituency created)	Member of Parliament for Helensville 2002 – present	Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Dr Don Brash	Leader of the Opposition 2006 – present	Succeeded by incumbent
Preceded by Dr Don Brash	Leader of the New Zealand National Party 2006 – present	Succeeded by incumbent

 

New Zealand political party leaders
Rodney Hide (ACT) | Jeanette Fitzsimons & Russel Norman (Greens) | Helen Clark (Labour) | Tariana Turia & Pita Sharples (Māori) | John Key (National) | Winston Peters (New Zealand First) | Jim Anderton (Progressives) | Peter Dunne (United Future)