Pansy Wong

Pansy Wong ( _zh. 黃徐毓芳; pinyin: Huáng Xú Yùfāng) (born circa 1955) is a New Zealand politician. She is a member of parliament for the National Party.

Early life

Wong was born in Shanghai and raised in Hong Kong. She speaks English, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Wu (Shanghainese). She emigrated to New Zealand in 1974, and studied commerce at University of Canterbury in Christchurch before embarking on a career in business and accounting.

Member of Parliament

Wong was elected to Parliament as a list MP in the 1996 elections, becoming New Zealand's first ethnically Asian MP. She currently serves as National's spokesperson for Commerce and Liaison with Asian New Zealanders and associate spokesperson for Education (International Education), Revenue and Immigration. Before entering national politics, she served on the Canterbury Regional Council.

She unsuccessfully contested the electorate of Auckland Central in the 2005 election, but has announced her intention to seek the National party nomination for the new seat of Botany in the 2008 elections. Her colleague, National Party MP Judith Collins, whose seat of Clevedon currently takes in part of the Botany electorate, had originally indicated to seek the nomination for the seat of Howick (which the Electoral Commission later redrew and renamed to Botany following objections to the boundaries to the neighbouring electorate of Pakuranga), has since indicated her intention to seek the nomination for Papakura, which also shares current common boundaries with her Clevedon seat. Part of the reasoning behind Ms Wong's decision was the fact that 33% of the Botany electorate is Asiancite web|date=7 December 2007|title=Pansy Wong tipped for new Auckland seat|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/4313183a6160.html|author=NZPA|publisher=The Dominion Post|accessdate=2007-12-07] .

References

External links

* [http://www.pansywong.co.nz/ Official website]
* [http://www.ps.parliament.govt.nz/en-NZ/MPP/MPs/MPs/3/c/d/3cd647b071724be7a5b0bcfbf60fa7d5.htm Parliamentary website]