Ginny Andersen

Andersen was born in 1975.[4] Her parents were both teachers at low-decile schools around the country and her childhood was spent all over New Zealand including Great Barrier Island, Hawke's Bay, Wairarapa before settling in Christchurch where she attended Avonside Girls' High School. When living in the Christchurch suburb of Linwood she became aware of the negative social impacts of gangs and drugs which were present in the area. Her high school principal was Marian Hobbs, later a cabinet minister under Helen Clark. Andersen completed a bachelors degree in political science and Māori, before taking three years off to travel the world.[5] After returning to New Zealand she completed a master's degree at the University of Canterbury in 2004.[6]

She worked at the Office of Treaty Settlements and was also a private secretary and senior political adviser in Parliament to several Labour MPs including Trevor Mallard, David Cunliffe, Mark Burton, and Margaret Wilson.[7] Andersen then worked for the New Zealand Police as a policy unit manager from 2006 to 2017.[1]

At the 2008 election Andersen was a campaign organiser for Labour candidate Chris Hipkins in the Rimutaka electorate.[5] She stood in the electorate of Ōhāriu at the 2014 election, and was only narrowly defeated by the long-standing incumbent, Peter Dunne of United Future, by a margin of 610 votes (1.91%).[8][1] Andersen served as the Labour Party's Vice-President from 2015 to 2017, when she stood down to focus on her parliamentary candidacy.[1]

In October 2016, Andersen was selected as Labour's candidate for the electorate of Hutt South for the 2017 election against Hutt City Councillor Campbell Barry and list candidate Sarah Packer.[1] She replaced long-serving member of parliament Trevor Mallard as the Labour Party candidate who had, in July of that year, said he would serve as a list-only candidate for the election with the intention of becoming Speaker of the House.[3][1][2][9] In the previous election Mallard had won Hutt South by only 709 votes (1.83%) over National's candidate, Chris Bishop.[10] Andersen was ranked 28 on Labour's party list, an increase of 9 from 2014.[11] While Andersen lost the Hutt South election to Bishop, she entered parliament via the party list under New Zealand's MMP electoral system.[12]

Andersen was Labour's Hutt South candidate for the 2020 New Zealand general election, and dropped 17 places to 45 on Labour's list.[13]

During the 2020 election which was held on 17 October, Andersen captured Hutt South, defeating incumbent Bishop by a final margin of 3,777 votes.[14][15]

In March 2021 Andersen admitted she knew about a secretive rent deal that saw $4500 in taxpayer cash funnelled into the local Labour Party each year. She'd previously said she only understood the deal after she “looked at it” ahead of the 2020 election. The deal worked through a subletting arrangement whereby the local Labour Party rented office space from the building’s owner, the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union, for $1500 a year. It then sublet that office to Andersen for her MP's duties, for $6000.[16]

She was appointed as the Minister for the Digital Economy and Communications, Minister for Small Business, Minister for Seniors, Associate Minister of Immigration and the Associate Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations in a cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Chris Hipkins on 31 January 2023.[17]

Following Stuart Nash's resignation as Police Minister, she was appointed as Minister of Police by Prime Minister Chris Hipkins on 20 March 2023.[18]