The Right Honourable Simon Upton |
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Simon Upton at a sustainable development Forum in Prague, November 2014
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30th Minister of Health | |
In office 2 November 1990 – 27 March 1993 |
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Prime Minister | Jim Bolger |
Preceded by | Helen Clark |
Succeeded by | Bill Birch |
2nd Minister for the Environment | |
In office 2 November 1990 – 10 December 1999 |
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Prime Minister | Jim Bolger, Jenny Shipley |
Preceded by | Geoffrey Palmer |
Succeeded by | Marian Hobbs |
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Waikato |
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In office 1981 – 1984 |
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Preceded by | Lance Adams-Schneider |
Succeeded by | Rob Storey |
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Raglan |
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In office 1984 – 1996 |
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Preceded by | Marilyn Waring (in 1978) |
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for National Party list |
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In office 1996 – 2001 |
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Personal details | |
Born | 7 February 1958 |
Political party | National |
Simon David Upton (born 7 February 1958) is a former New Zealand politician and member of Parliament from 1981 to 2001, representing the National Party.
Upton was educated at Southwell School, St Paul's Collegiate School and the University of Auckland, where he gained degrees in English literature, music and law, and Wolfson College, Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar.
Having joined the National Party in 1976, he served as Chairman of the New Zealand Young Nationals among other positions and became the then-youngest MP for Waikato in the 1981 elections. In the 1984 elections, he was elected MP for Raglan, which he held until the 1996 elections, when he chose to become a list MP.
Upton became one of New Zealand's youngest ever Ministers in the Cabinet in 1990, when he became Minister of Health, Minister for the Environment, and Minister of Research, Science and Technology. In the environment post, Upton enacted the Resource Management Act 1991. He was responsible for establishing the Crown Research Institutes. He has an interest in sustainable development, and chaired the OECD's Round Table on Sustainable Development. He is a founding member of the Board of the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction.