Phil Twyford

On 23 January 2019, Twyford admitted that the Government would not meet its first target of building 1,000 KiwiBuild homes by 1 July 2019, stating that only 300 homes would be built by then.

On 27 June 2019, in Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's first major reshuffle of the coalition government, Twyford was shuffled out as Housing Minister, replaced by Megan Woods, and became Minister of Economic Development instead.

On 24 May 2018, Twyford was dismissed from his Civil Aviation portfolio after making an unauthorized phone call on a domestic flight as the plane was taking off, a violation of national civil aviation laws. The matter had been raised by Opposition Transport spokesperson Judith Collins. Twyford also offered to resign as Transport Minister but his resignation was turned down by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Twyford was Labour Spokesperson for Housing and Auckland Issues, and Associate Spokesperson for the Environment until 2017. He is also a member of the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee. In July 2015, Twyford was criticised for alleged racism when he produced statistics claiming that Chinese foreign buyers were disproportionately buying up real estate in Auckland.

Twyford was elected as a Cabinet Minister by the Labour Party caucus following Labour's formation of a coalition government with New Zealand First and the Greens, and appointed as the Minister of Housing and Urban Development and the Minister of Transport. In November 2017, Twyford defended his government's proposed Overseas Investment Amendment Act to ban foreign buyers from buying residential property in order to ease the country's housing shortage.

Twyford was appointed Labour's spokesperson for Disarmament and Arms Control, Auckland Issues, and associate spokesperson for Foreign Affairs – Development Assistance by Labour leader Phil Goff.

In September 2010, his Depleted Uranium (Prohibition) Bill, which would ban depleted uranium weapons and armour from New Zealand, was drawn from the member's ballot. It was debated in June 2012, and failed to advance on a tied vote.

In 2009, Twyford's Local Government (Protection of Auckland Assets) Amendment Bill was drawn from the member's ballot, but failed to pass its first reading. Twyford promoted the bill because of concerns that the reorganisation of Auckland's local governance by National and Act into a "Supercity" unity was partially to allow the sell-off of public assets, a claim his opponents claimed was "scaremongering". Twyford continues to be involved in the matter of Auckland's local government reorganisation, and is a Labour representative on the select committee on the associated Auckland Law Reform bill.

Twyford stood for election in the North Shore electorate at the 2005 and 2008 elections. He placed second both times but in 2008 he was elected as a list MP. Prior to entering Parliament, Twyford was a representative on Labour's policy council.

Philip Stoner Twyford (born 4 May 1963), known as Phil Twyford, is a politician from New Zealand and a member of the Labour Party. He has been a member of parliament since 2008. He is the Labour Party MP for Te Atatū.

Twyford was born in 1963. His middle name, Stoner, is the maiden name of his mother. Before politics he worked as the founding director of Oxfam New Zealand, as a journalist and a trade union organiser.