Paula Bennett

Since 25 March 2020, Bennett has been a member of the Epidemic Response Committee, a select committee that considers the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Following a Newshub-Reid research poll released on 18 May 2020 which returned a low approval rating for the National Party and its leader Simon Bridges, Bennett as deputy leader was challenged by Auckland Central MP Nikki Kaye. Bridges' leadership of National was contested by Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller. A leadership vote was held during an emergency National Party caucus on 22 May, in which Bridges and Bennett were defeated by Muller and Kaye, who assumed the positions of leader and deputy leaders of the party.

In mid-August 2019, it was announced that Bennett will be vacating her Upper Harbour seat in 2020 and move to the party list. She was also named as National's 2020 election campaign manager.

During the 2017 election, Bennett contested the Upper Harbour seat and was re-elected with a majority of 9,556 votes.

Following the formation of a Labour-led coalition government in October 2017, Bennett remained Deputy Leader of the National Party. She also became the party's Spokesperson for the "social investment and social services", "tertiary education, skills, and employment", and the women portfolios. After a cabinet reshuffle in January 2019, Bennett was appointed by Bridges as National's Spokesperson for "drug reform." Bennett has argued that the government's drug reform policy needs to consider health, education, and justice.

In October 2017, prior to the Christchurch mosque shootings, Bennett rejected 12 of 20 recommendations from a select committee inquiry into the illegal possession of firearms. This decision was criticised at the time by New Zealand's Police Association president Chris Cahill who lamented to news website Stuff that "the opportunity was missed and you know what it's going to take to bring it on the table again, and unfortunately that's a tragedy."

In late 2017 Bennett announced she had undergone gastric bypass surgery for weight loss. In November 2018 she stated she had lost 50 kilograms (110 lb) over the previous year.

After the 2014 election, Bennett became Minister of State Services (2014–2017), Minister of Social Housing (2014–2016), Associate Minister of Finance (2014–2016) and Minister of Local Government (2014–2016). She was Associate Minister of Tourism from 2014 to 12 December 2016, Acting Minister between 12 and 20 December 2016, then Minister of Tourism. She was the Minister for Climate Change Issues from 2015. On 20 December 2016 she also became Minister for Women, and Minister of Police.

Bennett became Deputy Leader of the National Party and was sworn in as Deputy Prime Minister on 12 December 2016. She also held the State Services, Women, Tourism, Police and Climate Change Issues Cabinet portfolios during the third term of the Fifth National Government.

Bennett married Alan Philps in 2012. Philps keeps a low public profile and was mentioned by Bennett in October 2016. Philps did not appear in photographs from Bennett's swearing-in ceremony at Government House, Wellington, on 12 December 2016, but her daughter, granddaughter and stepdaughter did.

Bennett previously represented the electorate of Waitakere, which was abolished prior to the 2014 general election. She held the Cabinet portfolios of State Services, Women, Tourism, Police, and Climate Change Issues before the National Party were replaced in government by a Labour/NZ First coalition in October 2017.

The 2013–14 electoral boundary review saw Bennett's Waitakere electorate abolished in favour of two new electorates in western Auckland, Kelston and Upper Harbour. At the 2014 election, Bennett stood for the Upper Harbour seat and won with a majority of 9,692 votes.

The Privacy Commissioner investigated Bennett's actions after receiving a complaint, and later referred the matter to the Director of Human Rights Proceedings for the Human Rights Commission. On 15 August 2012, the director announced the resolution of the complaint, saying, "On the basis of the Minister’s letter to me, I have agreed to close my file. The matter has been resolved to the satisfaction of all parties."

In November 2012, a week after unemployment was reported at 7.3 percent – a 13-year high – Bennett read out job listings in Parliament, claiming there were "300 jobs" available at retailer The Warehouse, if anyone wanted them, as well as 40 jobs at retailer Bunnings. The Warehouse refuted this claim, saying it only had 30 jobs available, and Bunnings only had three advertised.

In the 2011 election, Bennett again stood for the Waitakere seat, and secured an election night majority of 349 votes. After the routine counting of special votes 10 days later, the result had swung towards Labour candidate Carmel Sepuloni. Bennett was subsequently declared the winner after a judicial recount. Carmel Sepuloni was not placed high enough on Labour's list to remain an MP and was ousted from Parliament as a result of her loss.

In March 2010, Bennett accepted an Eisenhower Fellowship. The prestigious six week fellowship in the United States was awarded to only 20 women around the world who were identified as outstanding leaders.

In July 2009, Bennett deliberately released the benefit details of two beneficiaries, Natasha Fuller and Jennifer Johnston, who had criticised the Government's policy of abolishing the Training Initiative Allowance (TIA). Bennett said she believed she had "implied consent" for the release of the information.

In May 2009, Bennett appointed the controversial Christine Rankin as Families Commissioner.

In January 2009, Bennett broke up a fight between 30 teenagers at her local shopping mall in Henderson before police arrived, earning praise as a "tough lady." She also arranged community networking to address the underlying issues.

In the 2008 election, she unseated Waitakere MP Lynne Pillay, winning the seat with a majority of 632. Bennett was appointed to several cabinet roles in the new National-led government.

As a member of the Fifth National Government, Bennett was best known for leading social welfare reforms as Minister of Social Development and Employment (2008–2011) and Minister of Social Development (2011–14). During that time she was also Minister of Youth Affairs (2008–2013), Minister for Disability Issues (2008–2009), and Associate Minister of Housing (2013–14).

In the 2005 general election Bennett stood as the National Party candidate for the Waitakere seat, with a ranking of 45th on National's party list. She failed to win Waitakere, but entered Parliament as a list MP.

While in opposition (2005–2008), Bennett held three roles under National party leader Don Brash: Member of the Social Services Select Committee, Associate Spokesperson on Welfare, and Community and Voluntary Sector Liaison. When John Key became party leader in 2006, Bennett switched to membership of the Education and Science Select Committee and no longer held the Spokesperson and Liaison roles.

After graduating, Bennett worked as an electorate secretary for Murray McCully, National Party member of Parliament for East Coast Bays, until the 1999 general election. She then worked as a recruitment consultant for several years and assisted McCully in the 2002 general election campaign.

In 1992 Bennett moved to Auckland, where she worked in a rest home, first as a kitchenhand and then as a nurse aide. She began studying social work at the Albany campus of Massey University in 1994. She became the welfare officer of the Massey University at Albany Students' Association, then, in 1996, the president, which she said gave her a taste for politics. She discontinued the social work component of her course of study, leaving simply social policy, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts.

Paula Lee Bennett (born 9 April 1969) is a New Zealand politician who served as the Deputy Leader of the National Party from 2016 to 2020 and is the current MP for Upper Harbour. She served as the Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand between December 2016 and October 2017.

Bennett was born on 9 April 1969 in Auckland, New Zealand, the daughter of Bob Bennett and Lee Bennett. She has Tainui ancestry through her half-Māori paternal grandmother, Ailsa Bennett. Her father had a flooring business in Auckland, then in 1974 bought the village store at Kinloch, near Taupo. Bennett attended Taupo-nui-a-Tia College in Taupo. At 17 she gave birth to a daughter, Ana, and raised her alone while working in hospitality and tourism-industry jobs or, at times, receiving the Domestic Purposes Benefit.