Jenny Shipley

• Born: 4 February 1952

Consultant, speaker and director

Place of birth: Gore, New Zealand

Education: Christchurch College of Education (now part of the University of Canterbury)

Significance: Dame Jenny Shipley of the centre-right National Party became prime minister of New Zealand after she ousted Jim Bolger in a party leadership coup in 1997. Since leaving office, she has been a director on the boards of several organisations.

Background

Born Jennifer Mary Robson on 4 February 1952 in Gore, New Zealand, Jenny Shipley was the second-oldest of four daughters of Leonard Robson, a Presbyterian minister, and his wife. The family moved to Blenheim when she was young. After graduating from Marlborough Girls College in 1968, she attended Christchurch College of Education, where she earned an education diploma in 1971. She then taught primary school in a Christchurch suburb and lived on a farm with her husband.

Political Career

Shipley joined the National Party in 1975 and quit teaching in 1976. The following year she became active in local politics, particularly those related to child care issues. She met Ruth Richardson, an MP, and the two became close friends. They often attended community meetings together, and Richardson became Shipley's mentor. With Richardson's support, Shipley was elected to the Malvern County Council and the National Party's Canterbury-Westland Policy Committee.

Shipley entered national politics when she won a seat in Parliament for the Ashburton electorate (later named Rakaia) in 1987. She rose quickly through the ranks, serving first on the education and science committee before being appointed the Opposition associate spokesperson on education and then the Opposition spokesperson on social welfare. After National won the 1990 election, Shipley was given the social welfare and women's affairs portfolios in Jim Bolger's first government. As the social welfare minister (1990–93), she made radical reforms and significantly reduced welfare benefits.

Following National's re-election in 1993, Shipley retained the women's affair ministry (1990–96) but gave up the social welfare portfolio and was promoted to minister of health (1993–96). Again, she cut public spending by reducing health benefits. After the 1996 election National formed a coalition with New Zealand First and Shipley was given the portfolios for transport, state-owned enterprises, Radio NZ, ACC and state services (all, 1996–97). She later lost the state services portfolio and was given the women's affairs portfolio again.

By 1997 tensions had grown within the coalition government and the public had grown dissatisfied with Bolger's leadership. Shipley gained support from her fellow MPs and threatened Bolger with a leadership vote. Knowing Shipley had the votes to win the caucus ballot, Bolger resigned as leader of the National Party in November 1997. Shipley was elected party leader, and on 8 December 1997 she was sworn in as prime minister of New Zealand.

As prime minister, Shipley attempted to make economic and tax reforms and further reduce welfare spending. However, her coalition government was prone to internal conflict, and she faced her first vote of confidence in August 1998. She narrowly survived that vote and another in 1999 but lost the government when the Labour Party won the 1999 election.

Shipley remained the party leader until 2001. The following year, she resigned from Parliament.

Career after Politics

After leaving politics, Shipley established a consulting and advisory services company, Jenny Shipley New Zealand Limited, in 2002. She has served as a board member, chair or director of several companies. From 2004 to 2012 she was the chair of the board of Mainzeal Property and Construction. From 2005 to 2016 she was the chair of the board of Senior Money International, an international reverse mortgage company (later acquired by Heartland Bank), and she joined Genesis Energy as the chair in 2009. She has been on the board of the Club of Madrid, a group of former world leaders, since 2009 and served as its vice-president from 2009 to 2015.

Shipley developed a strong interest in Asian affairs, especially China, and began travelling to Asia to deepen her knowledge about emerging markets and related economic matters. She has parlayed that knowledge into advisory and board positions with several organisations. From 2007 to 2013 she served as the director of China Construction Bank, the third-largest bank in China. Since 2014 she has been its chair. She became a board member of International Finance Forum Beijing in 2009; an executive board member of the New Zealand China Council, a group made up of businesspeople, academics and others who want to deepen relations between New Zealand and China, in 2012; and board member of the BOAO Forum for Asia in 2015.

She has also been the director of Trans Tasman Resources (2012–14), chair of Financial Service Council New Zealand (2012–15) and chair of Global Women New Zealand (2012–15). She became the chair of the board of Oravida NZ Limited in 2015 and the co-chair of Champions for Change, an initiative to empower women, in 2015.

In 2013, Shipley and the other board members’ actions as head of Mainzeal Property and Construction  came under security when the company was placed in liquidation. Mainzeal had been in serious financial difficulty for a number of years. The company’s creditors blamed decisions made by Shipley and the board as causing the company to become financially insolvent. An appeals court ruled that the board was responsible for the company’s financial woes, and in 2023, New Zealand’s Supreme Court upheld the decision, awarding more than NZ$39.8 million to Mainzeal creditors. The board members were ordered to pay the financial penalty with Shipley’s obligation set at $3.9 million.   

Impact

As the first female prime minister of New Zealand, Jenny Shipley was a role model for other women. She has continued her crusade to empower women since leaving office, seeking to both inspire women to leadership roles and to demonstrate the benefits of gender diversity in organisational boards.

Beyond her vision for empowering women, Shipley has worked to create opportunities for New Zealand to deepen its relationships with other countries. As the chair of the China Construction Bank, she has promoted trade and investments between New Zealand and China and helped the bank receive its license to operate in New Zealand.

In recognition of her work, Shipley was appointed dame companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2002.

Personal Life

Shipley married Burton Shipley in 1972. They have two children, Anna and Benjamin.

Bibliography

Craymer, Lucy. "Former New Zealand Prime Minister Ordered to Pay $3.9 Million After Company Collapse." Reuters, 25 Aug. 2023, www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/former-new-zealand-prime-minister-ordered-pay-39-mln-after-company-collapse-2023-08-25/. Accessed 18 June 2024.

McLean, Gavin. "Jenny Shipley." New Zealand History, 14 Aug. 2014, nzhistory.govt.nz/people/jenny-shipley. Accessed 18 June 2024.

McLeod, Rosemary. "Leadership Is a Life Sentence," Sunday Star Times, 23 Nov. 2011, www.stuff.co.nz/national/5835456/Leadership-is-a-life-sentence. Accessed 218 June 2024.

Scherer, Karyn. "The Prime of Mrs Jenny Shipley." New Zealand Herald, 4 Feb. 2008, www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c‗id=3&objectid=10489952. Accessed 18 June 2024.

"WikiLeaks Cable: A Bio of New PM Jenny Shipley." New Zealand Herald, 18 Dec. 2010, www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c‗id=1&objectid=10695073. Accessed 18 June 2024.