Peter Neilson (politician born 1954)


Peter Neilson is a New Zealand businessman and politician, and a former Labour Party Member of Parliament in the New Zealand House of Representatives.

Early life and career

Neilson was born on 12 July 1954 in Birmingham, England and moved to New Zealand in 1958 with his family. He was educated at Glendowie College and University of Auckland, where he graduated with a bachelor of commerce in 1977. He had one son and one daughter with his wife Megan Clark.

Political career

Neilson joined the Labour Party in 1972 and stood for the Auckland Regional Authority in the 1974 local elections on a Labour ticket. He was later Labour's campaign chairman at the 1977 local elections, chair of the Tamaki electorate committee, Secretary of Labour's Youth Council and Treasurer of the Wellington Labour Local Body Committee.

Member of Parliament

He represented the Wellington electorate of Miramar in Parliament from to 1990, when he was defeated by Graeme Reeves.
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the construction of New Zealand's first state house located in the Miramar electorate, Neilson and Minister of Housing, Helen Clark, carried a coffee table through the same door that former Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage had done 50 years before. The stunt was referred to as an act of "overt symbolism".

Cabinet Minister

In 1984 Neilson was appointed a Parliamentary Under-Secretary to Minister of Trade and Industry during Fourth Labour Government of New Zealand. In Labour's second term Neilson was a member of the New Zealand Cabinet from 1987 to 1990. He was Minister of Revenue, Customs, Works and Development and Associate Minister for State‑Owned Enterprises and Finance.

Later activities

From 2011 until 2016 he was chief executive of the New Zealand Financial Services Council.. He is currently the Chairperson of the Simplicity Charitable Trust, which manages a KiwiSaver scheme in New Zealand. He is also a board member for the National Foundation for Deaf & Hard of Hearing.
Neilson made a return to politics and is a Labour Party candidate in the Manurewa-Papakura Ward for the Auckland Council at the upcoming 2019 Auckland local elections.