1. Damien Peter O'Connor was born on 16 January 1958 and is a New Zealand Labour Party politician who served as Minister of Agriculture, Minister for Biosecurity, Minister for Trade and Export Growth, Minister for Land Information and Minister for Rural Communities in the Sixth Labour Government.
Damien O'Connor previously served as a cabinet minister in the Fifth Labour Government.
Damien O'Connor had been a member of Parliament since 1993 and represented the West Coast-Tasman electorate.
Damien O'Connor attended primary school in his home town before going on to St Bede's College, Christchurch, a Roman Catholic school, and Lincoln University.
Damien O'Connor was first elected to Parliament in the 1993 election, recapturing the West Coast seat for Labour after the upset victory of National's Margaret Moir in the 1990 election.
Unlike other MPs who entered Parliament in 1993, Damien O'Connor was not named a minister in Clark's first ministry in 1999.
Damien O'Connor was appointed as chair of the Primary Production select committee.
Damien O'Connor won the reconfigured West Coast-Tasman seat in the 1996 election, and was the MP for the electorate until he lost it to National's Chris Auchinvole during the 2008 election.
Damien O'Connor succeeded Annette King as Minister for Racing in a 2003 reshuffle.
At the 2008 general election, the Labour government was defeated by the National Party and Damien O'Connor lost the West-Coast Tasman electorate to National Party list MP Chris Auchinvole by 971 votes.
At this election Damien O'Connor stood as a list candidate for the first time since 1996; however, his position of 37 was too low for him to return to Parliament as a Labour Party list MP immediately.
Damien O'Connor eventually returned to Parliament after the retirement of former deputy leader Michael Cullen in May 2009.
Damien O'Connor retook West-Coast Tasman for Labour in 2011 and has held the seat since, defending challenges from former Westland District Mayor Maureen Pugh in 2014 and 2017.
In Opposition between 2009 and 2017, Damien O'Connor held various spokesperson roles including agriculture, biosecurity, fisheries, food safety, primary industries and rural affairs.
In early November 2020, Damien O'Connor maintained his Agriculture, Biosecurity, and Rural Communities ministerial portfolios while becoming the lead Minister for Trade and Export Growth and assuming the Land Information ministerial portfolio.
In late January 2021, Damien O'Connor drew media attention when he stated during an interview with CNBC's Asia Squawk Box "Australia "should follow us [New Zealand] and show respect to China.
Damien O'Connor's remarks were criticised as unhelpful to Australia and "at odds with reality" by Liberal MP Dave Sharma.
Damien O'Connor has led various trade negotiations across the world in his role as Minister for Trade and Export Growth, including an historic $1.8 Billion EU Free Trade Agreement in 2022.
Damien O'Connor was the Facilitator of the Fishing Subsidy negotiations at the 12th World Trade Organisation Conference and delivered an agreement with new rules barring countries from subsidising illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing.
In early July 2023, Damien O'Connor accompanied Prime Minister Chris Hipkins to Brussels for the signing of the New Zealand-European free trade agreement.
Damien O'Connor described the agreement as a "bloody good deal" that had involved several years of tough negotiations.
In mid November 2023, Damien O'Connor represented New Zealand at the 2023 APEC summit since incoming Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was unable to attend due to ongoing coalition-forming negotiations with the ACT and New Zealand First parties.
In late June 2024, Damien O'Connor received a 60,000-strong petition at Parliament demanding that the National-led government not proceed with plans to reverse the previous Labour government's ban on live-animal exports.
In early March 2025, Damien O'Connor gained the regional development portfolio and retained the trade and land information portfolios during a cabinet reshuffle.
Damien O'Connor lost the associate foreign affairs and associate trade portfolios.
Damien O'Connor is regarded as an "economic dry" on the right of the Labour Party.
Damien O'Connor is a staunch advocate for the rural and provincial people with strong family ties to the Labour Party's establishment.
In 2014, Damien O'Connor voted with the governing National Party to support the West Coast Windblown Timber Bill, which allowed the Government to recover storm-blow timber on the West Coast following Cyclone Ita.
Damien O'Connor voted against Michael Laws' Death with Dignity Bill in 1995, Peter Brown's Death with Dignity Bill in 2003 and David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill in 2019.
Damien O'Connor opposed the Abortion Legislation Bill in 2020, but voted in favour in its first reading.
Damien O'Connor has since stated he "absolutely do[es] support New Zealand's laws on abortion" and, relating to the overturning of Roe v Wade in the United States, said "what we see coming from the US is clearly disturbing and shocking".
Damien O'Connor has stated he believes in a woman's right to choose without judgement, but believed the bill required a "technical protection" for the premises of gender or disability.
In December 2023, Damien O'Connor described Israel's actions in Gaza during the 2023 Israel-Hamas war as amounting to genocide.
Damien O'Connor is past president of the Buller Promotion Association, a member of the West Coast Tourism Development Group, a member of the West Coast Business Development Board and a founding director of Buller Community Development Company.
Damien O'Connor won West Coast Young Farmer of the Year.
Damien O'Connor separated from his wife Vicky after twelve years of marriage in 2004.
Damien O'Connor has a daughter with his new partner, Sharon Flood.
Labour Party MP for Ohariu and former Police Association president Greg Damien O'Connor is his cousin.