26 Facts About Eugenie Sage

Eugenie Meryl Sage was born on 1958 and is a New Zealand environmentalist and former politician.

Eugenie Sage was a Green Party Member of Parliament in the New Zealand House of Representatives from 2011 to 2023.

Eugenie Sage was born in Auckland, the first of four children to parents Meryl and Tony Eugenie Sage, who was a chartered accountant.

Between secondary school and university, Eugenie Sage worked as a cleaner and kitchen hand at an Auckland retirement village and rest home.

At the University of Auckland, Eugenie Sage studied arts and law, wrote for Craccum and participated in environmental activism.

At the time that Eugenie Sage worked in her office, Clark was the Minister of Conservation and the Department of Conservation had been newly established.

Eugenie Sage was one of four new councillors elected who had campaigned on a "pro-water" platform.

Eugenie Sage was aligned with the centre-left bloc of councillors who supported Sir Kerry Burke in the council's leadership elections in October 2007 and September 2009.

Eugenie Sage described the government's decision as acting in the interests of agribusiness and irrigation lobbyists.

Eugenie Sage lost her councillor position on 1 May 2010 when the council was disestablished, but was appointed as a community member to the Selwyn-Waihora Zone Water Management Committee of Canterbury Water Management Strategy in October 2010.

Eugenie Sage contested the Selwyn electorate at the 2011 general election for the Green Party.

The Green Party received sufficient votes to return 14 list members and Eugenie Sage entered Parliament for the first time.

Eugenie Sage was re-elected as a list MP three years later after unsuccessfully contesting the Port Hills electorate.

Eugenie Sage was re-elected to Parliament on the Green Party list.

Eugenie Sage acted as Minister for Women in 2018 when Julie Anne Genter took maternity leave.

Eugenie Sage established the $1.2 billion Jobs For Nature programme as part of the government's COVID-19 relief efforts and opened the Paparoa Track Great Walk in 2020.

Eugenie Sage was criticised by former Green MP Sue Bradford for approving "nearly every" application despite Green Party policy opposed to the practice of foreign land ownership; Sage said she did not have discretion under the law to decline many applications.

Eugenie Sage attracted criticism for disagreeing with Labour ministers on some overseas investment decisions where joint decision-making was required; on one occasion after she had refused to agree to the expansion of a gold mine in Waihi a new application by the same company for the same land was referred to different ministers for a final decision.

Eugenie Sage contested the Banks Peninsula electorate and came third place behind Labour's Tracey McLellan and National's Catherine Chu.

Eugenie Sage was not retained as a minister in the Government's second term and was instead appointed chairperson of Parliament's environment committee as part of the cooperation agreement between the Labour Party and the Green Party.

Eugenie Sage was appointed the Green Party spokesperson for conservation, emergency management, the environment, forestry, land information, three waters, and oceans and fisheries.

On 9 November 2020, Eugenie Sage was granted retention of the title "The Honourable" for life, in recognition of her term as a member of the Executive Council.

Four years prior, when Eugenie Sage was Conservation Minister, the Government had indicated it would not grant new permits for mining on conservation land.

Public consultation on the issue was intended to be carried out from September 2018; however, in early 2020 Eugenie Sage acknowledged that it had not been possible for Labour, the Greens and New Zealand First to agree on a discussion document.

In late December 2022, Eugenie Sage announced she would not be contesting the upcoming 2023 election.

Eugenie Sage voted in support of the Marriage Amendment Act 2013, End of Life Choice Act 2019, and Abortion Legislation Act 2020.