1. Gerard Anthony Brownlee was born on 4 February 1956 and is a New Zealand politician and the 32nd speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives.
47 Facts About Gerry Brownlee
1. 2.
Gerry Brownlee was first elected as a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives for Ilam in 1996, representing the National Party.
3.
Gerry Brownlee was a senior member of the Fifth National Government, serving as Leader of the House, Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery and Minister of Foreign Affairs.
4.
Gerry Brownlee was twice deputy leader of the National Party, first from November 2003 until November 2006 and again from July until November 2020.
5.
Gerry Brownlee was born in Christchurch to Leo and Mary Gerry Brownlee.
6.
Gerry Brownlee stood as a candidate for the Canterbury Regional Council in 1992 on the Citizens' Association ticket, but was unsuccessful.
7.
Gerry Brownlee first stood for National in the 1993 election, unsuccessfully contesting Sydenham against Jim Anderton, the Alliance leader.
8.
Gerry Brownlee remained the MP for Ilam until losing his seat in the 2020 election.
9.
Gerry Brownlee stood as a list-only candidate in 2023, fuelling speculation he would be National's candidate for speaker should it win the election.
10.
Gerry Brownlee chaired the Accident Insurance Bill committee in 1998.
11.
Gerry Brownlee has held senior roles within the National Party since October 2001, when the new National leader Bill English appointed him shadow leader of the House, a position he continued to hold under subsequent leaders Don Brash and John Key.
12.
Gerry Brownlee was the Leader of the House and a senior minister in the Fifth National Government, including Minister of Foreign Affairs.
13.
Gerry Brownlee returned to the shadow House leadership from 2018 to 2020.
14.
Gerry Brownlee was deputy leader to Brash from 2003 to 2006 and to Judith Collins in 2020.
15.
Gerry Brownlee became Father of the House in October 2022, having the longest uninterrupted membership of the House of Representatives.
16.
On 24 November 2023, prime minister-designate Christopher Luxon announced that Gerry Brownlee would be nominated to be Speaker of the House.
17.
Gerry Brownlee received criticism during the 1999 election campaign when he ejected Neil Able, a 60-year-old Native Forest Action campaigner, from the National Party's 1999 election campaign launch.
18.
Neil Able started civil assault proceedings against Gerry Brownlee, seeking damages of $60,000.
19.
In 2002, a District Court judge found in favour of Able that Gerry Brownlee had "used excessive and unnecessary force on Abel when he tried to remove him from a staircase handrail".
20.
Gerry Brownlee later sought unsuccessfully to have $48,000 of his legal fees reimbursed by the Government.
21.
Gerry Brownlee challenged the vacant deputy leadership of the National Party in 2001, but was defeated by Bill English.
22.
Gerry Brownlee was thought to be a possible deputy leader to Brash but declined to pursue the position, which went to Nick Smith.
23.
When Smith returned to Parliament, Gerry Brownlee challenged him for the deputy leadership.
24.
When Brash resigned as National Party Leader in November 2006, Gerry Brownlee was reported as "probably" considering a bid to remain in the deputy leadership; however, he stepped aside in place to allow former leader Bill English to take the deputy leadership and was appointed the third-ranked National Party MP by new party leader John Key.
25.
Gerry Brownlee went on that it might contribute to economic growth and further stated that "New Zealanders have given the minerals sector a clear mandate to go and explore that land, and where appropriate, within the constraints of the resource consent process, utilise its mineral resources for everyone's benefit".
26.
When Bill English became Prime Minister, Gerry Brownlee succeeded Murray McCully as Minister of Foreign Affairs.
27.
On 14 September 2010, Gerry Brownlee introduced the Canterbury Earthquake Response and Recovery Act 2010 into the house with leave to pass the legislation in one sitting.
28.
In September 2012, Gerry Brownlee accused residents in Christchurch's newly created TC3 zone of "carping and moaning" for comments they made in a survey conducted by the main local newspaper.
29.
In March 2012, Gerry Brownlee made controversial comments about Finland in a parliamentary session.
30.
In November 2014 Gerry Brownlee was fined $2000 by New Zealand's Civil Aviation Authority for a breach of airport security that occurred at Christchurch Airport on 24 July 2014.
31.
In May 2017, less than a week after being appointed as Foreign Minister, Gerry Brownlee was publicly corrected by Prime Minister Bill English, after claiming that a New Zealand-sponsored United Nations Security Council Resolution on Israel was "premature".
32.
The Prime Minister said Gerry Brownlee was "still getting familiar" with the language used by his predecessor, Murray McCully, who had authorised the sponsorship of the resolution.
33.
English said he had confidence that Gerry Brownlee was clear on New Zealand's position now, a position that had not changed since the Government had chosen to push through the resolution.
34.
Gerry Brownlee had been a Cabinet minister at the time; however, the decision to co-sponsor the resolution had not gone to Cabinet.
35.
From 2018 to 2020, Gerry Brownlee served in Opposition as Shadow Leader of the House, and was the National Party Spokesperson for Disarmament, NZSIS, and GCSB.
36.
Gerry Brownlee was the deputy chairperson on the Privileges, Standing Orders, and Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Select Committees, as well as a member of the Business Committee and the Parliamentary Service Commission.
37.
On 14 July 2020, Gerry Brownlee was elected by the National Party parliamentary caucus as the Deputy Leader of the National Party following a leadership election held after the resignation of Party Leader Todd Muller that same day.
38.
Gerry Brownlee was accused of attacking the integrity of independent public servants and promoting the propagation of misinformation.
39.
On 6 November 2020, Gerry Brownlee announced his resignation as deputy leader of National.
40.
Gerry Brownlee announced on 2 August 2022 that he would seek re-election at the 2023 New Zealand general election, although would not attempt to win back Ilam, instead opting to contest as a list only candidate, indicating he may become Speaker of the House should National form a Government following the election.
41.
In September 2022, Gerry Brownlee was criticised by Rodney Jones and Jason Young for his response to the United Nations Xinjiang Report in saying that China is "dealing with a terrorist problem" and that China's anti-terrorism laws were comparable to New Zealand's and those of other countries.
42.
In early November 2023, Gerry Brownlee accompanied the caretaker Deputy Prime Minister, Carmel Sepuloni, to the 2023 Pacific Islands Forum in his capacity as National's foreign affairs spokesperson.
43.
Gerry Brownlee was nominated as Speaker of the House of Representatives for the 54th New Zealand Parliament.
44.
Gerry Brownlee was elected unopposed, after Debbie Ngarewa-Packer nominated his predecessor Adrian Rurawhe, who declined the nomination.
45.
Gerry Brownlee's decision was criticised by the opposition Labour and Green parties, with the former saying it had lost confidence in Gerry Brownlee's role as Speaker of the House.
46.
In early March 2025, Gerry Brownlee ordered Members of Parliament to stop filing complaints about the use of Aotearoa as the Maori name for New Zealand.
47.
Gerry Brownlee voted against the Abortion Legislation Bill in 2019 and 2020 and against the End of Life Choice Bill in 2017 and 2019.