31 Facts About Ginny Andersen

Virginia Ruby Andersen was born on 1975 and is a New Zealand politician.

Ginny Andersen has been a Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for the Labour Party since the 2017 New Zealand general election.

Ginny Andersen held the offices of Minister of Police and Minister of Justice in the final months of the Sixth Labour Government.

Ginny Andersen's parents were both teachers at low-decile schools around the country and her childhood was spent all over New Zealand including Great Barrier Island, Hawke's Bay, Wairarapa before settling in Christchurch where she attended Phillipstown School and later Avonside Girls' High School.

Bill Ginny Andersen, a noted activist and trade union leader, was her great-uncle.

Ginny Andersen's thesis addressed indigenous self-determination based on the Crown's Treaty settlement with Ngai Tahu.

Ginny Andersen wanted a family, which she felt was incompatible with the long work hours in Parliament, so in 2006, took a job with the New Zealand Police.

Ginny Andersen was employed as a policy unit manager focussing on gang problems, and organised crime.

Ginny Andersen became a strategic adviser on Maori, Pacific and ethnic services with a focus on reducing Maori reoffending.

Ginny Andersen worked on the government's Vehicle Confiscation and Seizure Bill which enabled vehicles owned by boy racers to be crushed.

At the 2008 election Ginny Andersen was a campaign volunteer for her former Beehive colleague Chris Hipkins, who was the Labour candidate in the Remutaka electorate.

Hipkins was successful and Ginny Andersen was his campaign manager for the 2011 election.

Ginny Andersen was selected as a Labour candidate for the 2014 election, running in the Ohariu electorate and placed 37 on the Labour Party list.

Ginny Andersen was not elected, but her loss to the long-standing incumbent, Peter Dunne of United Future, was by only 710 votes, the third lowest margin in the country.

Ginny Andersen was ranked at 37 on the Labour Party list.

In October 2016, Ginny Andersen was selected as Labour's candidate for the electorate of Hutt South for the 2017 election over Hutt City Councillor Campbell Barry and list candidate Sarah Packer.

Ginny Andersen was responsible for the Holidays Amendment Bill, a private member's bill that proposed allowing people who have suffered a miscarriage with three days paid bereavement leave.

At the 2020 New Zealand general election, Ginny Andersen was again Labour's candidate for Hutt South, and defeated National's Chris Bishop by 3,777 votes.

On 31 January 2023, in a Cabinet reshuffle marking the appointment of Chris Hipkins as prime minister, Ginny Andersen was promoted into the Cabinet.

Ginny Andersen was named Minister for the Digital Economy and Communications, Minister for Small Business, Minister for Seniors, Associate Minister of Immigration and the Associate Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations.

Ginny Andersen picked up two additional appointments following scandals involving two other ministers.

Ginny Andersen became Minister of Police on 20 March 2023 following the dismissal of Stuart Nash and Minister of Justice following Kiri Allan's resignation on 23 July 2023.

In early November 2023, Ginny Andersen was the subject of a Labour Party investigation after a complaint that she had bullied a female teenaged Labour Party volunteer over a period of three years.

Ginny Andersen subsequently issued a statement apologising for the hurt that her comments had caused and resolved to fully engage in the process to resolve the matter.

That same day, Ginny Andersen was the subject of a second complaint by a male volunteer, who alleged Ginny Andersen had bullied and "bodyshamed" him.

On 5 December 2023, Ginny Andersen was granted retention of the title The Honourable, in recognition of her term as a member of the Executive Council.

On 21 February 2024, Ginny Andersen attracted media attention for remarks she made about National MP and cabinet minister Mark Mitchell during a Newstalk ZB interview hosted by Mike Hosking.

Ginny Andersen then asked Mitchell if he kept a tally on the number of people he shot and alleged that Mitchell's former employer British security company Control Risks made $4 million a year.

Ginny Andersen subsequently stated that her remarks "went too far" and sent an apology text message to Mitchell.

In early March 2025, Ginny Andersen became part of a new economic team following a cabinet reshuffle, gaining the Jobs and Incomes portfolio.

Ginny Andersen is married to Geoff Gwyn, a former police inspector, whom she met while working for the Police prior to becoming an MP.