Michael Laws was born on 1957 and is a New Zealand politician, broadcaster and writer.
49 Facts About Michael Laws
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Michael Laws has been a media personality, working as a Radio Live morning talkback host and a longstanding The Sunday Star-Times columnist.
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Michael Laws has held several roles in local government since 1995.
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Michael Laws moved with his parents to Whanganui where he received his pre-tertiary education at Tawhero Primary School, Whanganui Intermediate School, and Whanganui Boys' College.
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On leaving school, Michael Laws worked at the Whakatu freezing works before entering the University of Otago, graduating with first-class honours in history and won an Otago University sporting blue.
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Michael Laws later obtained a Master of Arts from Victoria University.
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Michael Laws became a public speaker and captained both the New Zealand Universities and New Zealand debating teams in the early-mid-1980s.
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Michael Laws never had a good relationship with the National Party's senior hierarchy.
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Michael Laws voted against his party on a number of issues, joining several other dissident MPs to oppose the economic policies of the Minister of Finance Ruth Richardson.
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The Bolger administration later abandoned the surtax, but Michael Laws earned the ongoing enmity of his colleagues for his stance.
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Michael Laws championed the unsuccessful Death with Dignity Bill, which aimed to legalise voluntary euthanasia.
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When Gilbert Myles and Hamish MacIntyre left National to found the new Liberal Party, they invited Michael Laws to join them, but he declined.
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Later, when Peters was expelled from National and eventually formed New Zealand First, it was reported that Michael Laws had considered changing parties but eventually decided that the new party lacked the organisation and principle for success.
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Finally, Michael Laws became involved in discussions with Mike Moore, former leader of the Labour Party, to establish a new centrist party.
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Michael Laws had been elected as a Napier city councillor.
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In that role, Michael Laws awarded a contract to conduct a Napier City Council communications poll to a company part-owned by his wife.
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Michael Laws claimed "there had been no profit to either company or individuals," and an official inquiry by the Auditor-General confirmed it found only a minor and unintentional breach of regulations in not declaring his wife's shareholding.
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Michael Laws had claimed the poll had been carried out by a person named Antoinette Beck, who was supposedly based in Australia.
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Michael Laws defended himself in the Napier High Court in December 1997 and the Court awarded costs of over NZ$200,000 against the joint plaintiffs.
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Michael Laws remained involved in politics and managed New Zealand First's campaign for the general election held on 12 October 1996.
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Michael Laws was a member of the Whanganui District Council from 2004 to 2010 and from 2013 to 2014.
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Michael Laws led the campaign for gang patches to be banned in Whanganui.
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In November 2006, Michael Laws announced he would not contest the mayoralty at the 2007 local elections.
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Michael Laws said he wanted to spend more time with his family, especially his young daughters Lucy and Zoe, but did not rule himself out of standing for lesser public offices.
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Michael Laws stood as part of a "reformist" 'Health First' team for the Whanganui District Health Board.
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Michael Laws was successful in attaining both positions, although neither "Vision Wanganui" or "Health First" won majorities.
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Michael Laws announced in June 2010 his retirement from the mayoralty for family reasons.
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Michael Laws resigned from the council in April 2014 to move to Timaru, after taking a position at Craighead Diocesan School.
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In 2016, Michael Laws moved to Cromwell and contested a position on the Otago Regional Council in the 2016 local elections.
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Michael Laws won his seat in a recount by 5 votes and was re-elected in the 2019 local elections.
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Michael Laws was appointed deputy chair to new chairperson Marian Hobbs in October 2019 but led a successful effort to replace Hobbs with Andrew Noone in July 2020.
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In mid August 2021, ORC chief executive Sarah Gardner lodged a code of conduct against Michael Laws regarding comments that he had made about Council staff in two articles that were published in the Otago Daily Times.
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Michael Laws said the council was playing a "very dangerous game of chicken" with the Government and accused his colleagues of refusing to accept the results of the 2023 New Zealand general election.
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In mid March 2024, Michael Laws joined a majority of ORC councillors in voting not to extend half-price bus fares for university students.
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When University of Otago law student Grace expressed disagreement in her email response, Michael Laws countered that Dunedin ratepayers were already subsidising public buses and accused Grace of hypocrisy and selfishness.
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In late March 2024, Michael Laws objected to the Otago Regional Council's decision to notify its regional policy statement after voting on 32 recommendations from an independent hearings panel during a closed doors meeting.
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In mid-June 2024, the Otago Daily Times reported that Michael Laws had stated that he could not trust advice from former ORC biodiversity partnership lead Alex Foulkes and ORC climate change adviser Francisco Hernandez for allegedly being activists due to their membership of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand.
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Michael Laws questioned "whether the Green Party has installed an activist cadre within the ORC staff".
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On 20 September 2024, Michael Laws voted in support of an unsuccessful motion by fellow Cr Kevin Malcolm to pause the Otago Regional Council's land and water regional plan until the National-led coalition government released its updated national freshwater management policy statement.
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Michael Laws was heckled by members of the audience in the public gallery.
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Michael Laws criticised the Council for "playing chicken" with the Government, which he said had a mandate to pass its own laws.
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Since leaving Parliament, Michael Laws has worked as a writer, newspaper columnist and talkback radio host.
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Michael Laws joined Radio Pacific in 2003 and changed to Radio Live in 2005.
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Michael Laws stayed as a radio host throughout his Whanganui mayoralty, stepping back from his nationwide talkback programme in early 2013.
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Michael Laws originally refused to apologise for his comments and only apologised after Henry lost his job over making racist remarks about Indian politician Sheila Dikshit.
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In 2011, Michael Laws made comments described as "outrageous" about a young man with Asperger syndrome who was arrested for minor theft in the aftermath of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake and was suspended from his radio programme after criticising journalists' conduct in their coverage of the 2011 general election.
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On television, Michael Laws has participated in reality television appearances on the second season of Celebrity Treasure Island and the third season of Dancing with the Stars.
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Michael Laws hosted a weekly rugby television programme on Sky from 2004 to 2009.
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Michael Laws had a regular column in the Sunday Star-Times and has authored three books: a political memoir, The Demon Profession ; a mystery novel, Dancing With Beelzebub ; and sports biography Gladiator: the Norm Hewitt Story.