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James McDowall

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For the 18th century figure, twice Lord Provost of Glasgow, see James McDowall (Lord Provost). For the US governor and congressman, see James McDowell.

James McDowall
MP
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for ACT party list
In office
17 October 2020 – 14 October 2023
Personal details
Born (1988-01-06) 6 January 1988 (age 36)
Pukekohe, New Zealand
Political partyACT
Alma materUniversity of Waikato
Universiteit Maastricht

James Samuel McDowall[1] (born 6 January 1988)[2] is a former New Zealand politician. He was a Member of Parliament for ACT New Zealand from 2020 until 2023.

Early life and career

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McDowall was born in Pukekohe[3] in 1988. His family was among the first New Zealand settlers. His great-great-great-grandfather, Charles Baker, arrived in the Bay of Islands in June 1828 and was present at the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.[2][4][5] His great-great-grandfather Samuel Marsden Baker was a te reo Māori speaker and worked as an interpreter in the House of Representatives.[2]

McDowall studied management at the University of Waikato and Maastricht University[3] and graduated from Waikato in 2018 with a PhD in marketing. His doctoral thesis was titled The Future of Marketing – An Investigation into Disruption and Innovation and it presented possible scenarios for how technological innovations, such as big data and machine learning, could impact the marketing discipline by the year 2050.[6][7]

He lives in Hamilton with his wife Sushan, a lawyer. Before McDowall's political career, they owned an immigration law firm together.[8] McDowall has also worked for the Wise Group, one of the largest providers of mental health and wellbeing services in New Zealand.[7][9]

McDowall is a vegetarian and has one daughter.[2] He is a Cantonese speaker due to it being his wife's mother tongue.[10]

Political career

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McDowall became politically involved with the ACT Party after the 2005 general election.[2] He stood for ACT in the Hamilton East electorate in the 2017 general election, but received only 140 votes.[8] He was also placed 13th on the ACT party list, but ACT did not win enough party votes to be entitled to any list MPs.[11]

McDowall led the development of ACT's firearm policy in response to the Government's 2019 Arms Amendment Act.[12]

Member of Parliament

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New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate List Party
2020–2023 53rd List 6 ACT

In the 2020 general election, McDowall was placed 6th on the ACT party list and ran for the electorate of Waikato.[3] He focused on raising awareness of ACT rather than his own individual electorate.[8] McDowall came third in Waikato,[13] while ACT won 7.6% of the party vote, entitling it to ten MPs including McDowall.[14][15] During the Commission Opening of the 53rd New Zealand Parliament, McDowall repeated his oath in Cantonese, attracting significant attention – "over a million views" – in Hong Kong.[16][10] In 2022, he read the parliamentary prayer in Cantonese in recognition of New Zealand Chinese language week.[17]

In his maiden statement, McDowall identified himself as a firearms enthusiast and libertarian, stating his political ideology is "that our morals and ambitions are our own and that they should not be forced upon anyone else, not least of all by the Government of the day" and quoting Ayn Rand ("A Government is the most dangerous threat to man's rights"). He spoke about immigration, sharing his parents-in-law's immigration story and describing Immigration New Zealand as inefficient, low quality, and disrespectful. He also criticised New Zealand's "unacceptable levels" of poverty, homelessness, and over-representation of Māori in prisons.[2]

McDowall was a member of Parliament's transport and infrastructure committee and the ACT Party's spokesperson for economic development; research, science and innovation; immigration, defence; and tourism.[18] As ACT's immigration spokesperson, McDowall has often criticised the Labour government, such as its COVID-19 border policies and their impact on access to seasonal workers,[19][20][21] its proposed new "priority" application system[22] and its proposed law changes intended to prevent migrant worker exploitation, but which McDowall said would actually enable bad employers to exploit migrants more.[23] The Green Party's immigration spokesperson, Ricardo Menéndez March, acknowledged the work of McDowall and others to "put immigration on the agenda."[24] McDowall said in 2021 that "ACT would dump Labour’s ‘once in a generation’ immigration reset" and that it "would signal a return to the pre-COVID immigration settings as soon as public health concerns allow".[25]

McDowall supported a law which allowed people to change the gender on their birth certificate. Speaking about the bill, which passed unanimously through parliament, he said it “advanc[ed] liberalism and actually reduc[ed] Government interference in people's lives by enabling choice”.[26]

In November 2022, McDowall was selected as the ACT Party candidate for the 2022 Hamilton West by-election.[27] He came third with ten percent of the vote.

He did not seek re-election at the 2023 general election.[28]

After politics

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McDowall announced in January 2024 that he had been appointed Head of Advocacy for industry lobby group the Motor Trade Association, which he described as "an organisation that I have long admired and respected as the leading voice for the automotive industry in New Zealand."[29]

References

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  1. ^ "Event". New Zealand Parliament. 7 November 2017. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "McDowall, James; Mallard, Trevor". Parliament. 11 February 2021. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  3. ^ a b c Wade, Amelia (5 August 2020). "Election 2020: Party of 6? Meet the Act team who could soon become MPs". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  4. ^ Mackay, Joseph Angus (1849), Historic Poverty Bay and the East Coast, N.I., N.Z., Gisborne: Joseph Angus Mackay, retrieved 21 December 2022
  5. ^ "Collections record Charles Baker – Journals and papers, 1827 – 1869". www.aucklandmuseum.com. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  6. ^ McDowall, James Samuel (2018). The Future of Marketing – An Investigation into Disruption and Innovation (PhD thesis). The University of Waikato.
  7. ^ a b Doyle, Katie (1 August 2020). "Top five contenders who could join ACT leader David Seymour in Parliament". Radio NZ. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  8. ^ a b c Rowland, Tom (7 October 2020). "Vote 2020: Act Party on track to have Waikato list candidate in Parliament". NZ Herald. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  9. ^ "Election 2020: Nine new ACT members are about to enter Parliament". Stuff. 18 October 2020. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  10. ^ a b "感動港人｜新西蘭議員廣東話宣誓獲網民激讚 謙虛自嘲：不是故意讀成「雞成人」". Apple Daily. 27 November 2020. Archived from the original on 27 November 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  11. ^ "Party Lists of Successful Registered Parties". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  12. ^ Blommerde, Chloe (21 September 2020). "Election 2020: Waikato candidates for local MP". Stuff. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  13. ^ "Waikato – Official Result". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  14. ^ "2020 General Election and Referendums – Official Result". Electoral Commission. 6 November 2020. Retrieved 6 November 2020.[permanent dead link‍]
  15. ^ "2020 General Election and Referendums – Official Result Successful Candidates". Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 7 November 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  16. ^ "Praise heaped on ACT MP James McDowall for swearing allegiance in Cantonese". Newshub. 1 December 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  17. ^ "Prayers/Karakia - New Zealand Parliament". www.parliament.nz. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
  18. ^ "James McDowall". ACT New Zealand. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  19. ^ "Growers 'devastated' as apples rot in Hawke's Bay orchards". Stuff. 7 April 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  20. ^ "$350k wellbeing support package for horticulture sector announced". Stuff. 19 March 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  21. ^ "Relief from growers at news RSE workers can soon skip MIQ". Stuff. 2 August 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  22. ^ "Skilled migrant struggle: 'I haven't seen my daughter for over 400 days'". Stuff. 10 April 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  23. ^ "Employers openly talk about charging migrant 'meat' more for residency". Stuff. 5 June 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  24. ^ "National declares win after 'trigger-happy' Immigration NZ leaks policy details". Stuff. 29 September 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  25. ^ "ACT proposes private MIQ and ending 'the four horsemen of bad regulation'". Stuff. 25 July 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  26. ^ "Parliament unanimously passes sex self-identification law, simplifying changes to birth certificates". Stuff. 9 December 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  27. ^ https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/11/hamilton-west-by-election-act-party-announces-dr-james-mcdowall-as-candidate.html
  28. ^ Whyte, Anna (16 July 2023). "ACT releases candidate list, MP James McDowall to retire". Stuff. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
  29. ^ McDowall, James (20 January 2024). "Announcement: Head of Advocacy at the MTA". LinkedIn. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
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