Over the past 20 years, I have worked hard as a party activist, a union official, a volunteer in the community sector, a local university graduate, a lawyer with distinguished career, a business owner in Wellington and overseas, a political candidate and now a Labour Member of Parliament.

My experiences have shaped my beliefs, which sit in the mainstream of modern, secular, liberal, social democratic thought. My vision for New Zealand is one of prosperity, justice and vibrant diversity.

I chair the Privileges Committee and the Regulations Review Committee of the New Zealand Parliament. I am the Labour Party’s spokesperson on justice and the environment.

I was born in Gisborne on 16 April 1969. I graduated bachelor of laws with honours from Victoria University of Wellington in 1989, and master of jurisprudence with distinction from the University of Auckland in 1994. I clerked for Chief Justice Eichelbaum, was legal officer for what is now the Service Workers’ Union, and worked for four years as crown counsel in the Crown Law Office, prior to partnership in the Minter Ellison Legal Group in Wellington and Sydney. I was admitted to the bar in New South Wales and New Zealand, and have appeared in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and the Supreme Court of New Zealand.

I was a member of the Public Health Commission in 1994, chair of the New Zealand AIDS Foundation in 1995, deputy presiding member of the New Zealand Lotteries Commission between 2000 and 2004, and a director of Meridian Energy between 2002 and 2005. I wrote the Public Safety title in the Laws of New Zealand restatement, was consulting editor for the Gambling and Betting title, co-authored Brooker’s Employment Mediation in New Zealand, and was one of the Editors of Butterworth’s Employment Law in New Zealand, Mazengarb’s Employment Law and the Employment Law Bulletin.

I am a board member of the Pacific Friends of the Global Fund Against AIDS, TB and Malaria, and was recently appointed to the Global Commission on HIV and the Law.

I’m currently the Labour List MP based in Ohariu, which covers the Northern suburbs and Western Hills of Wellington. For the past three years people in the Northern Suburbs and the Western Hills have been finding it tough. Cuts to early childhood education funding and raising GST have made it harder for families to make ends meet and surveys in the electorate confirm that people just want a break.

12% of people who live in the electorate work in public administration, 3 times the overall nationwide average. The cuts to the public service over the past three years have affected a lot of people’s livelihoods. The absence of a plan to create jobs means that public servants have been dealt a raw deal.

We also need action on public transport in Ohariu. Improvements have been delayed and slow in benefiting the Northern suburbs and Western Hills of Wellington. Ohariu is the only electorate that uses every major rail line and yet is the last to see any real benefits from the new spending, but will be forced to pay higher fares. We need better leadership to work with local and regional councils.

You can learn more about me on my website, www.charleschauvel.com as well as finding out what I have been doing recently.

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