Chris lives in Moana at Lake Brunner with his wife Elspeth, who was born and bred on the West Coast. Chris was born in Scotland, educated in England, attended Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, and joined his two brothers in New Zealand in 1964. Chris has been a contract milker, a farm adviser, managed a $30 million export company for the Dairy Board and operated his own small business exporting primary products, specialising in fish and seafood exports.

Political activity through commitment to National Party policies has been a major interest for Chris throughout his career.

He was selected as National's 2005 candidate for the West Coast-Tasman electorate and became a List Member for National. In 2008 Chris won the West-Coast Tasman seat with a 971 vote majority. He is Chair of the Environment and Local Government Select Committee and is a Member of the Health Select Committee, both of which are of particular significance to the West Coast Tasman Electorate. He also devotes time and efforts to many other issues that affect his electorate, including Tourism, Agriculture and Horticulture, Mining and Conservation

Chris has always played an active part in the communities he and his family have lived in. He is a Justice of the Peace, a keen fly fisherman and enjoys walking in the bush. Chris and Elspeth have two married children and five grandchildren.

Top 5 Issues

1. Building a stronger economy
   • Balance the books sooner.
   • Borrow less so we can have lower interest rates for longer.
   • Keep personal taxes lower to encourage hard work.
   • Make New Zealand more competitive so our exporters can sell more overseas and create more real jobs.
   • Encourage savings and investments.
   • Use the mixed-Ownership model to fund infrastructure to help us grow faster.
   • Invest in skills training and tertiary education that gets results.
   
2. Building world-class infrastructure
   • Ultra-fast broadband for greater innovation.
   • More, and better, roads to ease congestion.
   • Investing in more rail and public transport.
   
3. Building a safer New Zealand
   • Staying strong on crime – tougher sentencing, stronger bail laws, and a focus on victims.
   • Keep working to lower the crime rate further so our families are safer.
   • Making our roads safer, so we can keep the road toll lower.
   
4. Rebuilding Christchurch
   • $5.5 billion recovery fund
   • Re-establishing essential infrastructure
   • More construction-related training
   
5. Building better public services
   • Better Schools – identifying and helping children falling behind, school reports in plain English.
   • World-class healthcare –more doctors and nurses, more operations, shorter waiting times.
   • Effective welfare- more people back into work, more incentives to work, payment cards for teens on benefits.
   

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