A National Member of Parliament resident in Dunedin, Michael is happy to meet with Dunedin residents by appointment.
Michael was the Chief Executive Officer of Mercy Hospital Dunedin, a position he held for seven years. He has previously held senior management positions with ACC, where he was instrumental in implementing ACC’s Elective Services Contracting framework, and at Dunedin Hospital in change management, funding and planning roles.
Dunedin born and raised, Michael was educated at St Pauls High School (now Kavanagh College) and graduated from the University of Otago with a Bachelor of Commerce degree. He is a chartered accountant and has a Master of Health Administration from the University of New South Wales.
Michael was president of the NZ Private Surgical Hospitals Association and has been the vice-president of the NZ Private Hospitals Association, a larger organisation which included the private aged care sector. He is a member of the New Zealand Institute of Management and the New Zealand Institute of Directors.
Michael has been a Rotarian since 2001 and is active in community and voluntary work in the region. He is an avid rugby fan having played age group representative rugby for Otago and South Island teams. He is Otago’s most experienced premier grade referee and is a “fair weather” runner. Michael and his wife Amanda have a crib in Cromwell and in their spare time enjoying the great outdoors of Central Otago. They have three young children.
Top 5 Issues
- 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. - Building world-class infrastructure
• Ultra-fast broadband for greater innovation.
• More, and better, roads to ease congestion.
• Investing in more rail and public transport. - 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. - Rebuilding Christchurch
• $5.5 billion recovery fund
• Re-establishing essential infrastructure
• More construction-related training - 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.
Personal Profile
Authorised by G.Hamilton of 262 Thorndon Quay, Level 2, Wellington
Questions answered by Michael Woodhouse
Question
Michael Woodhouse's Reply
Rather than question whether some beneficiaries might be 'using the system' I prefer to focus on the vast majority who would like to enjoy better lives free of a benefit, but are part of a system that lacks a focus on intervening early. It is not good at directing resources early on, to help prevent people from becoming trapped in long-term benefit dependency. We can do this smarter and we will. We will take a long-term view of each individual entering the welfare system given their needs, challenges and prospects of a quick return to work. We will spend taxpayers’ money where it will have the biggest impact.
This means intervening earlier, investing in more support for those who’re capable of working but are likely to remain on benefit long-term without this support. For example, it makes sense to put more resources and support into helping a teen parent with no education than a university graduate who is between jobs. We will be more hands-on, supporting people into work, and we make no apologies for that.
We will expect more people on a benefit to make themselves available for work. But at the same time we will do more to help them into work through things like childcare, training, workplace support, and access to health and disability support services.
All of that will cost money. In fact, about $130 million a year some of which will come from our operating allowance and some from reprioritisation of other expenditure. But we are prepared to invest in these New Zealanders because the pay-off is a better life for beneficiaries and their children and, over time, a reduction in the long-term costs of welfare dependency.
check out other candidate's answers
- 2011
Dunedin North
Results - Progress
| Name | Votes | |
|---|---|---|
| 30155 | ||
| 8233 | ||
| 4769 | ||
| 321 | ||
| 182 | ||
| 178 | ||
| 146 | ||
| 133 |
