Shane was born and educated in Opunake and has lived in this area all his life.

After leaving Opunake High School, Shane worked quickly through the sharemilking system and at the age of 23 years bought a dairy farm at Te Kiri, where he now lives with his wife and two sons. Since becoming a Member of Parliament the farm is now managed by a sharemilker and his wife Cathy.

Shane held several positions with Federated Farmers and joined the National Party in the early 1980’s. He was the Electorate Chairman for Roger Maxwell in the Taranaki Electorate and then the Electorate Chairman for Jim Bolger when it became the Taranaki-King Country Electorate.

In 1998, Shane was elected as the MP for Taranaki-King Country and has contested the seat in 1999, 2002, 2005 and 2008. . In the 2008 General Election, despite losing a large amount of coastal Taranaki in the new boundaries, he retained the seat and increased his majority from 13,118 to 15, 618, capturing 68.7% of the vote in the electorate. He is Chairman of the Primary Production Select Committee and also serves on the Law and Order Select Committee. Shane also Chairs the Agriculture Caucus Committee. . Shane has previously served on the Government Administration, Local Government & Environment, Primary Production, Officers of Parliament, Health, Education & Science and Regulations Review Select Committee.

Shane believes that his contribution to the National Party and Parliament is to provide the vital link between Parliament and the rural sector. You can contact Shane at either his electorate office in Stratford on 06 765 6608 or Te Awamutu 07 870 1005.

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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