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MP · #81
Hon Penny Simmonds
Invercargill
· New Zealand National Party
New Zealand National Party
Invercargill
Candidate 2023
· Invercargill
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Candidate 2020
· Invercargill
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Pecuniary interests
7 items
Directorships
2 declared
Recent meetings
50 logged
Bg Background Methodology →
Hon Penny Simmonds is the National Party Member of Parliament for Invercargill, first elected to that seat in 2020 [29] [39] . Prior to entering Parliament, Simmonds served as Chief Executive of the Southern Institute of Technology (SIT)…
AI-assembled biography sourced from Wikipedia, Hansard, Beehive and the Parliament register. Every claim is footnoted to a verbatim quote in one of the cited sources and tagged confirmed, unverified or disputed.
01 Positions
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Cabinet Minister — Tertiary Education, Science, Innovation and Technology
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Associate Minister — Social Development and Employment
03 Pecuniary interests (2025) Methodology →
as of 2026-05-27 02:24Beneficial interests in, and trusteeships of, trusts
EM Simmonds Trust (trustee and beneficiary)
— EM Simmonds Trust
(Trustee)
Penny Simmonds Family Trust (trustee and beneficiary)
— Penny Simmonds Family Trust
(Trustee)
Real property
Family cribs (x3; owned by family trust) – Riverton, Southland
Family home and farm (jointly owned) – Mabel Bush, Southland
Farm (jointly owned) – Ryal Bush, Southland
Rental property (owned by family trust) – Invercargill
Retirement schemes
AMP KiwiSaver
— AMP KiwiSaver
04 Directorships Methodology →
as of 2026-05-27 02:24None recorded.
06 Trusteeships & beneficial trust interests
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activeTrustee
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activeTrustee
08 Recent meetings (as minister) Methodology →
as of 2026-05-27 02:41
2026-03-31
Tue
3 entries
MEET: Environmental Protection Authority
Environment Officials
MEET: Environment Officials
Vocational Education Officials
MEET: Vocational Education Officials
2026-03-30
Mon
1 entry
MEET: Climate Priorities Ministerial Group
with: Hon Watts, Hon Potaka, Hon Jones, Hon Patterson, Simon Court MP
2026-03-27
Fri
1 entry
ATTEND: Federated Farmers High Country Field Day
2026-03-26
Thu
1 entry
MEET: WasteMINZ
2026-03-25
Wed
3 entries
MEET: PACT Group
MEET: GigaBlue
Cabinet Committee
MEET: Cabinet Committee
2026-03-24
Tue
3 entries
Cabinet Committee
MEET: Cabinet Committee
Environment Officials
MEET: Environment Officials
Vocational Education Officials
MEET: Vocational Education Officials
2026-03-23
Mon
1 entry
Environment Officials
MEET: Environment Officials
2026-03-20
Fri
1 entry
MEET: MATES In Construction
2026-03-19
Thu
1 entry
ATTEND: 125 years of Master Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers NZ
2026-03-17
Tue
1 entry
Vocational Education Officials
MEET: Vocational Education Officials
2026-03-13
Fri
4 entries
MEET: Mayor of Gisborne and Gisborne District Council Chief Executive
with: Dana Kirkpatrick MP, Mayor of Gisborne, GDC CE
VISIT: McCannics
VISIT: Eastern Institute of Technology
MEET: Eastland Wood Council
2026-03-12
Thu
2 entries
ATTEND: Quality Tertiary Institutions Board Meeting
MEET
2026-03-11
Wed
2 entries
MEET
Cabinet Committee
MEET: Cabinet Committee
2026-03-10
Tue
3 entries
MEET
Environment Officials
MEET: Environment Officials
Vocational Education Officials
MEET: Vocational Education Officials
2026-03-04
Wed
5 entries
MEET
MEET
MEET
Associate Social Development and Employment Officials
MEET: Associate Social Development and Employment Officials
Cabinet Committee
MEET: Cabinet Committee
2026-03-03
Tue
5 entries
ATTEND: Marking MITO's Return to Industry Ownership
MEET: Labour Market Ministers Group
with: Hon Willis, Hon Stanford, Hon Upston, Hon Reti, Hon van Velden, Hon Patterson
Cabinet Committee
MEET: Cabinet Committee
Environment Officials
MEET: Environment Officials
Vocational Education Officials
MEET: Vocational Education Officials
2026-02-19
Thu
2 entries
MEET
High Commissioner of India
MEET: High Commissioner of India
with: H.E. Neeta Bhushan
2026-02-18
Wed
3 entries
MEET
MEET: Catchment Communities Aotearoa
with: Hon. Todd McClay, Ben Ensor
ATTEND: Economic Policy Cabinet Committee
2026-02-17
Tue
2 entries
Officials
OFFICIALS: Environment
Officials
OFFICIALS: Vocational Education
2026-02-13
Fri
1 entry
ATTEND: NorthTec Community Meeting
2026-02-10
Tue
4 entries
Minister Stanford
MEET: Minister Stanford
with: Hon. Erica Stanford
MEET
Officials
OFFICIALS: Environment
Officials
OFFICIALS: Vocational Education
2026-02-09
Mon
1 entry
Government's Response to Upper North Island Severe Weather Event
MEET: Government's Response to Upper North Island Severe Weather Event
09 Recent Hansard speeches
- 2026-05-13
10 Recent press releases
From Beehive.govt.nz. Most recent 10.
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2026-06-02The introduction of the new Tertiary Research Excellence Fund (TREF) will direct research effort towards economic growth while cutting red tape.
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2026-05-05Tertiary Education Minister Penny Simmonds has announced the appointment of Michelle Findlater to the Board of the Tertiary Education Commission.
12 In the news Methodology →
39 articlesCoverage from RNZ, Stuff, NZ Herald, ODT, 1News, Newsroom and The Spinoff that mentions this person. Click any source to expand. Article body markdown is captured separately and used for AI summarisation downstream.
RNZ 20
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2026-06-04Academics are cautiously welcoming the move but the Association of Scientists wants more detail and the Tertiary Education Union says a bigger problem is the size of the fund which has not increased for several years.
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2026-05-29According to the New Zealand Association of Scientists there was a $30 million bump for science and innovation.
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2026-05-27Last year saw the biggest shake-up to the science system in 30 years.
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2026-05-12The policy which covers the cost of students' third year of tertiary study will be gone in the upcoming Budget.
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2026-05-11The Bill that would end an effective 30-year ban on the use of genetic technologies outside the laboratory has stalled ahead of second reading.
- 2025-12-07
- 2025-12-07
- 2025-12-02
- 2025-11-30
- 2025-11-18
- 2025-11-14
- 2025-11-09
- 2025-10-13
- 2025-10-05
- 2025-09-28
- 2025-08-29
- 2025-06-17
- 2024-04-25
- 2024-03-28
- 2023-12-21
NZ Herald 9
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2026-05-11The Gene Technology Bill was first proposed in late 2024. Photo / Unsplash, RNZ composite
- 2026-04-02
- 2026-02-18
- 2025-12-15
- 2024-08-29
- 2024-06-19
- 2024-04-24
- 2023-08-24
- 2021-03-24
Stuff 4
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2026-05-31Brown’s approach to governing Auckland has endearing himself to some, but definitely not to others.
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2026-05-28The number of trade training places for secondary students will be doubled over the next four years.
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2026-05-19Stuff asked ministers how they use AI, and what they think it can do to cut costs and jobs at their departments.
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2026-05-08The government has confirmed it will scrap the fees-free university scheme after 2026.
The Spinoff 3
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2026-04-29‘Even though I’m in politics, I hate labels.’ She’s a twin already, but first term Green MP Lan Pham is adopting me as hers. While the rain lashes against the windows of Huxley’s, we’re bundled up in matching red turtleneck and brown coat…
- 2026-04-02
- 2026-04-02
Otago Daily Times 2
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2026-05-15Rachel Brooking MP. PHOTO: ODT FILES This week the government progressed a range of legislation which will preserve New Zealand’s species and environments for generations to come.
- 2026-05-12
Newsroom 1
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2026-05-27Ahead of the Budget, the mining lobby says export targets depend on the skill of our future geologists – and you get what you pay for The post Mining industry to govt: Want critical minerals? Fund geology courses appeared first on Newsroom…
13 Commentary topics Methodology →
Topics where op-eds, blogs and press releases mentioned this MP — preview of the top 2 over the last 12 weeks. Each row deep-links to the discourse lens.
14 Press topics Methodology →
Topics where major news outlets reported on this MP — preview of the top 2. Each row deep-links to the press lens; compare with commentary to spot convergence vs. divergence.
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