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Elections / 2023 / Ōtaki / Tim Costley
Portrait of Tim Costley
Photo via Wikipedia
2023 general election Sitting MP
Defending Ōtaki

Tim Costley

Kind
Electorate & list
Source
elections-wikipedia
As of
4 May 2026

Background

Research run #48 · 5 May 2026
Every claim below traces to a verbatim quote in the cited source. Click any footnote [1] in the prose, or expand the citation index below, to see where the fact came from.

Tim Costley is a National Party [15] Member of Parliament for the Ōtaki electorate [12].

Costley served as a helicopter pilot in the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF), beginning from 2001 [2]. According to a single reputable secondary source, he held various leadership positions as an officer within the RNZAF during that period [3]. The same source indicates he served as Equerry to Prince William [5].

Costley is reported to have studied at Massey University, according to a single reputable secondary source [10]. Outside his military career, he is described in a single reputable secondary source as a founder and trustee of The Missing Wingman Trust, a trust associated with the RNZAF [6][9]. He is also noted, according to a single reputable secondary source, as a trustee and beneficiary of the Costley Family Trust and the RV Shankleton Trust [7][8].

He was selected as the National Party candidate for Ōtaki on 18 November 2019 [14]. Costley was elected to Parliament as the Member for Ōtaki, with his term recorded as beginning on 14 October 2023 [12]. According to a single reputable secondary source, he has served as a member of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Select Committee [13].

Generated 5 May 2026 · model claude-sonnet-4-6
AI-generated biography. Assembled by an LLM from public sources (Wikipedia, parliament register, Beehive, news archives). Every claim is backed by a verbatim quote in one of the cited sources below and tagged confirmed, unverified, or disputed by corroboration. Use as a starting reference, not a final source — cross-check anything load-bearing.
2 confirmed 14 unverified 0 disputed
Verify the bio — expand the citation index 16 sourced claims

Education

Career

Political offices

  • [11]
    Held the office of MP for Ōtaki. unverified
  • [12]
    Held the office of Member of Parliament for Ōtaki (from 14 October 2023). unverified
  • [13]
    Held the office of Member of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Select Committee. unverified
  • [14]
    Held the office of National Party candidate for the safe seat of Ōtaki (from 18 November 2019). unverified

Party affiliation

Civic roles & honours

Looked for, not found

  • Unable to fetch the Palmerston North Boys' High School forum post (2016) about Squadron Leader Tim Costley's detailed military career - DNS resolution failed for stratus.pnbhs.school.nz
  • Tim Costley's education details (Victoria University of Wellington, Cranfield University master's degree) could not be confirmed via verbatim quotes from fetched pages - LinkedIn profile confirms Cranfield University but was not directly fetched
  • Tim Costley's parliamentary select committee memberships in the 54th Parliament could not be fully confirmed from fetched sources

The agent checked these topics across the allowed public sources but could not find verbatim-quotable evidence. Absence doesn't rule the fact out — it just means no journalist-accessible source covered it at run time.

Pecuniary interests

2025 register · as of 27 May 2026

As a sitting MP, this candidate files an annual Register of Pecuniary and Other Specified Interests. Items below are the most recent declarations from the Register.

Beneficial interests in, and trusteeships of, trusts
Costley Family Trust Costley Family Trust (trustee and beneficiary)
Missing Wingman Trust Missing Wingman Trust (RNZAF) (trustee)
RV Shankleton Trust RV Shankleton Trust (trustee and beneficiary)
Company directorships and controlling interests
Bluebottle Property Limited Bluebottle Property Limited – rental property
Gifts
New Zealand Game Animal Council Overnight hunt – New Zealand Game Animal Council
AIA New Zealand Tickets (x2) and hospitality at All Blacks game at Wellington Regional Stadium – AIA New Zealand
Real property
Family home – Waikanae
Flat – Wellington
Rental property (x2) – Palmerston North
Retirement schemes
Mercer Defence Force Superannuation Scheme – Mercer
Mercer KiwiSaver Mercer KiwiSaver

Companies Office links

as of 4 Jun 2026

Directorships, shareholdings, and trusteeships filed against this person in the Companies Office register.

Directorships

Trusteeships

Recent press

33 articles across 6 outlets
RNZ 11
Stuff 7
NZ Herald 5
The Spinoff 5
1News 4
Newsroom 1