Penny Simmonds

Penny Simmonds
Simmonds in 2023
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Invercargill
Assumed office
17 October 2020
Preceded bySarah Dowie
Majority10,945[1]
17th Minister for the Environment
Assumed office
27 November 2023
Prime MinisterChristopher Luxon
Preceded byDavid Parker
Personal details
BornSeptember 1959 (age 65)
Southland, New Zealand
Political partyNational
SpouseMarty Irwin
Children3
Alma materUniversity of Otago

Penelope Elsie Simmonds CNZM MP (born September 1959)[2] is a New Zealand politician, Member of Parliament and a Minister in the House of Representatives for the National Party. She previously served as the chief executive of the Southern Institute of Technology.[3] Following the 2023 New Zealand general election, Simmonds assumed the disability issues, environmental, tertiary education and skills, and associate social development and employment portfolios in the Sixth National Government.[4]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference 2023 final was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Young, Audrey (24 August 2023). "Election 2023: Meet Penny Simmonds, National's Invercargill MP tipped for Cabinet". New Zealand Herald.
  3. ^ "Election 2020: The 40 diverse new MPs entering Parliament". Newstalk ZB. 18 October 2020. Archived from the original on 22 October 2020. Retrieved 16 November 2020 – via The New Zealand Herald.
  4. ^ "Cabinet lineup for new government unveiled - who gets what?". Radio New Zealand. 24 November 2023. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 15 December 2023.