Meeting - 18 September 2023
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18 Sep 2023 |
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 Pakuranga (Inc)
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Guest Speaker: Simeon Brown
Topic: His Choice but One Guess?
In his youth, Brown joined his local residents' association, the Clendon Residents Group and became its Secretary. He then chaired the inaugural Manurewa Youth Council. In 2013 he was elected to the Auckland Council Manurewa Local Board, on which he also served as deputy chair.
In 2014 he contested the parliamentary seat of Manurewa for the National Party, but lost to incumbent Labour MP Louisa Wall by a large margin and his list placing of 64th on National's list meant he wasn't elected to Parliament.
Brown stood in the electorate of Pakuranga at the 2017 general election, at the age of 25. The Pakuranga electorate has been a safe seat for National since 1987 and since then it had been held by Maurice Williamson. Brown was selected as the National Party's candidate to replace Williamson after he decided not to seek re-election. Brown was elected with a majority of 14,886 votes.
During the 2020 New Zealand general election, Brown was re-elected in Pakuranga by a large margin of 10,050 votes, making Pakuranga the safest seat for National in terms of the candidate vote. In the November 2020 caucus reshuffle, led by National's leader Judith Collins, Brown was admitted to the Shadow Cabinet, ranking 20 on the National Party's list and held four shadow portfolios in Police, Serious Fraud Office, Youth and Corrections. On 19 January 2023, Brown was allocated the new Auckland issues portfolio in Party leader Christopher Luxon's shadow cabinet and is spokesman for Auckland, Transport and Public Service issues.
Before entering Parliament, Brown worked in commercial banking as a senior associate with the Bank of New Zealand. He studied at the University of Auckland, attaining a conjoint degree in law and commerce in 2015. Brown fought for the right of official affiliation at the University of Auckland for his group ProLife Auckland while he was president. Brown is a Baptist Christian who attends church regularly. He lives in his Pakuranga electorate with his wife Rebecca and three children.