Nicola Willis

Nicola Valentine Willis (born 7 March 1981) is Deputy Leader of the National Party and Minister of Finance in a Coalition Government with ACT and New Zealand First.

She graduated with a first-class honours degree in English literature from Victoria University of Wellington in 2003, and a post-graduate diploma in journalism from the University of Canterbury in 2017.

She was a member of the Victoria University Debating Society, competing in international tournaments.

After graduation, she worked as a research and policy advisor for Bill English and as a senior advisor to John Key in 2008.

In 2012, Willis joined dairy co-operative Fonterra in a lobbyist role.

She was later a general manager of Fonterra's nutrient management programme, and sat on the board of Export NZ, a division of lobbyist group Business New Zealand.

His replacement Judith Collins left Willis at the same ranking, but with Muller's departure she automatially joined the front bench as 13th in caucus.

Collins also granted her the opposition education spokesperson role.

With Muller's backers Bishop and Willis rising under Collins, political commentators speculated that "potential dissenters are being kept busy with big new portfolios".

Willis was a director of the New Zealand Initiative, a pro-free-market public-policy think tank, from May 2016 until February 2017.

Willis contested the 2017 election as National's candidate for the electorate of Wellington Central, and was number 48 on the party list.

She gained 26% of the electorate vote.

On the party list vote, National lost two parliamentary seats while the Labour and Green parties each gained one.

Willis entered the New Zealand Parliament in 2018, when she inherited Steven Joyce's seat in Parliament as the next on the party list after his retirement from politics.

Willis was born and raised in Point Howard, Wellington.

She is the eldest of three children.

Willis's mother was a journalist in the Parliamentary Press Gallery, her father a partner in corporate law firm Bell Gully who later rose to be chairman of the New Zealand Energy Corporation

an "active oil and gas exploration company".

After a "privileged childhood", she first attended Samuel Marsden Collegiate, a private school for girls, before asking to spend her last two years of high school boarding at King's College in Auckland – a decision she regretted.

Her first job was as a cashier and server at a Wholly Bagel Café in Wellington, later working in retail stores selling clothing.

Willis was second in line should there be a vacancy in a list seat held by a National Party MP during the 52nd New Zealand Parliament, and she and Maureen Pugh entered parliament several months later, after the resignations of Bill English and Steven Joyce in March 2018.

Leader Simon Bridges appointed Willis National's spokesperson on early childhood education.

Willis was vocal against Grant Guilford's attempt to change Victoria University of Wellington's name to the University of Wellington.

Willis was a key player in Todd Muller's move to replace Bridges as caucus leader in a 2020 the leadership coup, with she and Chris Bishop both taking a role as Muller's "numbers man".

She was rewarded with a ranking of 14 in the party caucus, and with the additional portfolios of Housing and Urban Development.

Only 55 days later Muller resigned, becoming the shortest-serving leader of any political party represented in Parliament in New Zealand's history.

Willis' list ranking for the 2020 general election was 13, making her return to parliament a certainty.

Although she also contested the Wellington Central electorate, voters soundly preferred the incumbent Grant Robertson by more than 3 to 1, with him gaining 27,000 votes compared to her 8,500.

National was returned to Opposition and Willis was returned to the housing portfolio, where she worked with Housing Minister Megan Woods to develop bipartisan housing reform designed to encourage more medium density dwellings.

In November 2021, National Party leader Judith Collins lost a confidence vote and was removed by the National caucus.

Willis was seen by media and political commentators as a contender for the party leadership or deputy leadership.

Despite the speculation, she never launched a leadership bid, but was asked by Christopher Luxon to be his running mate as he launched a campaign for the leadership.

They were elected unopposed on 30 November 2021, after Luxon's main rival, Simon Bridges, dropped his leadership bid in exchange for the finance portfolio.

As deputy leader, Willis's liberal views on social issues are seen as a counterpoint to Luxon's more conservative positions.

Luxon unveiled his first shadow cabinet in December.

Willis was assigned responsibility for housing and social investment.

She picked up the finance portfolio in March 2022 when Bridges announced his resignation.

As finance spokesperson, Willis defended National's policy of lowering tax rates despite criticisms that the policy would be inflationary; Luxon eventually dropped the policy.

On 19 November 2022, Willis was selected as the National candidate for the north Wellington electorate of Ōhāriu ahead of the 2023 New Zealand general election, instead of trying for a third time in Wellington Central.

Ōhāriu was regarded by some commentators as "much more winnable" for Willis than Wellington Central.