Jami-Lee Ross

Jami-Lee Matenga Ross (born 1985) is a former New Zealand politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Botany electorate in Auckland from the March 2011 Botany by-election, when he became the youngest MP at the time, until 2020.

He was previously a local government politician on the Auckland Council and, before that, was on the Manukau City Council from the age of 18.

Ross joined the National Party in 2003.

He was elected to the Manukau City Council in 2004, aged 18, and worked as an electorate secretary in Pakuranga for MP Maurice Williamson.

He stood for a place on the new Auckland Council in the 2010 Auckland local elections, winning a seat for the Howick ward.

He was subsequently elected co-leader of the Citizens & Ratepayers ticket.

He resigned from the Council on 7 March 2011, after being elected to Parliament.

On 27 January 2011, the National Party selected Ross as their candidate for the Botany by-election to be held on 5 March 2011, to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of Pansy Wong.

He won the election with a majority of 3,972.

Upon his swearing into Parliament Ross became the youngest Member of Parliament, taking the informal title of Baby of the House from Gareth Hughes, a Green Party MP.

Ross was re-elected as MP for Botany in the November and.

He holds a commercial pilot's licence from April 2012, having trained at Ardmore Flying School.

He has also studied towards a politics and economics degree at the University of Auckland.

He was married to Lucy Schwaner, a former member of the Howick Local Board.

In 2013, he supported and voted for the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill, which legalised same-sex marriage in New Zealand.

Ross served as one of the National Party's whips in Parliament.

He was appointed Third Whip in 2013, was promoted to Junior Whip after the 2014 election, and elected as Senior Whip after the incumbent Tim Macindoe was appointed as Minister of Customs in May 2017.

Ross contested the Botany seat during the and was re-elected again.

After representing the National Party in parliament for seven years, Ross resigned from the party's caucus on 16 October 2018 after he accused National leader Simon Bridges of corruption.

Ross has been accused of harassment and bullying behaviour toward staff.

He sat in Parliament as an independent.

On 2 October 2018, Ross issued a statement that he was standing down from his portfolios and from the front bench of the Opposition due to personal health issues.

His transport portfolio was picked up by Paul Goldsmith, and Judith Collins took over his infrastructure portfolio.

On 15 October 2018, National Leader Simon Bridges stated that Ross had been identified as the National Party leaker after the party's inquiry into the leaking of Bridges' travel expenses.

Bridges said the inquiry report identified Ross as the most likely source of the leak, and he accepted that finding.

Ross denied the accusations and issued a series of tweets prior to the press conference alleging that Bridges had attempted to silence him for speaking out against his leadership decisions, including an election donation that allegedly broke the law.

Bridges also indicated that National would seek disciplinary action against Ross.

On 16 October, Ross alleged during a live press conference that Bridges was a corrupt politician who had violated electoral law several times, including accepting an illegal NZ$100,000 donation from Chinese businessman Zhang Yikun.

Ross also publicly denied allegations that he had sexually harassed several female staff, claiming that Bridges and Deputy Leader Paula Bennett were trying to smear him and had pressed him into going away on medical leave.

Ross also announced his resignation from the National Party, and his intention to step down as MP by the end of the week (Friday, 19 October), which would have trigged a by-election in his Botany electorate.

That same day, the National Party caucus voted to expel Ross for disloyalty.

Ross also tweeted photos showing Bridges and Zhang Yikun at a National Party event.

Bridges denied Ross's allegations as baseless and said it was a matter for the police.

The following day, 17 October, Ross spoke to police in Wellington and soon after released an audio recording between himself and Bridges on Facebook.

Ross announced the establishment of a new political party, Advance New Zealand, in 2020.

At the 2020 election, none of the party's candidates won an electorate seat and the party received less than 1% of the party vote, meaning Ross lost his seat in Parliament.

As of 2023, Ross' main occupation is running an escort service.

He had earlier featured in a documentary series about New Zealand conspiracy theorists.

Ross was brought up by his grandmother as his mother was "not in the best space to raise a child", and he has never met his father, who descends from the Māori iwi of Ngāti Porou.

He attended Dilworth School, a boarding school for boys, then Pakuranga College, but left without formal qualifications.