Nikki Kaye

Nicola Laura Kaye (born 11 February 1980) is a New Zealand politician who served as Deputy Leader of the New Zealand National Party and Deputy Leader of the Opposition from 22 May 2020 to 14 July 2020.

Kaye is an accomplished competitive athlete, having been the Auckland Women's 3,000 m running champion in 1997, and has raced in numerous marathons and multi-sport events.

In 1997, Kaye participated in a television documentary called Fish out of Water, in which she and five other teenagers were marooned on Rakitu Island (off Great Barrier Island) and fended for themselves for eight days.

Kaye joined the National Party in 1998, becoming women's vice-chair of the southern region of the New Zealand Young Nationals.

She is a former International Vice-Chairman of the International Young Democrat Union.

Kaye began working for Bill English in the office of the Leader of the Opposition in 2002 as a policy researcher.

In 2003 she travelled to the United Kingdom, where she worked as a policy officer and project manager at the London boroughs of Enfield and Bromley, and then at Transport for London, where she managed a disabled people transport program, before working as an IT project manager at the Halifax Bank of Scotland.

In 2006, Kaye co-founded a website, networkme.com, and acts as Director of Communications for that company.

Kaye returned to New Zealand in late 2007 to contest the National Party candidacy for the Auckland Central electorate.

Standing against three other nominees, Kaye was considered an outsider in a close selection battle against sitting list MP Jackie Blue for the nomination.

Kaye worked full-time as the National Party candidate from the time of her selection.

She campaigned on improving public transport infrastructure, improving marine protection around Great Barrier Island, and taking a greater interest in small businesses in Auckland.

During her campaign she knocked on 10,000 doors.

Kaye served as the member of the New Zealand Parliament for the electorate from 2008 until 2020.

In 2008 Kaye competed in the Coast to Coast multi-sport event.

At the general election on 8 November 2008, Kaye was elected as National's MP for Auckland Central, defeating incumbent Labour MP Judith Tizard.

This was greeted as one of the most significant upsets of the 2008 general election, breaking a 90-year hold by left-wing parties over the seat; Kaye became the first ever National MP for the electorate.

As an MP, Kaye has, amongst other things, supported applications for the New Zealand Cycle Trail fund for routes in urban Auckland, on Waiheke Island and Great Barrier Island (the latter two islands being in her electorate as well).

In early 2010, she broke with the National Party's policy of encouraging mining in conservation land, including on Great Barrier – claiming long connections to the island, and fitting in with her known support for environmental causes.

She had noted during her maiden speech in parliament that "Our environment is the greatest gift we have been given as a nation", and that economical considerations, especially of the short term, should not trump this.

Kaye is a supporter of reinstating trams for Auckland, and has called for a feasibility study into extending the new Wynyard Loop.

She holds up former National MP Katherine Rich as one of her role models.

Kaye's own policies, placing her in the socially liberal wing of the National Party, have been criticised by some people in her own party, where some have called her a "high maintenance backbencher".

Others have called her "obsessive", or, in a more positive vein, "driven".

However, commentators have argued that her stance is unlikely to hurt her in her marginal electorate, which has traditionally voted Labour.

Kaye was elected the deputy chair of the Government Administration Select Committee in February 2011.

In her first parliamentary term, she also sat on the Local Government and Environment Select Committee and the Auckland Governance Legislation Select Committee.

Through her time in Parliament on these committees she has been heavily involved in the review of the Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Bill and legislation creating the Auckland Council.

In May 2011, Kaye appeared in an episode of the TVNZ series Make the Politician Work.

The episode featured Kaye working a shift on a rubbish collection route and highlighted her campaign for waste minimisation in Auckland.

At the, Kaye stood again in Auckland Central in a high-profile race to retain the seat.

In January 2013, she was appointed to the Cabinet by Prime Minister John Key, giving her the portfolios of Food Safety, Civil Defence, and Youth Affairs, and Associate Minister of Education and Immigration.

In February 2013, Kaye completed the Coast to Coast race a second time, becoming the first New Zealand Cabinet Minister to do so.

The documentary footage was located in March 2014 and was published on New Zealand on Air's on-line archive NZ On Screen as part of its "before they were famous" series.

In September 2016 she took sick leave from the House of Representatives for breast cancer treatment and returned to Parliament in early 2017 to resume full duties.

Kaye announced on 16 July 2020 she was leaving politics at the 2020 general election.

Kaye was born in Auckland and grew up in Epsom and Kohimarama.

Kaye's parents separated when she was seven years old.

Her family includes a brother and sister, "two half-brothers, four half-sisters, one stepbrother and two step-parents".

She was educated at Victoria Avenue Primary School, Remuera Intermediate School, and Corran School (where she was Head Prefect), before earning a science degree in genetics from the University of Otago, where she also began her Bachelor of Laws, later completing it in Wellington.