Simon Joseph Bridges (born 12 October 1976) is a New Zealand former politician, broadcaster and lawyer. He served as Leader of the National Party and Leader of the Opposition between 2018 and 2020, and as the Member of Parliament for Tauranga from the 2008 election to May 2022, when he resigned. Bridges is the first and currently the only Māori person to serve as leader of a major political party in New Zealand.
A self-described "compassionate conservative", Bridges served in several Cabinet positions, including Minister of Transport (2014–2017) and Minister of Economic Development (2016–2017). He took the role of Leader of the House from May to October 2017. Bridges was elected as National Party leader on 27 February 2018, succeeding former Prime Minister Bill English, who resigned. On 22 May 2020, following poor polling for the party, Bridges was challenged for the party leadership and replaced by Todd Muller, who would relinquish the leadership less than two months later.
On 24 November 2021, Bridges was sacked from the shadow cabinet of Judith Collins, who cited a crude comment he made in 2016 to fellow MP Jacqui Dean. Collins's actions triggered a successful vote of no-confidence in her leadership the following day.
Bridges announced his retirement from politics in March 2022 to spend more time with his family, triggering a by-election. He subsequently became CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber. He also began a career in broadcasting, launching his podcast Generally Famous with Stuff in 2022, and in 2024 became Chairperson of Waka Kotahi.
Simon Bridges was born in October 1976 in Auckland, the youngest of six children. His father, of Māori and Pākehā (New Zealand European) descent, was a Baptist minister, and his mother, a Pākehā from Waihi, was a primary school teacher. His father Heath's mother, Naku Joseph, was a member of Ngāti Kinohaku, a hapū (subtribe) of the Ngāti Maniapoto tribe, and associated with Oparure Marae near Te Kūiti, through which Bridges has family connections to former Labour Cabinet Minister Koro Wētere.
Bridges grew up in Te Atatū, West Auckland, and attended Rutherford College. There, he was taught by future Labour Education Minister Chris Carter, and became head boy of the college. He went on to complete a Bachelor of Arts in political science and history, and a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) at the University of Auckland.
Bridges began his legal career as a litigation lawyer in a major Auckland law firm, Kensington Swan. He moved to Tauranga in 2001 to take up a position as a Crown prosecutor in the District and High Courts. During this time, he took leave to travel to the United Kingdom to study at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and later to complete a postgraduate law degree at St Catherine's College, Oxford; he also worked as an intern in the British House of Commons. As a Crown prosecutor in Tauranga, Bridges mainly worked on jury trials. Bridges ended his legal career in 2008, when he was nominated by the National Party to stand for election to the New Zealand Parliament.
Bridges became a member of the Young Nationals in 1992 at the age of 16 and was elected Deputy New Zealand Chair in 1997. He was active in National's West Auckland organisation as a member of MP Brian Neeson's electorate team. Bridges supported Neeson against a challenge by John Key for the National Party candidacy to contest the new seat of Helensville at the 2002 general election. In the following years, Bridges held several senior positions within the party, including sitting on the party's rules committee and serving as chairperson of the Tauranga National Party branch.
Election to Parliament: 2008–2011
In 2008 the incumbent National MP for the Tauranga electorate Bob Clarkson announced his intention not to stand for re-election. Bridges then announced his candidacy for the party's selection to stand in the electorate, and resigned from his roles within the party. In June 2008 Bridges was selected as the party's candidate for the electorate. He was placed at No. 51 on National's party list. Several opinion polls during the campaign suggested Bridges was likely to win the seat by a large margin.
Bridges won the seat with a majority of 11,742 votes, against a field of 11 candidates, including New Zealand First leader Winston Peters. As New Zealand First did not meet the 5% party vote threshold nationally, it was reliant on at least one candidate winning an electorate seat to be represented in Parliament, and Winston Peters's Tauranga candidacy had been its best chance that year.
Bridges sponsored a Private Member's Bill to increase penalties for animal cruelty, which was drawn from the ballot in early 2010. After passing its first reading, the Animal Welfare Amendment Bill was adopted by the Minister of Agriculture David Carter as a Government Bill and was passed into law.
Bridges was re-elected for Tauranga in the 2011 election. In April 2012, Prime Minister John Key appointed him as a Minister outside Cabinet, as Minister for Consumer Affairs, Associate Minister of Transport, and Associate Minister for Climate Change Issues. In January 2013 Bridges moved into the Cabinet and became Minister of Labour and Minister of Energy and Resources. He continued as Associate Minister for Climate Change Issues, but was no longer Minister of Consumer Affairs and Associate Minister of Transport.
Bridges made regular appearances on TVNZ's Breakfast programme as part of the "Young Guns" feature, in which he appeared alongside Labour MP Jacinda Ardern.
In April 2013 Bridges voted against the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill, a bill allowing same-sex couples to marry in New Zealand.
In October 2013, during a TV interview on Campbell Live, Bridges and presenter John Campbell became engaged in a heated discussion about the benefits and risks of offshore oil drilling.
In April 2014, environmental activist group Greenpeace launched a campaign calling for Bridges to be removed as Energy and Resources Minister over an allegation he approved potential oil and gas exploration in Victoria Forest Park, West Coast, but later said he was unaware of having given the approval. Opponents perceived that Bridges had wrongly approved the exploration in a sensitive area, however this was denied by Bridges and John Key.
On 9 March 2015, when a by-election was scheduled to be held in the Northland electorate on 28 March, the National Party candidate Mark Osborne announced with Bridges (then Minister of Transport) that National pledged to upgrade 10 one-lane bridges in the region at a cost of up to $69 million. Opponents criticised the government for using its advantage inappropriately in the Northland by-election campaign, especially since it was later revealed that Bridges had asked officials for information on the 10 one-lane bridges days before the announcement. However, John Key defended the request because Bridges had sought factual information rather than policy advice, which is permitted under the Cabinet Manual rules.