Sarah Dowie
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Invercargill
In office
20 September 2014 – 17 October 2020
Preceded byEric Roy
Succeeded byPenny Simmonds
Majority5,579
Personal details
Born
Sarah Maree Dowie

1974 (age 49–50)
Political partyNational
SpouseMark Billcliff (separated in 2018)
Children2
ProfessionLawyer
Websitesarahdowie.national.org.nz

Sarah Maree Dowie (born 1974)[1] is a New Zealand former politician of the National Party. She was the Member of Parliament for Invercargill from 2014 to 2020.

Early life and career

Dowie's parents, Ann and Alan Dowie,[2] were both police officers.[3] At age 15 in 1990, she was a member of a semi-professional dance group that performed in the Soviet Union.[3] Before her election to Parliament, she worked as a lawyer.[2][3]

Dowie attended the University of Otago, studying law and ecology. After graduating, Dowie worked for the law firm Macalisters and later the Department of Conservation.[3] Dowie joined the National Party and was affiliated with their "Blue Greens" environmentalist faction.[3]

Member of Parliament

New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate List Party
2014–2017 51st Invercargill 57 National
2017–2020 52nd Invercargill 41 National

Political career

Dowie was selected by the National Party to replace retiring MP Eric Roy as the party's Invercargill for the 2014 election. At the time, she was described in the media as "relatively unknown"[4] but was able to retain to retain the seat for National with a large margin over Labour's Lesley Soper.[2][5] Dowie was returned again in 2017 with a slightly reduced margin over new Labour candidate Liz Craig and sitting New Zealand First list MP Ria Bond.

During her first term, Dowie served on a range of select committees. She was deputy chairperson of the Government Administration committee, deputy chairperson of the Local Government and Environment committee and chairperson of the Justice and Electoral committee.

In Dowie's second term, National was in Opposition. She was appointed to Simon Bridges' shadow cabinet as conservation spokesperson and one of only a few members who had not been a minister in the previous Government.[6] In this role she campaigned against Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage's proposed tahr cull,[7] supported recreational whitebaiting,[8] and promoted a member's bill aimed at regulating the shark cage diving industry.[9] She also opposed the Labour government's plans to merge the country's polytechnics into a single entity, Te Pūkenga – New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology.[10]

Jami-Lee Ross scandal and retirement

Botany MP Jami-Lee Ross split from National in October 2018. Shortly after this Newsroom reported that four women claimed to have been sexually harassed by Ross[11][12] and Ross revealed in a radio interview that he had been having an affair with two women including a fellow MP.[13] On 25 January 2019, that MP was revealed to be Dowie.[14] Ross had disclosed her identity to news media in October 2018, but they chose not to name her until it was learned that a police investigation had been launched into a text message allegedly sent by Dowie to Ross.[3][15] However, the police decided that no further action was needed.[16][17]

In 2019 Dowie was re-selected unopposed as National's Invercargill candidate, but in February 2020 announced her decision not to stand for re-election.[18] Her change of heart was attributed to the fallout from the Ross scandal.[19] Southern Institute of Technology chief executive Penny Simmonds was announced as the replacement candidate.[20]

Dowie delivered her valedictory speech on 29 July 2020.[21][22] She criticised the news media for the way it portrayed her when the news broke of her relationship with Ross and accused journalists and political commentators of inaccurate reporting and “downright lies”. She described Ross as a “predator” who was able to “manipulate the media for his agenda” and said when the “media is directly party to it, it is the media fraternity that needs to audit themselves as to their ethics and their conscious peddling of sexism and patriarchy”. Dowie said if it takes for her to be “New Zealand’s ‘scarlet woman’ to highlight that situation, “then so be it”, and that New Zealand has a long way to go with how it views women.

Her speech was met with a standing ovation by MPs throughout the debating chamber. Dowie gave a number of high-profile interviews with news media following the announcement of her retirement from Parliament, including with New Zealand Herald senior writer David Fisher,[23] Stuff’s Andrea Vance,[24] and Newsroom’s Melanie Reid.[25] In these interviews she described Ross as psychologically, sexually and emotionally abusive and called for an overhaul of the way in which women MPs are treated.

Dowie also wrote an op-ed for Newsroom providing advice to other women caught in abusive relationships including breaking off contact with the abuser and reaching out to and confiding in friends.[26]

Post-Parliamentary career

In exit interviews, Dowie stated her intention to work as a consultant championing Southland and shepherding policy through central and local government.

In January 2021 she was announced as the chief executive of Able Charitable Trust, a mental health charity.[27]

Personal life

Sarah Dowie is married to Mark Billcliff, a former first class cricketer for Otago, but it is understood they have separated.[28] Dowie has two young children.[2]

References

  1. ↑ "Roll of members of the New Zealand House of Representatives, 1854 onwards" (PDF). New Zealand Parliament. 24 May 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 December 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Berwick, Louise; Mcdougall, Nicci; Mcleod, Hannah (20 September 2014). "Soper won't stand again as Dowie wins city vote". The Southland Times. Archived from the original on 15 August 2017. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Savory, Logan (25 January 2019). "Sarah Dowie: A journey from talented dancer to representing Invercargill in parliament". Stuff.co.nz. Archived from the original on 26 January 2019. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  4. ↑ "Invercargill Nats hopeful hits ground running". The Southland Times. 24 March 2014. Archived from the original on 24 March 2014. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  5. ↑ "Official Count Results – Invercargill (2014)". Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 8 April 2016. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  6. ↑ "Bridges reveals new-look National". Otago Daily Times Online News. 11 March 2018. Archived from the original on 21 April 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  7. ↑ "Confusion surrounds South Island Himalayan Tahr cull start". Stuff. 27 September 2018. Archived from the original on 8 February 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  8. ↑ Sarah, Dowie (6 August 2019). "Comment: Standing up for whitebaiting and fighting for polytechnic". New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 21 August 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  9. ↑ "Invercargill MP's Bill to regulate shark cage diving pulled from ballot in Parliament". Stuff. 6 September 2018. Archived from the original on 29 November 2018. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  10. ↑ "Sarah Dowie criticises 'closed meeting' on SIT merger". Stuff. 9 August 2019. Archived from the original on 9 August 2019. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  11. ↑ Reid, Melanie; Mason, Cass (18 October 2018). "Jami-Lee Ross: Four women speak out". Newsroom. Archived from the original on 19 October 2018. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  12. ↑ "Four women accuse Jami-Lee Ross of harassment, bullying". Radio New Zealand. 18 October 2018. Archived from the original on 18 October 2018. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  13. ↑ du Plessis-Allan, Heather (19 October 2018). "Exclusive: Watch – Jami-Lee Ross admits to affairs with two women". Newstalk ZB. Archived from the original on 18 February 2019. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  14. ↑ Vance, Andrea (2022). Blue Blood: The inside story of the National Party in crisis. Auckland: HarperCollins. p. 124. ISBN 978-1-7755-4215-5.
  15. ↑ "Barry Soper: Sarah Dowie, the police inquiry, and the text from her phone". Newstalk ZB. Archived from the original on 25 January 2019. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  16. ↑ Coughlan, Thomas (31 July 2019). "No charges for Sarah Dowie in relation to text". Stuff.co.nz. Archived from the original on 31 July 2019. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  17. ↑ "Invercargill MP Sarah Dowie won't be charged over 'you deserve to die' message to Jami-Lee Ross". New Zealand Herald. 31 July 2019. Archived from the original on 1 August 2019. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  18. ↑ Walls, Jason (11 February 2020). "Sarah Dowie, David Carter, Nicky Wagner – National MPS not contesting 2020 election". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 11 February 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  19. ↑ "'We all do things we are not proud of' says outgoing Invercargill MP Sarah Dowie". Stuff. 17 February 2020. Archived from the original on 15 July 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  20. ↑ "Education boss Penny Simmonds to run for Invercargill seat". Stuff. 19 May 2020. Archived from the original on 8 October 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  21. ↑ "New Zealand Parliament Hansard". New Zealand Parliament.
  22. ↑ "Sarah Dowie comes out swinging in valedictory speech, calls for better treatment of women in NZ". TVNZ. Archived from the original on 14 November 2020. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  23. ↑ "Exclusive: MP Sarah Dowie on leaving politics, Jami-Lee Ross". NZ Herald. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  24. ↑ "Sarah Dowie: Other women were my harshest critics". Stuff. 25 July 2020. Archived from the original on 13 November 2020. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  25. ↑ "'He said he'd destroy me ... and here we are'". Newsroom. 31 July 2020. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  26. ↑ "MP: my advice to women trapped by predators". Newsroom. 1 August 2020. Archived from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  27. ↑ "Former Invercargill MP Sarah Dowie takes chief executive role at mental health charity". Stuff. 29 January 2021. Archived from the original on 30 January 2021. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  28. ↑ Houlahan, Mike (26 January 2019). "Dowie's reign as Invercargill MP looks to be over". Otago Daily Times. Archived from the original on 31 January 2019. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
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