Nick Smith

Nicolas Rex Smith (born 24 December 1964) is a New Zealand politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the National Party from 1990 to 2021. He served as a Cabinet minister, holding various posts including Minister for Building and Housing, Minister for the Environment, Minister for Climate Change Issues, and Minister of Local Government. For a brief time between October and November 2003 he was the deputy leader of the National Party, then in opposition under Don Brash. Smith represented the Nelson electorate from 1996 to 2020 and, before that, was the member for Tasman from 1990 to 1996. Following his defeat in the Nelson electorate in the 2020 election, he served as a list MP for less than a year before retiring from parliament on 10 June 2021 after multiple allegations of bullying were made against him. Smith was elected Mayor of Nelson in the October 2022 New Zealand local elections.