Nicolas Rex Smith (born 24 December 1964) is a New Zealand politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the National Party. Smith represented the Nelson electorate from 1996 to 2020 and, before that, was the member for Tasman from 1990 to 1996.
During his career, Smith 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.
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 politics in 2021 after multiple allegations of bullying were made against him. On 8 October 2022, Nick Smith was elected Mayor of Nelson during the 2022 New Zealand local elections.
Education and early career
Smith was born in Rangiora,Canterbury, in 1964, the son of John Smith and Anne Smith. His father was born in New South Wales and came to New Zealand to start a contracting business, building drains and bridges. He has seven siblings; three sisters and four brothers. His father and two brothers all own independent construction crane hire businesses.
Smith was educated at Rangiora High School and was an AFS Scholar to the U.S. He studied at the University of Canterbury where he earned a Bachelor of Engineering degree with first-class honours in civil engineering, and a PhD with a thesis titled The Residual Strength of Soils and Landslide Stability.
Before entering parliament, he worked as an engineer for the Rangiora County Council, and as director of his family construction company. He also served on the Rangiora District Council, unsuccessfully standing while still at secondary school in 1983, and successfully standing again in 1986 aged 21.
Member of Parliament
Fourth National Government, 1990–1999
Nick Smith has been involved in the National Party since his university days. He stood in the 1990 election as the party's candidate in the Tasman electorate. For the 1996 election, a large slice of Tasman was merged into the neighbouring Nelson electorate. Smith opted to contest Nelson and defeated Labour incumbent John Blincoe in the election. He held Nelson until the 2020 general election.
As well as the full ministerial posts mentioned below, Smith has also been an Associate Minister of the Immigration, Social Welfare and Treaty Negotiation portfolios.
Cabinet Minister
In 1996, after serving six years in parliament, Smith was elevated to Cabinet, becoming Minister of Conservation. With this appointment, he replaced the outgoing Minister, Denis Marshall, who had resigned as an eventual consequence of the Cave Creek disaster. In 1997 he gained the additional responsibility of Minister of Corrections. In early 1999, he dropped the Corrections portfolio and became Minister of Education. When National was defeated in the 1999 general election, Smith continued to serve as his party's education spokesperson.
Opposition years, 1999–2008
Leadership struggles
Nick Smith was a supporter of Bill English's bid to replace Jenny Shipley as party leader. When English was successful, Smith's position within the party rose. When English was himself challenged by Don Brash, Smith was one of English's strongest defenders, working very hard to win support against Brash. Eventually, however, English was defeated.
Smith was appointed to the position of deputy leader, presumably to placate members of the English camp. He took up this position on 28 October 2003. Soon, however, he was challenged from within the party based on his behaviour after his elevation, which critics described as "irrational" and "paranoid". Smith's defenders said that the claims were exaggerated and that Smith was merely suffering from stress and exhaustion. Smith returned to Nelson on "stress leave".
When Smith returned to parliament, however, he found himself challenged for the deputy leadership by Gerry Brownlee. Smith and his supporters were angry at this, saying that Brownlee's supporters had taken advantage of Smith's absence to deliberately misrepresent Smith as unstable. Smith was also angry that neither Brownlee nor Brash (who appeared now to support Brownlee) had given any indication of the upcoming challenge. Smith was defeated and lost the deputy leadership on 17 November 2003.