Go to:

• Home >
• Ministers >
• Hon Phil Heatley

Hon Phil Heatley

Hon Phil Heatley is the Minister of Housing and the Minister of Energy and Resources. He has been the National MP for Whangarei since winning the seat in 1999. Mr Heatley gained a Master's degree with Honours in Horticultural Engineering in 1990. During the late 1990s he worked at a national level on behalf of the dairy industry to improve the environmental performance of dairy farmers and the fulfilment of Resource Management Act (1991) requirements. As an Opposition MP Mr Heatley was National Party spokesman on energy, fishing, forestry and housing.

In 2008 he was appointed to serve in the National Government as Minister of Housing and Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture. One of his major achievements in the latter portfolio was an overhaul of the legislation governing the aquaculture industry. It has created a framework to foster environmentally sustainable aquaculture development to enable it to become a $1 billion industry by 2025. In the Housing portfolio, Mr Heatley has been driving the Government’s social housing reform programme. He is also keen to ensure Housing New Zealand focuses on its core business of housing those in greatest need, and the improvement of the State housing stock for those tenants who need safe, secure and healthy housing.

In December 2011 Mr Heatley was reappointed to the Housing portfolio and appointed Minister of Energy and Resources. The key challenge in the Energy and Resources portfolio is to make the most of New Zealand’s abundant energy potential and provide for well managed energy development that contributes to our broader economic development objectives in a safe and environmentally responsible way.