Geoff Simmons

Geoffrey Leonard Simmons (born 27 December 1974) is an economist and former leader of The Opportunities Party (TOP), a political party in New Zealand. He stood for TOP in the February 2017 Mount Albert by-election, in the Wellington Central electorate in the 2017 general election, and in the Rongotai electorate in the 2020 general election.

Geoff Simmons
2nd Leader of The Opportunities Party
In office August 2018 – 3 November 2020
Preceded by	Gareth Morgan
Succeeded by	Shai Navot
1st Deputy Leader of The Opportunities Party
In office 24 May 2017 – 14 December 2017
Leader	Gareth Morgan
Succeeded by	Teresa Moore
Personal details
Born	(1974-12-27) 27 December 1974 (age 49) New Zealand
Political party	TOP
Alma mater	University of Auckland

Early life

Simmons grew up in Ōkaihau (Far North) and West Auckland,^[1] the son of two teachers.^[2] He graduated in economics from the University of Auckland.^[3] He worked as an economic analyst for the New Zealand Treasury from 1999 to 2003.^[4][3][1] He worked as an economic advisor for the UK Home Office in 2003–05 and then for the East Midlands Development Agency in 2005–08.^[4] He was the general manager and an economist for the Morgan Foundation^[2] (founded by Gareth Morgan) in Wellington from 2009 to 2016.^[3][4][1] He has co-authored four books with Morgan, on health (Health Cheque: The Truth We Should All Know about New Zealand's Public Health System), fishing (Hook, Line and Blinkers: Everything Kiwis Never Wanted to Know about Fishing), Antarctica (Ice, Mice and Men: the Issues Facing our Far South) and food (Appetite for Destruction: Food – the Good, the Bad and the Fatal).^[5] He is a Lancet Commission on Obesity Fellow.^[6]

Simmons has done acting, including improvisational theatre, since he was at secondary school. He has performed with the Improv Bandits, a professional troupe in Auckland, Best on Tap in Wellington, and Stagecraft at the Gryphon Theatre in Wellington. He teaches with the Wellington Improv Troupe.^[3]

Political career

2017 general election

See also: The Opportunities Party § 2017 general election

Simmons speaking at the 2017 Wellington Central candidates debate

In the February 2017 Mount Albert by-election, Simmons stood as a candidate for the Opportunities Party (TOP), founded by Gareth Morgan.^[2][7] He came third, with 623 votes, 4.56% of 13,649 valid votes.^[8]

On 24 May 2017, Gareth Morgan announced that Simmons as the deputy leader of TOP and their candidate in the Wellington Central electorate in the 2017 New Zealand general election.^[9][2] During the 2017 election for Wellington Central held on 23 September, Simmons came fourth place with 2,892 votes.^[10]

TOP revamp and leadership

See also: The Opportunities Party § Post election developments

In December 2017, three months after the election, Morgan resigned as leader and Simmons and two candidates also stepped down from their roles.^[11] In August 2018, TOP appointed Simmons as interim leader until an election of party members could be held to determine a replacement to Morgan. In the ensuing internal leadership election, Simmons contested the position with four other candidates. On 8 December 2018, the party board announced Simmons had been successful.^[12]

During the TOP's party relaunch held in October 2019, Simmons delivered a speech advocating a universal basic income and "breaking the Labour / National duopoly".^[13]

2020 election

See also: The Opportunities Party § 2020 general election

In July 2020, Simmons announced that he would contest the Rongotai electorate during the 2020 New Zealand general election.^[14] At the beginning of his campaign for the seat Simmons spelled the name of the electorate incorrectly in his advertising as "Rongatai".^[15]

During the 2020 election held on 17 October, Simmons came fourth place in Rongotai with 2,794 votes.^[16] Based on full results published on 6 November, the TOP party won 43,449 party votes (1.5% of the popular vote).^[17] Following the election results, Simmons and deputy leader Shai Navot emailed members, supporters, and donors, thanking them for their support.^[18]

During the party's first annual general meeting held on 3 November, Simmons resigned as leader of TOP.^[19]

Electoral history

2017 Mount Albert by-election

The following table shows the final results:^[20]

2017 Mount Albert by-election
Notes: Blue background denotes the winner of the by-election. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list prior to the by-election. Yellow background denotes the winner of the by-election, who was a list MP prior to the by-election. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jacinda Ardern	10,495	76.89
	Green	Julie Anne Genter	1,564	11.45
	Opportunities	Geoff Simmons	623	4.56
	People's Party	Vin Tomar	218	1.59
	Socialist Aotearoa	Joe Carolan	189	1.38
	Independent	Penny Bright	139	1.01
	Legalise Cannabis	Abe Gray	97	0.71
	Independent	Adam Amos	81	0.59
	Independent	Dale Arthur	54	0.39
	Human Rights Party	Anthony Van den Heuvel	34	0.24
	Independent	Peter Wakeman	30	0.21
	Not A Party	Simon Smythe	19	0.13
	Communist League	Patrick Brown	16	0.11
Informal votes			90	0.65
Total Valid votes			13,649	30.00
	Labour hold	Majority	8,931	65.43

2017 Wellington Central general election

2017 general election: Wellington Central[21]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	Labour	Y Grant Robertson		20,873	49.26	−2.38	16,500	38.29	+14.51
	National	Nicola Willis		10,910	25.75	−4.34	13,156	30.53	−7.01
	Green	James Shaw		6,520	15.39	+2.15	9,198	21.34	−8.16
	Opportunities	Geoff Simmons		2,892	6.82	—	2,538	5.89	—
	NZ First	Andy Foster		797	1.88	+0.37	972	2.26	−1.32
	Independent	Gayaal Iddamalgoda		161	0.38	—
	ACT	Michael Warren		131	0.31	—	330	0.77	+0.07
	Independent	Peter Robinson		71	0.17	−0.11
	Independent	Bob Wessex		19	0.04	—
	Māori Party						225	0.52	−0.25
	Legalise Cannabis						55	0.13	−0.19
	Conservative						29	0.07	−1.44
	United Future New Zealand						28	0.06	−0.24
	Mana						14	0.03	−1.45[lower-alpha 1]
	Ban 1080						13	0.03	−0.02
	Outdoors						11	0.03	—
	People's Party						10	0.03	—
	Internet						9	0.02	−1.46[lower-alpha 2]
	Democrats						6	0.01	−0.06
Informal votes				194			72
Total valid votes				42,374			43,094
Turnout				43,166	86.56[22]	+2.42
	Labour hold		Majority	9,963	23.51	+1.95

2020 Rongotai general election

2020 general election: Rongotai[23]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	Labour	Y Paul Eagle		25,926	57.11	+5.39	23,878	52.31	+8.05
	Green	Teall Crossen		6,719	14.80	-0.15	10,765	23.58	+5.82
	National	David Patterson		6,447	14.20	−10.86	6,013	13.17	−14.84
	Opportunities	Geoff Simmons		3,387	7.46	+3.37	1,272	2.79	-1.83
	ACT	Nicole McKee		965	2.13	+1.86	1,795	3.93	+3.59
	NZ First	Taylor Arneil		472	1.04	-1.04	883	1.93	-1.71
	New Conservative	Bruce Welsh		431	0.95	+0.40	232	0.51	-0.37
	Integrity	Troy Mihaka		162	0.36	—
	Independent	Don Newt McDonald		110	0.24	—
	Māori Party						201	0.44	-0.06
	Advance NZ						184	0.40	—
	Legalise Cannabis						70	0.15	-0.01
	ONE						45	0.1	—
	Sustainable NZ						27	0.06	—
	Outdoors						21	0.04	+0.01
	Vision NZ						21	0.04	—
	Social Credit						10	0.02	+0.01
	TEA						7	0.015	—
	Heartland						7	0.015	—
Informal votes				779			259
Total valid votes				45,398			45,649
Turnout				45,649	?	?
	Labour hold		Majority	19,207	42.31	+15.65

Leadership elections

2018 Opportunities Party leadership election

Candidate		Votes	%
	Geoff Simmons	678	65.57
	Amy Stevens	206	19.92
	Jessica Hammond-Doube	137	13.25
	Donna Pokere-Phillips	11	1.06
	Anthony Singh	2	0.19
Majority		472	45.64
Turnout		1,034	—

^[24]

References

1. "Geoff Simmons". TOP. Archived from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
2. Manktelow, Tim (14 August 2017). "Interview with Geoff Simmons". Salient. Archived from the original on 24 September 2017. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
3. "Not my day job: economic improv". The Big Idea. Te Aria Nui Charitable Trust. 9 November 2015. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
4. "Geoff Simmons". LinkedIn. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
5. "2016 speakers". Farming for the Future. Archived from the original on 24 September 2017. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
6. "Lancet Obesity Fellows". World Obesity Federation. Archived from the original on 24 September 2017. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
7. Lloyd Burr (1 February 2017). "Opportunities Party reveals Mt Albert candidate, new slogan". Newshub. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
8. "Mt Albert By-election Official Results". Electoral Commission (New Zealand). 8 March 2017. Archived from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
9. "Gareth Morgan announces TOP first set of candidates". Scoop. 24 May 2017. Archived from the original on 14 December 2018. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
10. "Wellington Central - Official Result". Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 17 January 2020. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
11. Walters, Laura (14 December 2017). "TOP loses leader Gareth Morgan and three other candidates in matter of hours". Stuff. Archived from the original on 21 July 2019. Retrieved 14 December 2017.
12. "Parliamentary Leader Results" (PDF). d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
13. "TOP Brand Launch". The Opportunities Party. 8 October 2019. Archived from the original on 8 October 2020. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
14. MacManus, Joel (9 July 2020). "TOP leader Geoff Simmons announces run in Rongotai". Stuff. Archived from the original on 21 October 2020. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
15. "The Opportunities Party's Geoff Simmons misspells electorate's name in advertising campaign". The New Zealand Herald. 24 September 2020. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
16. "Rongotai - Official Result". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 25 October 2020.^{[permanent dead link]}
17. "2020 General Election and Referendums - Official Result". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 6 November 2020.^{[permanent dead link]}
18. Orsman, Bernard (18 October 2020). "The New Conservatives and TOP plan to keep going after failing to make it into Parliament". New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 19 October 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
19. "The Opportunities Party leader Geoff Simmons resigns, interim leader named". Stuff. 3 November 2020. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020.
20. "Official Count Results – Mount Albert". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
21. "Official Count Results (2017) – Wellington Central". Electoral Commission. 7 October 2017.
22. "Party Votes and Turnout by Electorate". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
23. "Rongotai - Official Results". New Zealand Electoral Commission. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
24. "Parliamentary Leader Results" (PDF). d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net. Retrieved 26 February 2021.

1. 2017 Mana Party swing is relative to the votes for Internet-Mana in 2014; it shared a party list with the Internet Party in the 2014 election
2. 2017 Internet Party swing is relative to the votes for Internet-Mana in 2014; it shared a party list with Mana Party in the 2014 election