Melissa Lee
Encyclopedia
Melissa Lee (born circa 1966) is a New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 politician. She was elected to the House of Representatives
New Zealand House of Representatives
The New Zealand House of Representatives is the sole chamber of the legislature of New Zealand. The House and the Queen of New Zealand form the New Zealand Parliament....

 as a list MP for the National Party in the 2008 election
New Zealand general election, 2008
The 2008 New Zealand general election was held on 8 November 2008 to determine the composition of the 49th New Zealand parliament. The conservative National Party, headed by its Parliamentary leader John Key, won a plurality of votes and seats, ending 9 years of government dominated by the social...

. She is currently a member of the Commerce and Law and Order committees.

Early life and career

Lee was born in South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

 and grew up in Malaysia before moving to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and then to New Zealand in 1988 with her family. She has a MA Hons
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...

 (First Class) in Communication Studies
Communication studies
Communication Studies is an academic field that deals with processes of communication, commonly defined as the sharing of symbols over distances in space and time. Hence, communication studies encompasses a wide range of topics and contexts ranging from face-to-face conversation to speeches to mass...

. She spent twenty three years in journalism including a five-year stint at the Sunday News
Sunday News
The Sunday News is a New Zealand tabloid newspaper published each weekend by the Fairfax group in Auckland. In addition to a self-described 'punchy' take on the news, it features coverage of weekend sport, entertainment, star gossip, fashion and TV listings.The Sunday News has editorial offices in...

and writing for numerous publications including the New Zealand Herald and The Listener
New Zealand Listener
The New Zealand Listener is a New Zealand magazine. First published in 1939 and edited by Oliver Duff and the Monte Holcroft it originally had a monopoly on the publication of of upcoming television and radio programmes. In the 1980s it lost its monopoly on the publication of upcoming television...

.
She was also the producer of the TV magazine series, Asia Downunder
Asia Downunder
Asia Downunder is a long-running magazine programme, formerly known as Asia Dynamic, reporting on activities of Asians in New Zealand and New Zealand Asians abroad. Its target audience is the Asian population in New Zealand, and the programme is funded by New Zealand On Air...

.

Member of Parliament

In November 2008, Lee became a list MP in the New Zealand parliament. Her maiden speech included sections in English, Māori
Maori language
Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...

, and Korean. In English, she mentioned crime, education, and anti-Asian racism issues in New Zealand. In the Māori section, she mentioned the history of Māori first coming to New Zealand by canoe
Canoe
A canoe or Canadian canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes are usually pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over A canoe (North American English) or Canadian...

 from Hawaiki
Hawaiki
In Māori mythology, Hawaiki is the homeland of the Māori, the original home of the Māori, before they travelled across the sea to New Zealand...

 and compared it to her own migration to New Zealand by aeroplane. Near the end of her speech, she thanked, in Korean, all the people that had given her support "simply by virtue of [their] shared heritage."

Lee is the second Korean, and first Korean woman, to be elected to a non-Korean national legislature. The first Korean to be elected to a foreign national-level office is Jay Kim
Jay Kim
Chang-jun "Jay" Kim is a former politician from California.-Biography:Kim was born in Seoul, South Korea. During the Korean War, his home was destroyed. He immigrated to the United States in 1961, where he graduated from Cal State LA and University of Southern California, earning degrees in civil...

, who was elected to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

 in 1992.

She was ranked as the world's 51st most beautiful female politician in a poll conducted between 10 December 2008 and 19 April 2009 by the Spanish newspaper, 20 minutos
20 minutos
20 minutos is a free Spanish newspaper, with local editions in several Spanish cities, published by "Multiprensa & Mas S.L.", a company founded in Madrid in 1999....

 (20 minutes).

Allegations were made in May 2009 that her production company Asia Vision had spent New Zealand on Air
New Zealand On Air
NZ On Air is an independent New Zealand broadcast funding agency. It is an autonomous crown entity separate from central Government and governed by a Board of six appointed by the Minister of Broadcasting...

 money making a promotional video for the National Party ahead of the 2008 election. Lee called the allegations "ridiculous", saying that all work on the video was done by volunteers. The Green Party
Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand
The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand is a political party that has seats in the New Zealand parliament. It focuses firstly on environmentalism, arguing that all other aspects of humanity will cease to be of concern if there is no environment to sustain it...

 referred the video to the Electoral Commission
Electoral Commission (New Zealand)
The Electoral Commission of New Zealand is a governmental body responsible for administering certain aspects of the country's electoral system....

, saying that it should have been declared as an election expense.
She was later cleared of misuse of funding by an investigation conducted by New Zealand on Air.

Lee used NZ$100,000 of contingency funding to increase the markup for Asia Downunder in violation of her contract with New Zealand on Air, which she described as "an innocent error".

In April 2011, Lee courted controversy when, after she had made a speech supporting the controversially rushed through copyright law 92A, it was later discovered that hours earlier she had tweeted "Ok. Shower... Reading ... And then bed! listening to a compilation a friend did for me of K Pop. Fab. Thanks Jay." which appears to be in direct contradiction of her stance on law 92A.

Mt Albert by-election

On 16 April 2009, Lee announced her candidacy for the National Party nomination in the Mount Albert by-election 2009. and subsequently defeated previous local candidate, Ravi Musuku, to win selection on 4 May 2009.

On 13 May, Lee told a candidates' meeting that the SH20 Waterview Connection
SH20 Waterview Connection
The Waterview Connection is a planned motorway section which will form part of the Western Ring Route through Auckland, New Zealand. It is to connect the stub of State Highway 20 in the south from Mt Roskill to join up with another motorway, State Highway 16 in the west at Point Chevalier, and is a...

 could divert criminals from South Auckland
South Auckland
South Auckland is an imprecisely defined area of Auckland, New Zealand, often stereotyped as a socio-economically disadvantaged, and sometimes rough, urban area with a relatively large Polynesian and Māori population. The name South Auckland is not an official place name but is in common use by New...

 away from the electorate. Lee apologised the next day, saying "if South Auckland people (find) my comments offensive, I apologise. It wasn't about them. It was about criminals." Prime Minister
Prime Minister of New Zealand
The Prime Minister of New Zealand is New Zealand's head of government consequent on being the leader of the party or coalition with majority support in the Parliament of New Zealand...

 John Key
John Key
John Phillip Key is the 38th Prime Minister of New Zealand, in office since 2008. He has led the New Zealand National Party since 2006....

 later said the remark was a "stupid statement to make". Later that day she apologised again saying, "I apologise unreservedly for the comments I made regarding South Auckland... I sincerely regret my remarks."

In the by-election, Lee attracted only 3,542 votes, coming a distant second to Labour's
New Zealand Labour Party
The New Zealand Labour Party is a New Zealand political party. It describes itself as centre-left and socially progressive and has been one of the two primary parties of New Zealand politics since 1935....

 David Shearer
David Shearer
David James Shearer, MBE is a humanitarian worker and politician from New Zealand. He won the Mount Albert by-election on 13 June 2009 to become a Member of the Parliament of New Zealand for the Labour Party...

 with 13,260 votes.

External links

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