Shane Reti

Shane Raymond Reti (born 5 June 1963) is a New Zealand politician who was elected to the New Zealand parliament at the 2014 general election as a representative of the New Zealand National Party. He has been the deputy leader of National since 10 November 2020.
Early life and family.
Born in Hamilton in 1963, Reti is of Māori descent, and has tribal affiliations to Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Hine and Ngāti Kura. He was educated at Hamilton Boys' High School and Minidoka County High School in Idaho, United States. He then studied at the University of Waikato from 1981 to 1982 and the University of Auckland between 1982 and 1987 and in 1989, graduating from the latter with a Bachelor of Human Biology in 1985, MB ChB in 1987 and a Diploma in Obstetrics in 1989. He was also awarded a Diploma in Dermatological Science by the University of Wales, Cardiff in 1991.
Reti served in the Territorial Force from 1983 to 1987. He played badminton for Waikato between 1978 and 1982.
Reti has three adult children: two daughters and one son.
Professional career.
Reti worked as a general practitioner for 17 years. For seven years he served as a member of the Northland District Health Board. In the 2006 New Year Honours he was awarded a Queen's Service Medal for public services.
In 2007 Reti was awarded a Harkness Fellowship and moved to Massachusetts to work at Harvard University. Reti remained in Boston for six years and resisted offers by Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Plymouth and Harvard Medical School to extend his stay.
Political career.
Fifth National Government, 2014–2017.
Early in 2014, Reti won the National Party nomination in the safe electorate against sitting list MP Paul Foster-Bell for the . At the , he had a large margin over Labour's Kelly Ellis.
During the Northland by-election, Reti was accused of bullying Alex Wright of the Pipiwai Titoki Advocacy group, a group campaigning to seal the "dusty and dangerous foresty roads" in Northland. Wright claimed that Reti rang her and told her to keep quiet until after the by-election or get nothing. Reti responded that he was attempting to help the group.
Sixth Labour Government, 2017–present.
During the , Reti was re-elected in Whangārei, defeating Labour candidate Tony John Savage by a margin of 10,967 votes. Following the formation of the Labour-led coalition government, Reti became National's Associate Spokesperson for Health and Deputy Chaiperson of the Health Select Committee. He was later appointed as the party's spokesperson for "data and cybersecurity" and "disability issues." In January 2019, Reti was designated as National's spokesperson for "tertiary education, skills, and employment."
Between 25 March and 26 May 2020, Reti was a member of the Epidemic Response Committee, a select committee that considered the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 2 July, Reti was promoted to number 13 on the National Party's list ranking within Todd Muller's shadow cabinet and also given the associate drug reform portfolio.
On 15 July 2020, Judith Collins, the new Leader of the Opposition, announced that Reti was to be promoted to Spokesperson for Health for National.
During the 2020 New Zealand general election held on 17 October, preliminary results had Reti ahead of Labour candidate Emily Henderson in the Whangārei electorate by 162 votes. Following the publication of official results on 6 November, he lost the seat to Henderson by 431 votes. He returned to Parliament on the National Party list.
On 10 November, Reti was unanimously elected as the deputy leader of the National Party during a party caucus meeting.
Views and positions.
Obesity.
In mid-November 2020, Dr Reti supported National Party leader Judith Collins' earlier remarks about obesity being a matter of personal responsibility. Reti said that National had a "good obesity framework" and that people could be trusted to make the right choice with the "right information." While acknowledging that socio-economic and genetics were factors in obesity, he added there were other reasons including medical factors for putting on weight.