Jonathan Coleman (politician)

Jonathan David Coleman (born 23 September 1966) is a retired New Zealand politician and medical practitioner, who most recently served as Minister of Health and for Sport and Recreation under the Fifth National Government.

Coleman also served as Minister of Defence and Immigration within the first two terms of that government, and represented the parliamentary constituency Northcote for the National Party from 2005 to 2018.

A member of National's right-wing faction, Coleman has espoused socially conservative views, notably opposing gay marriage and free reassignment healthcare for transgender people.

[citation needed] Coleman worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers as consultant on health sector issues and as a part-time general practitioner in Ōtara.

[16] He commissioned the Defence Mid-Point Rebalancing Review which set out the long term approach, balancing funding, capabilities and policy.

[19] In May 2015, Coleman described the Young Labour's proposal for free gender reassignment surgery for transgender people in New Zealand as a "nutty idea".

[3] When Russell Garbutt moved a motion of no confidence in the minister and emailed him the following morning, he did not expect Coleman to pick up the phone and call [him].

They spoke for more than 10 minutes, with Coleman telling Mr Garbutt the Southern District Health Board (SDHB) was his ''number 1'' priority in respect of its budget woes.