Penelope Elsie Simmonds CNZM MP (born September 1959)[2] is a New Zealand politician, Member of Parliament and a Minister in the House of Representatives for the National Party.

[3] Following the 2023 New Zealand general election, Simmonds assumed the disability issues, environmental, tertiary education and skills, and associate social development and employment portfolios in the Sixth National Government.

[6] Shadbolt attended her 2020 election night party, for which he received criticism from city councillor and former Labour MP Lesley Soper for listing it as an official mayoral engagement.

[14] Simmonds defeated Labour list MP Liz Craig in the 2020 election, retaining the Invercargill seat for National by a margin of 224 votes.

[20] Following reports of inadequate leadership, low enrollments, and a NZ$110 million deficit at Te Pūkenga, Simmonds questioned the viability of the new educational provider.

She also criticised the creation of 180 administrative jobs at Te Pūkenga's Hamilton headquarters in the light of 600 projected redundancies resulting from the polytechnic merger process.

Simmonds also claimed that Te Pūkenga's CEO Stephen Town's departure on "special leave" signaled significant problems with the new education provider.

[4] In early December 2023 Simmonds, in her capacity as Tertiary Education Minister, confirmed that the Government would be dissolving the mega polytechnic Te Pūkenga and replacing it with eight to ten institutions.

[28] That same day, Finance Minister Nicola Willis called Disabilities officials and Simmonds in for an urgent briefing, after families were blindsided by news of cuts to respite care.

[7][34] She received a Woolf Fisher Fellowship in 2000, and was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to education, sport and the community, in the 2016 New Year Honours.