Editing Michael Laws (section)

{{Short description|New Zealand politician (born 1957)}}
{{For|the English cricketer|Michael Laws (cricketer)}}
{{BLP sources|date=September 2015}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2014}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Michael Laws
<!-- Otago Regional Councillor -->| term_start3         = 1990
| children            = 5
| death_place         = 
| death_date          = 
| residence           = Cromwell
| birth_place         = [[Wairoa]], New Zealand
| birth_date          = {{birth year and age|1957}}
| successor3          = Electorate abolished
<!-- Personal details -->| predecessor3        = 
| term_end3           = 1996
| parliament3         = New Zealand
| office1             = Deputy Chair of [[Otago Regional Council]]
| constituency_MP3    = [[Hawkes Bay (New Zealand electorate)|Hawkes Bay]]
| successor2          = [[Annette Main]]
<!-- Parliament -->| predecessor2        = [[Chas Poynter]]
| term_end2           = 2010
| term_start2         = 2004
| office2             = 26th [[Mayor of Whanganui]]
| successor1          = Lloyd McCall
| predecessor1        = Gretchen Robertson
| term_end1           = 
| term_start1         = 2019
| profession          = Broadcaster and writer
| termend1            = 2022
}}
'''Michael Laws''' (born 1957) is a [[New Zealand]] politician, broadcaster and writer. Laws was a [[New Zealand Parliament|Member of Parliament]] for six years, starting in 1990, initially for the [[New Zealand National Party|National Party]]. In Parliament he voted against his party on multiple occasions and in 1996 defected to the newly founded [[New Zealand First]] party, but resigned from Parliament the same year following a scandal in which he selected a company part-owned by his wife for a government contract.

Laws has also been a media personality, working as a [[Radio Live]] morning [[Talkback radio|talkback]] host and a longstanding ''[[The Sunday Star-Times]]'' columnist.

Laws has held several roles in [[Local government in New Zealand|local government]] since 1995. He has been elected as a councillor to [[Napier City Council]] (1995–1996), [[Whanganui District Council]] (2013–2014) and [[Otago Regional Council]] (2016 – present), as a member of [[Whanganui District Health Board]], and as [[Mayor of Whanganui]] (2004–2010).