Tim Macindoe

Timothy Harley Macindoe (born 1961) is a New Zealand politician who has served as the mayor of Hamilton since 2025. Macindoe was previously a Member of Parliament for the Hamilton West electorate from 2008 to 2020. He served as the Minister of Customs for the final six months of the Fifth National Government.

Early life and career Macindoe was born in Auckland, New Zealand, and boarded at King's College for his secondary education. He later attended Otago University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in History. Macindoe was a secondary teacher for 17 years. He taught at several independent schools, including Christ's College, King's College, and St Peter's School in Cambridge, where he was deputy principal for six years. He has also held roles in retail, agriculture and as a prison tutor.

Immediately prior to his election to Parliament in 2008, he was chief executive of the Music and Art Waikato Trust (Arts Waikato), based in Hamilton. He thereafter joined the National Party and stood unsuccessfully in 1999 (as a list-only candidate, ranked 52nd), 2002 (in Tauranga, ranked 39th), and 2005 (in Hamilton West, ranked 62nd).

Through the same period, Macindoe held senior roles within the New Zealand National Party, including as chairman of the Hamilton West electorate, deputy chair of National's Central North Island regional organisation, and Central North Island regional policy chair.

During his first term within Parliament, Macindoe was the deputy chair of the regulations review committee and a member of the social services committee. He continued sitting on the social services committee and also chaired the justice committee until 2013, when he was selected as the National Party's junior whip and transferred to the education and science committee.

In the 2014 New Zealand general election, Macindoe retained Hamilton West, defeating Moroney with a majority of 5,784 votes. Following the 2014 election, he was named as the National Party's senior whip. He held these positions for six months until the government was defeated at the 2017 general election.

In the 2017 New Zealand general election, Macindoe won Hamilton West by a margin of 7,731 votes, defeating Labour candidate Dr Gaurav Sharma. Following the formation of the Sixth Labour Government in October 2017, Macindoe was appointed the party's spokesperson for ACC, seniors and civil defense. He was also shadow attorney general between 2019 and 2020, sat on the education and workforce and the justice committee, and was deputy chair of the foreign affairs, defence and trade committee.

At the 2020 general election, Macindoe was defeated in Hamilton West by Labour's Gaurav Sharma by a margin of 6,267 votes. At number 23 on the National Party list, Macindoe was ranked too low to return to Parliament on the party list. He did not seek the National Party nomination for the 2022 Hamilton West by-election, which was held following Sharma's resignation.

Hamilton City Council Macindoe was elected to the East Ward of the Hamilton City Council in a February 2024 by-election, replacing Ryan Hamilton after he was elected to parliament. Alongside his council role, Macindoe took up a paid lobbyist position for the University of Waikato, advocating local councils to support the creation of the university's medical school.

Macindoe ran in the 2025 Hamilton mayoral election and to retain his council seat in the 2025 elections. During the 2025 Hamilton mayoral election, Macindoe ran on a platform of "cost reductions" including lower rates and "slimming down" the Hamilton City Council. Macindoe was confirmed to have won the Mayoral Election on 18 October 2025 and was sworn is as Mayor for the 2025-2028 electoral term on 22 October 2025.

Personal life and community involvement He is married to Anne Macindoe, and they have two daughters. .

Macindoe served on the boards of two local schools. Subsequently, he was chairperson of Waikato Diocesan School's PTA for four years.

Same-sex marriage Macindoe opposed the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Act 2013, which legalized same-sex marriage in New Zealand. In Parliament, Macindoe cited his committed Christian beliefs in supporting his position, arguing that same-sex relationships could "never be regarded as true marriage" because they were "intrinsically different", and that "the nature of marriage should not be interfered with".

Euthanasia MacIndoe voted against the End of Life Choice Act 2019 at all three readings.

Abortion MacIndoe voted against the Abortion Legislation Act 2020 at all three readings.