Amy Adams

Amy Juliet Adams (née Milnes; born 19 May 1971) is a former New Zealand politician of the New Zealand National Party and the current chancellor of the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. She was the Member of Parliament for Selwyn from 2008 to 2020, when she retired. Adams' prior career was as a lawyer. She served as New Zealand's Minister for the Environment, Minister for Communications and Minister of Justice in the Fifth National Government. Early life and family Adams was born in 1971. When she was two, her mother divorced her father, raising her and her sister Belinda alone. Adams attended Rangitoto College on the North Shore of Auckland, where she was friends with Louise Upston (also later a National Party politician), then graduated from the University of Canterbury with a Bachelor of Laws with First-Class Honours. Her first employment as a lawyer was in Invercargill, but she soon moved back to Canterbury. She became a partner in the Christchurch law firm Mortlock McCormack. Adams married Robert Donald "Don" Adams, with whom she has two children. The couple live in Aylesbury, close to the fault line and epicentre of the 2010 Canterbury earthquake. They also own three farms in Darfield, Kirwee, and Te Kauwhata. The first two of these are sheep and crop farms in Canterbury, and within the area of the Central Plains Water scheme. Through their company Amdon Farms Ltd, the Adams family is a shareholder of Central Plains Water. The Te Kauwhata farm is located in the Waikato.