Monday, 09 November 2026 09:13

Another Ex-Feds President Off To The Beehive

Written by  Sudesh Kissun
Katie Milne Katie Milne

Another former Federated Farmers national president is heading to Parliament.

Katie Milne, who served as Feds president between 2017 and 2020, is National’s new MP for West Coast-Tasman.

She defeated labour’s Rory Paterson by 6600 votes after the preliminary count last night.

The seat was previously held by National’s Maureen Pugh, who retired this year.

Milne is a dairy farmer near Lake Brunner and is an experienced governance professional, having served on multiple boards including Predator Free 2050, World Farmers Organisation and Westland Milk Products.

She was Fonterra’s New Zealand Dairy Woman of the Year in 2015 and was New Zealand’s Women of Influence Rural winner in the same year.

She joins another former Feds president, Andrew Hoggard who entered Parliament in 2023 as a ACT List MP.

Hoggard served as Associate Agriculture Minister in the outgoing Government and won re-election last night.

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