Katherine Victoria O'Regan (née Newton, 24 May 1946 – 2 May 2018) was a New Zealand politician. She was a member of parliament from 1984 to 1999, representing the National Party. She served as a minister for the National Government for six of those years. Early life Katherine Victoria Newton was born to farming parents at Te Mata, on the West Coast of the North Island and attended Hamilton Girls' High School. She chose a nursing career but left after two years due to suffering from back problems. After leaving nursing, O'Regan was involved in community organisations like the Plunket Society, SPELD (a non-profit organisation that supports people with dyslexia) and the Hamilton Speech Therapy Association. Political career O'Regan was a voting delegate for the National Party in the Raglan electorate candidate selection ahead of the 1975 election, where she supported Marilyn Waring. O'Regan would work for Waring as her electoral agent for eight years. She was elected to the Waipa County Council in 1977 and served as a county councillor for eight years; she was the first woman to be elected to the council. When Waring, then representing the Waipa electorate, retired from Parliament, O'Regan was selected as the new National Party candidate for the electorate in 1984. She held Waipa for twelve years until it was abolished in 1996. In Opposition, 1984–1990 The National Government was defeated at the 1984 election. On her entry to Parliament, O'Regan sought to highlight the plight of children with specific learning disabilities by introducing a private members bill seeking recognition by the education system of children with these disabilities. It was not successful, but the bill was carried over by the Labour Party in Government. It was finally discharged after 1990. In Government, 1990–1999 National regained the government benches in 1990. In the Fourth National Government, O'Regan was appointed as a Minister outside of Cabinet, as Minister of Consumer Affairs, Associate Minister of Health, Associate Minister of Social Welfare and Associate Minister of Women's Affairs. These remained her portfolios until the 1996 election; she additionally served as Minister of Youth Affairs in 1996. As Associate Minister of Health, she amended the Human Rights Act to outlaw discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and having organisms in the body which might cause disease and established a free breast cancer screening programme. In 1993, O'Regan was awarded the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal.