Twenty-three new members on election-night figures

Press, 27 November 1978, Page 3

Twenty-three new members on election-night figures

On election-night figures, i the House of Representatives will have 23 new memIbers, 14 of them Labour and I nine National. This compares : with 27 new members after i the 1975 General Election, 21 in 1972, and 18 in 1969. I Six of the “new” members, however, are former members of Parliament returning to the Labour caucus after an absence of three years. They are Messrs .1. A. Walking (Palmerston North), F. D. O’Flynn (Island Bay), M. K. Moore (Papanui), M. R. Bassett (Te Atatu), T. K. Burke (West Coast), and J. W. Ridley (Taupo).

Two other former Labour (members of Parliament who I sought to return to the | Labour caucus failed in their I bids. They were a former ! Minister of Agriculture, Mr IC. J. Moyle, who contested I Whangarei. and the former | member for St Albans and I Mayor of Christchurch, Mr IN. G. Pickering, who congested Wellington Central, i Of the five new seats for) I this election, three went to I (National and two to Labour. ) ! Brief biographical details, lof the new members are; I given below.

A university lecturer and secondary school teacher, Dr Bassett, aged 39. was the member for Waitemata from 1972 to 1975. He has been I an Auckland city councillor.! Dr Bassett, married with: two children, is a former) member of the Labour) Party’s New Zealand Council. and a member of the] policy council.

Mr Burke, aged 36, is a secondary school teacher. He is married with four children. Mr Burke was the member for Rangiora from 1972 to 1975. He is a graduate of Canterbury University, and succeeds Mr Paddy Blanchfield, who retired.

A union representative, Mr Butcher, aged 30. made three previous runs for the old Hawke's Bay seat. He is an economics graduate of Victoria University, a member of the Association of Economists, and a former member of the Labour Party’s New Zealand Council.

Mr Caygill, aged 30, a solicitor. is married with one child. He has been a member of the Christchurch CityCouncil since 1971. He is a former president of the University of Canterbury Students’ Association and is a council member of the university.

A 38-year-old chartered I accountant, Mr Cox is mar- . ried with four children. Before going into public pracI tice in Palmerston North, he was in the British and New (Zealand merchant navies, a) .{chief officer with the Union J Steam Ship Company, and 'lan industrial accountant. Mr Cox was born in Oxford, {England. and attended Magjdalen College, Oxford. He | was publicity officer for the (National Party’s Palmerston I North electorate in 1975 and (chairman of the electorate in 1976 and 1977. He was a ■ member of the Plunket Society’s advisory board for I five years from 1972.

Mr Douglas, aged 37, a lawyer, is married, with three children. He is a brother of another member, Mr Roger Douglas (Manurewa). Mr Douglas defeated Mr Winston Peters, the front (man of the National Party’s television advertising campaign.

Mr East, aged 32, married, with one child, has been a city councillor and Deputy Mayor of Rotorua City since 1974. A barrister and solicitor, he is chairman of the Rotorua Airport Committee, a member of the executive of the combined Airport Authorities of New Zealand, and chairman of the Rotorua City Council finance committee. He is a committee member of the Rotorua Conservation Society, on the regional council of the Environmental Defence Society, and patron of the Paraplegic and Physically Disabled Persons Association. He was born in Opotiki and educated at King’s College, Auckland, the University of Auckland, from which he graduated L 1.8., and the Uni- ; versity of Virginia, where he |gained his LI.M.

A sheep, cattle, and crop farmer at Waitahuna, Mr Gray is aged 47, married, with three children. Born in ) Scotland. Mr Gray immigrated to New Zealand in ■ 1952 and worked as a farm (labourer in West Otago be- ■ fore buying his own farm in 11956. He joined the National Party in that year and has been a member of the Clutha electorate executive for 15 years and its chairman for the last 11. He was educated in Scotland and after leaving school spent two years in the Army with the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards. i

I Mrs Hercus, aged 36, has a law degree. She is married (with two sons. She was dep-, uty chairman of the Com-) Imerce Commission from 11975 to 1978, and a member (of the Price Tribunal and Trade Practices Commission from 1973 to 1975. She was) {the national chairman of the -Consumer Rights Campaign ( in 1975. I: I

The manager of his own electrical engineering business, Mr Hunt is aged 47 and married, fie has a Jong association with Ihe National Party and was vicechairman of the Waitakere 1 electorate in 1966. chairman ■ of the Pakuranga branch ’ from 1968 to 1972. and 1 chairman of the Pakuranga i I electorate from 1973 to 1975. U He was educated at Mount! Albert Grammer School and' tl University of Auckland. { from which he graduated: B.E. He is a member of the Auckland Provincial Employ- | ers’ Association and the! Auckland Electrical Contractors’ Association.

Mr Kidd, aged 37. is mar-i! ried with three children. A barrister and solicitor, he is a partner in a Blenheim law - firm and was a late replacement candidate when the sitting member, Mr E. G. Latter, announced his retire-; ment. Mr Kidd was born in Levin and raised on a family { farm there, before attending Horowhenua College and 1 Victoria ' Diversity.

Married with four children, Mr McKinnon is aged 39. He is a real estate manager and farm supervisor. He farmed in many parts of New Zealand and worked as a construction worker and freezing worker before going into real estate in 1973. He was the National Party candidate for Birkenhead in 1969 and 1972.

I Mr McLean, aged 44, mar- e ried, with four children, is 1 lan economist managing a i {consultancy firm. Before his i (present employment he wash la member of the Task Forced

l on Economic and Socia Planning, chief agricultural economist with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, i and team leader to the [United Nations Food and ) Agriculture Organisation project in Tanzania.

A real estate manager. Mr (Maxwell, aged 44. is marIried, with three children. He is a former chairman of the Portage Licensing Trust. In effect, he succeeds Dr A. M. Finlay, who retired from the old Henderson seat.

A social worker and former printer, Mr Moore, aged 29, is married. He is junior vice-president of the Labour Party, and was the member for Eden from 1972 to 1975. He defeated the Minister of Social Welfare (Mr Walker).

Mr O’Flynn, aged 59, is a lawyer. He is married, with four children. He was the! member for Kapiti from! 1972 to 1975. Mr O’Flynn! was chairman of the State' Services Tribunal from 1970 Ito 1972, and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1968. A Wellington city councillor,; he was also an Otakii Borough councillor from 1968 to 1971.

A consulting engineer, Mr Ridley was the member for Taupo from 1972 to 1975. Aged 59, he is married, with four sons. He was formerly project engineer in charge of | the Benmore power project, [and is a former Rhodes I Scholar who graduated from Oxford.

I Mr Rodger is a formci president of the Public Sei vice Association and is now assistant general secretary jof the P.S.A. He is also a [former chairman of the (Combined State Service Organisations. He contested Otago Central in 1963 and Waitaki in 1966 and was a member of the New Zealand

executive of the Labour Party from 1970 to 1977 as well as being a member of its policy council. He is aged 38 and is married .with two children.

|: Mrs Shields is a research I officer. She is aged 37 and I imarried with two children. |i A Wellington Hospital Board |.'leader, she had a narrow ’lead over the National sitting member on election night. She is a co-founder r and former national presi- ■_ dent of the New Zealand e Society for Research on if Women. t. Q

j A senior Public Service j Association official, Mr j Terris, aged 39, is married, J with three children. He is a . Lower Hutt city councillor, ':and an honorary assistant . curate of the St James’s r I Anglican Church in Lower Hutt. I

J A sheep and cattle farmer, .and a lawyer, Mr Thompson, J aged 38, is married, with four children. He is a senior j partner in a law firm in Waikanae and Paraparaumu, and from 1971 to 1974 was I employed by the Hong Kong Government as a Crown Counsel. i

Mr Townshend, aged 46, is married, with four children. He is a farmer, arbitrator and management adviser. He has been a dairy farmer and stud cattle breeder in Paeroa since 1947. He was appointed by the Department of Foreign Affairs as manager of the Korea-New Zealand dairy demonstration farm at Pyongtaek, South Korea, in 1974.

A company director and export consultant, Mr Walding, jged 52, is married, with six daughters. He was >the member of Palmerston (North from 1967 to 1975. and has held several Cabinet posts. He is a former Palmerston North city councillor, and is senior vice-president of the Labour Party.