Mr Courtney to stand again

Press, 15 June 1983, Page 3

Mr Courtney to stand again

PA Nelson A former member of Parliament for Nelson, Mr Mel Courtney, intends to stand as an independent candidate in next year’s General Election, and for the Nelson City Council in this year’s local-body elections. His intention, confirmed in an interview yesterday, is to regain the Parliamentary seat he lost in 1981, and to repeat the tandem role he fulfilled as both a Nelson City councillor and member of Parliament in the late 19705. Mr Courtney, who will open his fifth supermarket in Nelson next week, was a Nelson City councillor from 1974 to 1980. He beetle the

Labour member of Parliament for Nelson after a byelection in early 1976 but left the Labour Party in 1981. He remained in Parliament as an independent member for Nelson until his General Election defeat in November of that year by the Labour candidate, Mr P. I. E. Woollaston. Mr Courtney, aged 40, said he wanted to get back into the public arena after an 18-month break. “I like being where the decisions are being made. The; local-body elections in October are the first opportunity for me to do this since my defeat Tat the polls in the last General Election,” he said.