Rangiora candidate in father’s footsteps

Press, 21 June 1984, Page 6

Rangiora candidate in father’s footsteps

Mr Jim Gerard will be the National Party candidate for Rangiora at next month’s General Election. Mr Gerard won the selection from two other candidates on the first ballot at a meeting at Waipara last evening. The member of Parliament for Rangiora, Mr Derek Quigley, who made a surprise announcement at the week-end that he would not seek re-election, said he would give Mr Gerard and the National Party as a whole “all the support they need.”

Mr Gerard has been chairman of the Canter-bury-Westland division of the National Party since 1982. He is a National Party Dominion councillor, a party vice-president, and is a former chairman of the Rangiora electorate committee. He is a close friend of Mr Quigley. Mr Gerard, aged 47, is a fanner at Cheviot. His father, Mr Richard Gerard, was member of Parliament for Mid-Canterbury and Ashburton between 1942 and 1966, and served as Minister of Lands and Forests from 1960 to 1966. In 1982, when Mr Jim Gerard was elected a divisional chairman, he said that he had no aspirations to enter Parliament. Last

evening, he said that that was because he was quite happy with the incumbent member of Parliament.

Now he said he was relaxed and happy about the prospect of entering Parliament. He believed he would fit into the National Party Parliamentary team and did not expect any problems with the party leadership. He said he was confident about his chances of winning in Rangiora, particularly since he would have the help of Mr Quigley, who was highly regarded in the electorate. “The seat should be safe for National and I am very well known throughout the electorate," he said. National had a majority of 932 in Rangiora at the 1981 election. Boundary changes have made it safer for National, increasing its majority on paper to about 1800. Labour would need a 5.3 per cent swing in its favour to win the seat this year. Rangiora was last held by the Labour Party between 1972 and 1975. The present member of Parliament for West Coast, Mr Kerry Burke, won then after the surprise resignation of the National incumbent, Mr Herbert Pickering, because of ill-health.

Mr Quigley said last evening that he did not expect the late change of candidate to damage National’s chances in the electorate. “We lost in 1972 because there was a strong swing against the Government. With the new boundaries, Rangiora is safer for National,” he said. National Party membership in the electorate stood at more than 3500 and had increased in recent days, he said. There was a big turnout at the selection meeting, with more than 170 dele-

gates voting. Mr Quigley said he spoke to the meeting and gave the reasons for his decision to retire. There was a feeling of regret that he was not standing again, but there was strong support for the new candidate. He said he was prepared to work in the electorate to support Mr Gerard. The same applied to the National Party throughout New Zealand. “I have already been asked to give a number of speeches in other electorates, but the first priority is Rangiora,” he said. The unsuccessful candidates at last evening’s selection were Messrs Robert Johnston and Leslie Scott.