Belinda Jane Vernon (born 1958) is a former New Zealand politician. She was an MP from 1996 to 2002, representing the National Party.

Early life

Vernon attended

Remuera Intermediate School Remuera Intermediate School (R.I) is a school catering for 11 to 13 year olds in Remuera, Auckland, New Zealand. It was founded in 1954. The current principal of the school is Kyle Brewerton. The school's current student count consists of 867 st ...

(1970–71) and Diocesan School for Girls (1972–76). She gained a

BComm A Bachelor of Commerce (abbreviated BComm or BCom; also, ''baccalaureates commercii'') is an undergraduate degree in business, usually awarded in Canada, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Ireland, New Zealand, Ghana, South Africa, Myanmar, ...

from the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

. She commenced her professional life as an accountant for a

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

shipping company. Back in New Zealand, she became financial controller, and then company secretary, for a

trans-Tasman Trans-Tasman is an adjective used primarily to signify the relationship between Australia and New Zealand. The term refers to the Tasman Sea, which lies between the two countries. For example, ''trans-Tasman commerce'' refers to commerce betwee ...

shipping company.

Member of Parliament

The voters of the

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

seat of Maungakiekie elected Vernon as their electorate

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

in the 1996 election, but she lost the seat to

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Mark Gosche Mark James Gosche (born 2 December 1955) is a New Zealand politician. He is a member of the Labour Party. He was born in Auckland to Samoan parents, and has been active in New Zealand's Pacific Islander community. Biography Early life and care ...

in the 1999 election, returning to Parliament as a

list MP A list MP is a member of parliament (MP) elected from a party list rather than from by a geographical constituency. The place in Parliament is due to the number of votes that the party won, not to votes received by the MP personally. This occurs ...

. In the 2002 election she failed to re-take Maungakiekie, and owing to the collapse of National's vote that year, was not high enough on the

party list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can ...

to return to Parliament. From 2001, Vernon served as National's spokesperson for Transport and for Arts, Culture and Heritage.

After politics

Vernon was a trustee of the

Motutapu Motutapu Island (otherwise known as ''Motutapu'') is a island in the Hauraki Gulf to the northeast of the city of Auckland, New Zealand. The island is part of the Hauraki Gulf Maritime Park. Its full name, rarely used, is ''Te Motutapu a Taikeh ...

Restoration Trust from 2002–2012. On 1 July 2011 she was appointed as a director at

GNS Science GNS Science ( mi, Te Pū Ao), officially registered as the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences Limited, is a New Zealand Crown Research Institute. It focuses on geology, geophysics (including seismology and volcanology), and nuclear sc ...

. On 27 February 2013 she was appointed to the board of

Maritime New Zealand Maritime New Zealand (New Zealand Maritime Safety Authority) is a Crown entity and also a state maritime safety authority responsible for protecting the maritime transport sequence and marine environment within New Zealand and maintaining safety ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vernon, Belinda 1958 births Living people New Zealand National Party MPs Women members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand list MPs Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand MPs for Auckland electorates University of Auckland alumni Unsuccessful candidates in the 2002 New Zealand general election People educated at Diocesan School for Girls, Auckland 21st-century New Zealand politicians 21st-century New Zealand women politicians