George Warren Hawkins (born 1946) is a New Zealand politician. He is a member of the Labour Party.

Early life

Hawkins was born on 15 May 1946 in 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 ...

suburb of

Mt Eden Mount Eden is a suburb in Auckland, New Zealand whose name honours George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland. It is south of the Central Business District (CBD). Mt Eden Road winds its way around the side of Mount Eden Domain and continues to weave ba ...

. He attended Dominion Road Primary School,

Mount Albert Grammar School Mount Albert Grammar School, commonly known as MAGS, is a co-educational state secondary school in Mount Albert in Auckland, New Zealand. It teaches students in year levels 9 to 13. , Mount Albert Grammar School is the second largest school in ...

(1960–1963) and then Auckland Teachers' College. Before entering politics, he was a

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

and had also been a photographer for the ''

Auckland Star The ''Auckland Star'' was an evening daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, from 24 March 1870 to 16 August 1991. Survived by its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Star'', part of its name endures in ''The Sunday Star-Times'', created in ...

'' newspaper. He later became a company director. In the 1970s he became an anti-nuclear activist and he joined the Labour Party. He became chair of Labour's

Papakura Papakura is a southern suburb of Auckland, in northern New Zealand. It is located on the shores of the Pahurehure Inlet, approximately 32 kilometres south of the Auckland CBD. It is under the authority of the Auckland Council. Papakura is a M� ...

branch. In early 1977 he stood as a candidate for the Labour Party nomination in the Mangere by-election, but he lost out to future Prime Minister

David Lange David Russell Lange ( ; 4 August 1942 – 13 August 2005) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 32nd prime minister of New Zealand from 1984 to 1989. Lange was born and brought up in Otahuhu, the son of a medical doctor. He became ...

. Later that year Hawkins stood for the nomination for the nearby seat of , but was again unsuccessful.

Political career

Papakura

Hawkins was a

Papakura City Papakura City was a city near Auckland, New Zealand. It existed from 1975 to 1989. History Papakura City was constituted as a city on 1 January 1975. It existed until the 1989 local government reforms, when "Papakura City" was subsumed by "Papa ...

councillor from 1980 to 1983. He was elected

Mayor of Papakura The Mayor of Papakura was the head of the municipal government of Papakura, New Zealand, and presided first over Papakura Borough (1938–1975), then Papakura City (1975–1989), and finally Papakura District (1989–2010). The mayor was directly ...

in 1983, and held that position until 1992. He was succeeded by his brother David Hawkins. In 1989, Papakura City became

Papakura District Papakura District was a local council territory in New Zealand's Auckland Region that was governed by the Papakura District Council from 1989 until 2010. The area makes up the southernmost part of the Auckland metropolitan area. The area was ...

as part of the local government reforms. As mayor he advocated for a toll free telephone exchange between South Auckland and Auckland City.

Member of Parliament

In 1990 Hawkins was selected to succeed

Roger Douglas Sir Roger Owen Douglas (born 5 December 1937) is a retired New Zealand politician who served as a minister in two Labour governments. He became arguably best known for his prominent role in New Zealand's radical economic restructuring in the 198 ...

as the Labour candidate for the seat of

Manurewa Manurewa is a major suburb in South Auckland, New Zealand. It was part of Manukau City before the creation of the Auckland super city in 2010. It is located south of the Manukau, Manukau City Centre, and southeast of Auckland CBD. The subur ...

, beating Alan Johnson, a town planner and opponent of Douglas. He served as MP for Manurewa from when he was first elected to Parliament in the 1990 general election. In November 1990 he was appointed as Labour's spokesperson for Local Government and Urban Affairs by Labour leader

Mike Moore Michael Moore is an American filmmaker and author. Michael Moore may also refer to: Academia * Michael G. Moore (fl. 1970s–2020s), professor of education * Michael S. Moore (academic) (fl. 1960s–2020s), American law professor * Michael Moore ...

. In July 1992 Hawkins was hospitalized suffering from an infection and exhaustion. While in hospital he suffered a

pulmonary embolism Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a blockage of an pulmonary artery, artery in the lungs by a substance that has moved from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream (embolism). Symptoms of a PE may include dyspnea, shortness of breath, chest pain p ...

, leading him to an extended convalescence. He later decided to retire from the Papakura mayoralty to ease his workload. During the period he suffered a stroke, which would leave him with a speech impediment. At the time Hawkins (and others) thought bad health would end his career. He continued on, however, stating "But it is conditionmade me think that some things are really worth fighting for." When

Helen Clark Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008, and was the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was ...

replaced Moore as leader in 1993 she appointed Hawkins Shadow Minister of Police and the Serious Fraud Office. In the

Fifth Labour government The Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand from 10 December 1999 to 19 November 2008. Labour Party leader Helen Clark negotiated a coalition with Jim Anderton, leader of the Alliance Party. While undertaking ...

, he served as

Minister of Internal Affairs Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

, Minister of Police, Minister of Civil Defence, and Minister of Veterans' Affairs in the 2002–2005 parliamentary term. Disappointed at being ranked 25th on the 2005 Labour Party list, he withdrew his name from the list, and won the Manurewa seat with a comfortable margin of over 12,000 votes (a similar majority to his 2002 election win). Although Hawkins was criticised over his handling of police issues, in particular 111 calls, he remained a Minister until he made the decision not to seek a new position in Cabinet after the 2005 election. He subsequently became a

backbencher In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...

and became regarded by colleagues as a quiet maverick, asking written questions of ministers in the same manner that Opposition MPs would do. He resisted calls to retire, which intensified in 2007 when Hawkins took two months off to have an operation for bowel cancer. He believed many in the Labour Party coveted his safe electorate seat and stated of many of the visitors he received in hospital "They didn't want to hold your hand, they wanted to take your pulse." In the 2008 general election he again chose not to be placed on the party list, and again won his Manurewa seat. However his majority was cut by more than half. Following the defeat of the Labour government Hawkins was appointed Shadow Minister of Housing by Clark's successor as leader,

Phil Goff Philip Bruce Goff (born 22 June 1953) is a New Zealand politician. He was a member of the New Zealand Parliament from 1981 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 2016. He served as leader of the Labour Party and leader of the Opposition between 11 No ...

. He retired from Parliament in 2011.

Local board member

In 2013 Hawkins returned to local government when he was elected a member of the

Manurewa Local Board The Manurewa Local Board is one of the 21 local boards of the Auckland Council. It is overseen by the Manurewa-Papakura ward councillor. The local board area includes the areas of Wiri, Hillpark, Manurewa East, Homai, Weymouth and Wattle Do ...

Honors and recognition

In the

2013 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2013 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Hon ...

, Hawkins was appointed a

Companion of the Queen's Service Order The Queen's Service Order, established by royal warrant of Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, is used to recognise "valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to the Crown or similar services within the pu ...

for services as a member of Parliament.

References

External links

Parliamentary page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawkins, George 1946 births Living people Mayors of Papakura Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand New Zealand Labour Party MPs People from Mount Eden People educated at Mount Albert Grammar School Companions of the Queen's Service Order Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand MPs for Auckland electorates 21st-century New Zealand politicians