John Gregory Collinge (born 10 May 1939) is a former New Zealand lawyer, politician and diplomat. His former roles include president of the

New Zealand National Party The New Zealand National Party ( mi, Rōpū Nāhinara o Aotearoa), shortened to National () or the Nats, is a centre-right political party in New Zealand. It is one of two major parties that dominate contemporary New Zealand politics, alongside ...

and

High Commissioner to the United Kingdom The following is the list of ambassadors and high commissioners to the United Kingdom, or more formally, to the Court of St James's. High commissioners represent member states of the Commonwealth of Nations and ambassadors represent other sta ...

Early life

Collinge was born in the

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

suburb of Mahora in 1939. He attended Paeroa District High School from 1952 to 1955 and

Hastings Boys' High School Hastings Boys' High School is a boys' secondary school in Hastings, New Zealand. The school is part of the Super 8. The school was founded in 1904 as Hastings High School. In 1922, it became Hastings Technical School under the leadership of Wi ...

in 1956. He played for the 1st XI

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

and 1st XV

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

teams at both schools. He obtained a

LLB Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

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 ...

in 1962, where he was senior scholar in law. He captained the Auckland Brabin Shield (under 20 years) cricket XI (in 1958) and New Zealand Universities XI (1961–1963). He was awarded a Shell scholarship (1962) which took him to

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the unive ...

(1963–1965), where he obtained a master's degree (MLitt) and played cricket for the

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

, appearing in first-class matches against County sides.

Professional career

Collinge lectured law at the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

(1965–1966) and commercial law as senior lecturer at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

(1966–1969). He wrote three legal texts: ''The Law of Competition in New Zealand'' (Butterworths, 1982, 2nd Edition); ''Tutorials in Contract'' (Law Book Company, 1989, 4th Ed); and ''The Law of Marketing in Australia & New Zealand'' (Butterworths, 1990, 2nd Ed). He practised law in Auckland and engaged in local politics. He became chairman of the Auckland Electric Power Board for 12 years (1980–1992) and chairman of the policy and finance committee of the Auckland Regional Authority for three (1991–1994). He was president of the Electrical Development Association of New Zealand (1991–1993) and chairman of the National Civil Defence Energy Planning (1992–1993). He held company chairmanships: New Zealand Pelagic Fisheries Ltd (1975–1981) and United Distillers (NZ) Ltd (1991) as well as many deputy chairmanships and directorships. He was awarded the title Keeper of the Quaich by the Scotch Whisky Association (1994). He was chairman of the

Commerce Commission The Commerce Commission ( mi, Te Komihana Tauhokohoko) is a New Zealand government agency with responsibility for enforcing legislation that relates to competition in the country's markets, fair trading and consumer credit contracts, and regul ...

(from 1984 to 1989), presiding over the introduction of the Commerce Act 1986 and the Fair Trading Act 1986, thereby overseeing business conduct and de-regulation after the Douglas reforms. He was president of the National Party (from 1989 to 1994) during the successful elections of 1990 and 1993. He was then appointed High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Ambassador to Ireland and to Nigeria from 1994 to 1997. He was appointed chairman of the Intergovernmental Committee on the Criteria for Commonwealth Membership, of which New Zealand was independently a member (1996–1997). He represented New Zealand internationally, including as chairman of the South Pacific Electrical Convention (Sydney, 1981); chairman of Session, World Alcohol & Drug Conference (Glagow, 1992); leader of delegation to People's Republic of China for the National Party (1992); New Zealand representative at the Relief of Warsaw Bi-Centenary (Warsaw, 1995); and head of delegation, European Bank for Redevelopment (Sofia, 1996). Some other roles include: chairman of Alcohol Advisory Council of New Zealand (1991–1994); trust member of the Auckland Energy Consumer Trust (2003–2006); president of Auckland Rotary Club (2017–2018); patron of the British New Zealand Business Association (1998–present); author of ''An Identity for New Zealand?'' (Thesaurus Press, 2010); principal, John Collinge, Barrister & Solicitor. He is a self-declared

monarchist Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. ...

. In 1990, he was awarded the

New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal The New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal was a commemorative medal awarded in New Zealand in 1990 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, and was awarded to approximately 3,000 people. Background The New Zea ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collinge, John 1939 births Living people People from Hastings, New Zealand People educated at Hastings Boys' High School University of Auckland alumni Alumni of University College, Oxford Oxford University cricketers Academics of the University of Leeds Academic staff of the University of Melbourne New Zealand National Party politicians New Zealand cricketers New Zealand monarchists High commissioners of New Zealand to the United Kingdom