Norman John Kirk, generally called John Kirk (born 27 June 1947), is a former New Zealand

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 ...

for Sydenham, in the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

. He is the son of

Norman Kirk Norman Eric Kirk (6 January 1923 – 31 August 1974) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 29th prime minister of New Zealand from 1972 until his sudden death in 1974. Born into poverty in Southern Canterbury, Kirk left school at ...

who was a popular Labour Party

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Early life

John Kirk was born in Katikati on 27 June 1947. He completed an apprenticeship as a printer, winning top marks in his examinations. He was also a trade unionist and became secretary of the Hotel Workers' Union.

Member of Parliament

When his father died in office in 1974, John Kirk contested the resulting

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

in the same year and succeeded him as MP for

Sydenham Sydenham may refer to: Places Australia * Sydenham, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Sydenham railway station, Sydney * Sydenham, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne ** Sydenham railway line, the name of the Sunbury railway line, Melbourne ...

. He won the Labour nomination and gave up his job and moved to Christchurch from Napier to be a candidate full time. He won the seat and held the electorate for ten years until 1984. His father had previously had talked to his close colleague

Warren Freer Warren Wilfred Freer (27 December 1920 – 29 March 2013) was a New Zealand politician and member of the Labour Party. He represented the Mount Albert electorate from 1947 to . He is internationally known as the first Western politician ever ...

very frankly about his family, and made it quite clear that if any of his sons wished to have a political career, he hoped it would be Robert or Philip, but not John. Kirk served as an MP and his constituents without distinction with many contemporaries feeling he was lazy. Constituents in Sydenham complained that he did not show up for public functions and did not address their concerns while other MPs feeling he was self-centred and opinionated. However, he did introduce two thoughtful private members bills, the 1976 Taxi Drivers' Safety Devices Act and the 1977 Drug Sentencing and Prevention of Misuse Bill. National Party leader,

Robert Muldoon Sir Robert David Muldoon (; 25 September 19215 August 1992) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 31st Prime Minister of New Zealand, from 1975 to 1984, while leader of the National Party. Serving as a corporal and sergeant in th ...

, defended Kirk from criticisms of his performance in Parliament by highlighting in a 1975 television interview that he had entered Parliament during very tragic personal circumstances and foresaw that he would yet have 'a positive contribution to make'. He held several portfolios while Labour was in opposition (1975–84) including Shadow Postmaster-General, Shadow Minister of Tourism, Shadow Minister of Railways and Shadow Minister of Civil Aviation & Meteorological Services. One of the few high points he had was leading the criticism of the transition of the

New Zealand National Airways Corporation New Zealand National Airways Corporation, popularly known as NAC, was the national domestic airline of New Zealand from 1947 until 1978 when it amalgamated with New Zealand's international airline, Air New Zealand. The airline was headquartere ...

merger with

Air New Zealand Air New Zealand Limited () is the flag carrier airline of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 20 domestic and 30 international destinations in 18 countries, primarily around and within the Pacific ...

. Due to concerns over his past performance, he was passed over for a promotion by Labour leader

Bill Rowling Sir Wallace Edward Rowling (; 15 November 1927 – 31 October 1995), commonly known as Bill Rowling, was a New Zealand politician who was the 30th prime minister of New Zealand from 1974 to 1975. He held office as the parliamentary leader of t ...

. Feeling begrudged, Kirk threw his support behind Rowling's only convincing rival for the leadership,

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 ...

. In July 1983 John Kirk announced that he would not seek the Labour Party's nomination for Sydenham in the 1984 election, having been informed by his local electorate committee they would not be supporting him for re-selection. In his place Labour selected

Jim Anderton James Patrick Anderton (born Byrne; 21 January 1938 – 7 January 2018) was a New Zealand politician who led a succession of left-wing parties after leaving the Labour Party in 1989. Anderton's political career began when he was elected to th ...

, the party president, whereupon Kirk (a strong

supporter) declared that he did not support Anderton as the official Labour candidate and could become an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

if Labour did not cease what he perceived as moving to the left. His continuing opposition to Anderton's selection resulted in the Labour Party's New Zealand Council suspending him from membership of the Labour Party. Kirk served out the remainder of his parliamentary career as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

MP after declaring that he would never again vote with the Labour Party. He stood in the

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

urban electorate of Miramar in the 1984 general election where he was unsuccessful.

Insolvency

By the early 1980s Kirk began to indulge in property speculation. Many were critical of his decision and thought his role as a "slum landlord" was incompatible with his role as a Labour Party MP. Many of his real estate dealings were not financially successful and he began to amass much debt. He left New Zealand in 1984 while still an MP, owing more than $280,000. He was arrested in June 1985 in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, held in prison, and then extradited to New Zealand, where he was charged under the Insolvency Act 1985. He was sentenced to four months'

periodic detention Periodic detention or weekend detention is a type of custodial sentence under which the offender is held in prison between Friday and Sunday evenings each week, but is at liberty at other times. Promoted by prison reformers as an alternative to i ...

. Following his sentence he returned to the

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and settled in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Notes

References

* * * *''From Muldoon to Lange: New Zealand Elections in the 1980s'' by Alan McRobie and Steven Levine (2002, MC Enterprises, Rangiora) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirk, John 1947 births Living people New Zealand Labour Party MPs Independent MPs of New Zealand Prisoners and detainees of New Zealand Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government New Zealand MPs for Christchurch electorates Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives People extradited from the United States People extradited to New Zealand New Zealand politicians convicted of crimes People from Katikati Unsuccessful candidates in the 1984 New Zealand general election Children of prime ministers of New Zealand New Zealand trade unionists New Zealand emigrants to the United States