Elizabeth Audrey Gordon (born 8 September 1955) is a former New Zealand politician. She was an MP from 1996 to 2002, representing the

Alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

Early life

Elizabeth Audrey Gordon (known as Liz) was born in Preston,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, on 8 September 1955, but brought up in the south of England from the age of one. Her parents split up when she was seven, and she and her sister, Christine, spent a number of years at

King Edward's School, Witley King Edward's Witley is an independent co-educational boarding and day school, founded in 1553 by King Edward VI and Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London and Westminster. The School is located in the village of Wormley (near Witley), Surrey, Englan ...

, Surrey, as boarding pupils. Gordon left school at 15 and moved to

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 ...

, where she worked for a year and met her first husband, a New Zealander. She moved to New Zealand in September 1972, still aged 16. She married in 1974 and had her daughter, Sonya, in 1976.

Tertiary education

Tertiary study

Before and after the birth of her daughter, Gordon became increasingly housebound with severe

agoraphobia Agoraphobia is a mental and behavioral disorder, specifically an anxiety disorder characterized by symptoms of anxiety in situations where the person perceives their environment to be unsafe with no easy way to escape. These situations can in ...

. It was suggested to her that she go to university to resume her education. She enrolled as an adult student in 1979 at

Massey University Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural or ...

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...

. She did a BA in psychology and education, earning a Massey scholarship in 1982, completed a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

with first class honours in 1983, and a PhD in Education in 1989.

Lectureship

In 1990 she took up a lectureship at the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was ...

. She has held a number of honours and awards, including a doctoral scholarship, a Fulbright Travel Award, a Claude McCarthy fellowship and a Fellowship to the

Institute of Education IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society (IOE) is the education school of University College London (UCL). It specialises in postgraduate study and research in the field of education and is one of UCL's 11 constituent faculties. Prior to m ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

Law qualification

After leaving Parliament, Gordon attended the University of Canterbury as an adult student, graduating with a law degree in 2007. She was admitted to the bar in November 2008. She then went on to study further in

Māori language Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and ...

and culture and computer studies.

Political career

Member of Parliament

Gordon was originally a member of the Labour Party, having joined in 1982. She served on its executive in 1988, but resigned from the party in April 1989 to become a founding member of the

NewLabour Party The NewLabour Party was a centre-left political party in New Zealand that operated from 1989 to 2000. It was founded by Jim Anderton, an member of parliament (MP) and former president of the New Zealand Labour Party. NewLabour was established b ...

. She was first elected 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 ...

for the Alliance, of which NewLabour was a component party, in the 1996 election, coming third in , and was re-elected in the 1999 election, again placing third in Christchurch Central. When the Alliance collapsed, Gordon sided with the faction led by

Laila Harré Laila Jane Harré (born 8 January 1966) is a New Zealand politician and trade unionist. She was the first leader of the Internet Party, and stood for Parliament in the 2014 general election through the Helensville electorate. From 1996 to 200 ...

and

Matt McCarten Matthew McCarten (born 11 February 1959) is a New Zealand political organiser and trade unionist, of Ngāpuhi descent. McCarten was active with several trade unions including the Hotel and Hospital Workers' Union, the Unite Union, and the One Un ...

, and remained with the Alliance when

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 ...

left to form a breakaway party. In the 2002 election, she was ranked fourth 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 ...

, but the Alliance did not win any seats.

Mayoral candidate

In April 2010, Gordon announced that she would contest the mayoral contest for

Christchurch City Council The Christchurch City Council is the local government authority for Christchurch in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the people of Christchurch. Since October 2022, the Mayor of Christchurch is Phil Mauger, who ...

in the October 2010 election. Gordon stepped back from the mayoralty race in August 2010 and chose instead to run for one of the Riccarton-Wigram Ward seats on the council. After the election results were announced she was found not to have secured a Council seat, the winners being from the

Christchurch 2021 The People's Choice (previously Christchurch 2021) is a centre-left political ticket that contests elections for the Christchurch City Council, and the Canterbury Regional Council (Environment Canterbury) in Christchurch, New Zealand. Histo ...

group and Independent Citizens respectively. and was ranked several places below the qualifying number. She has since returned to her previous work as listed below.

Life after Parliament

Since leaving Parliament, Gordon run a small research and evaluation agency called Network Research Associates, which has since been renamed Pukeko Research. She spent four years on the

Council, including a period as Pro-Chancellor, is an active member (and National President, since 2009) of the Quality Public Education Coalition, a Council member of the

Howard League for Penal Reform The Howard League for Penal Reform is a registered charity in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest penal reform organisation in the world, named after John Howard. It was founded as the Howard Association in 1866 and changed its name in 1921, ...

(since 2005) and is active in local body affairs. She wrote a weekly opinion column for the

Christchurch Press ''The Press'' is a daily newspaper published in Christchurch, New Zealand owned by media business Stuff Ltd. First published in 1861, the newspaper is the largest circulating daily in the South Island and publishes Monday to Saturday. One comm ...

between 2006 and 2008. As of 2015 Gordon sits as a council member of the

Royal Society of New Zealand Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

, in this she has undertaken the role of constituent organisational representative.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Liz 1955 births Living people People educated at King Edward's School, Witley Alliance (New Zealand political party) MPs NewLabour Party (New Zealand) politicians Massey University alumni Women members of the New Zealand House of Representatives University of Canterbury alumni Academic staff of the University of Canterbury New Zealand list MPs New Zealand Labour Party politicians Unsuccessful candidates in the 2002 New Zealand general election Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives 21st-century New Zealand politicians 21st-century New Zealand women politicians