Michael Grahame Ward (born 18 July 1942) is a former

Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand ( mi, Rōpū Kākāriki o Aotearoa, Niu Tireni), commonly known as the Greens, is a green and left-wing political party in New Zealand. Like many green parties around the world, it has four organisational ...

politician. He was an MP for one term from 2002 to 2005. He was co-leader of the

Values Party The Values Party was a New Zealand political party. It is considered the world's first national-level environmentalist party, pre-dating the use of "Green" as a political label. It was established in May 1972 at Victoria University of Wellingto ...

(a predecessor to the modern Greens) from 1985 to 1988. In 2006, Ward was an unsuccessful candidate for male co-leader of the Green Party, following the death of

Rod Donald Rodney David Donald (10 October 1957 – 6 November 2005) was a New Zealand politician who co-led the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, along with Jeanette Fitzsimons. He lived in Christchurch with his partner Nicola Shirlaw, and their thre ...

in 2005.

Early life

Born in 1942, Ward was educated at

Nelson College Nelson College is the oldest state secondary school in New Zealand. It is an all-boys school in the City of Nelson that teaches from years 9 to 13. In addition, it runs a private preparatory school for year 7 and 8 boys. The school also has ...

from 1956 to 1959.''Nelson College Old Boys' Register, 1856–2006'', 6th edition He attended Christchurch Teachers College from 1962 to 1963, gaining a Diploma of Teaching, and worked as a primary school teacher in 1964. He then studied 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 ...

from 1965 to 1968 and was awarded a Diploma of Fine Arts majoring in sculpture. He worked as a secondary school teacher between 1969 and 1977.

Political career

Ward joined the

in 1975 after a visit by the then leader of the party, Reg Clough, to Tokoroa High School where Ward was working as an art teacher. Ward was a Values Party candidate in the

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

and

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

elections. In 1984 he was elected co-leader of the party. He was a Green Party candidate in the 1990 election. He was an Alliance candidate in the

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

and

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

elections. He was a Green Party candidate in the

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

and

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

elections.

Member of Parliament

Ward was an unsuccessful candidate at seven New Zealand general elections before being elected in the 2002 general election at No. 9 on the Green

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 ...

, after the counting of special votes. Although he moved up one place on the list for the 2005 election he lost his seat as the Green vote fell. When he was in Parliament, he was the Green Party spokesperson on Arts and Culture, Older Persons, Small Business, Sports, Fitness and Leisure, Tourism and Waste-free. These portfolios were taken over by the remaining six Green MPs after Ward lost his seat. Following the death of

, shortly after the 2005 election, Ward put his name forward as a contender for the male co-leader position. He lost the position on 3 June 2006 at the annual meeting to

Russel Norman Russel William Norman (born 2 June 1967) is a New Zealand politician and environmentalist. He was a Member of Parliament and co-leader of the Green Party. Norman resigned as an MP in October 2015 to work as Executive Director of Greenpeace Aote ...

in an STV vote by delegates from electorates around the country. Ward was next on the Green

to re-enter parliament when

Nándor Tánczos Nándor Steven Tánczos (, hu, Tánczos Nándor; born 29 May 1966) is a New Zealand social ecologist, researcher, educator, activist and political commentator. He is currently a councillor in the Whakatāne District Council. He is also co-direc ...

resigned in 2008. Ward initially declined to stand aside so that

, the now co-leader, could take Tánczos's list seat when he resigned from Parliament. Ward changed his mind, because of the advantages in having the party co-leader in Parliament during an election year, and Norman became an MP on 27 June.

Nelson City Council

Ward served as a

Nelson City Council Nelson City Council is a unitary local authority. It has its headquarters in Nelson. History Nelson City Council was created in 1992. Local governance of Nelson began with Nelson Province in 1853, which covered the entire upper South Island. ...

lor from 1983 to 1989, from 1992 to 1998 and from 2011 to 2016. He stood as a candidate for

Mayor of Nelson The mayor of Nelson is the head of the municipal government of Nelson, New Zealand, and presides over the Nelson City Council. The mayor is directly elected using a single transferable vote electoral system. The current mayor is Nick Smith, wh ...

in 1986, 1989 and in 2007. He came a close second in 1989 and came fourth in 2007. He unsuccessfully stood for mayor in 2010. and stood again for mayor in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, coming fifth.

Creative Alliance

In May 2017, Ward announced the formation of a new political party called Creative Alliance. However, as of July 2019 the party has not stood in any elections and is not registered.

Other activities

In 2005, shortly after that year's general election, Ward won the Montana World of Wearable Art Supreme Award. Ward is the only person who completed all the first 28 Coast to Coast races. Ward is also an appointed

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

References

External links