Murray Smith is a former New Zealand politician. He was a member of the

United Future New Zealand United Future New Zealand, usually known as United Future, was a centrist political party in New Zealand. The party was in government between 2005 and 2017, first alongside Labour (2005–2008) and then supporting National (2008–2017). U ...

party caucus, having been elected to Parliament as a list MP in the 2002 election.

Political career

Before entering national politics, Smith was a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

. He was a founding member of the

Christian Democrats __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social ...

, which later became

Future New Zealand The Christian Democrat Party of New Zealand was a Christian socially conservative political party established in 1995. It contested the 1996 general election as part of the Christian Coalition with the Christian Heritage Party. It changed it ...

. Future New Zealand then joined with

United New Zealand United New Zealand was a centrist political party in New Zealand founded in 1995. It merged with the Christian-based Future New Zealand party to form the United Future New Zealand party in 2000. History Formation United was founded on 28 June 1 ...

to form the modern United Future New Zealand. For the , the Christian Democrats formed a coalition with Christian Heritage New Zealand, and he was ranked 13th 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 ...

of the resulting Christian Coalition, but he did not contest an electorate. Like his associates,

Larry Baldock Larry David Baldock (born 1954) is a New Zealand politician. Before entering national politics, he was involved with Youth With A Mission and spent 15 years living in the Philippines. After returning to New Zealand in 1996, he joined Future Ne ...

Bernie Ogilvy Bernard James Ogilvy is a New Zealand educator and politician. He was a list member of Parliament (MP) for the United Future New Zealand party from 2002 to 2005. He left United Future with the breakaway Kiwi Party in 2007. Early years Before e ...

, Paul Adams and

Marc Alexander Marc Alexander is a New Zealand politician. He was elected to Parliament as a list MP for the United Future New Zealand party in 2002, and stood unsuccessfully as the National Party candidate for Wigram in 2008. Public activities Before ent ...

, Smith only served one term before he left Parliament at the

2005 New Zealand general election 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. It has attained significance throughout history in part because typical humans have five digits on eac ...

, given that his party polled only one-third of its previous electoral support. In the 2008 election, Smith stood for

United Future United Future New Zealand, usually known as United Future, was a centrist political party in New Zealand. The party was in government between 2005 and 2017, first alongside Labour (2005–2008) and then supporting National (2008–2017). Uni ...

in the electorate of

Hutt South Hutt South is a parliamentary electorate in the lower Hutt Valley of New Zealand. It is held by Ginny Andersen of the Labour Party following the 2020 election. It was previously held by Chris Bishop of the National Party Bishop's victory was t ...

References

External links

UFNZ's party's website
United Future MPs 20th-century New Zealand lawyers Christian Democrat Party (New Zealand) politicians New Zealand list MPs Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Unsuccessful candidates in the 1996 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1999 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 2005 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 2008 New Zealand general election Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives 21st-century New Zealand politicians {{NewZealand-law-bio-stub