Harold Valentine Ross Robertson (born 22 May 1949), known as Ross Robertson, is a New Zealand politician for the Labour Party. He was a Member of Parliament from until his retirement in 2014. He also served as president of

Parliamentarians for Global Action Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) is a non-profit, non-partisan international network of committed legislators, that informs and mobilizes parliamentarians in all regions of the world to advocate for human rights and the rule of law, democr ...

Early life

Robertson was born in

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 ...

on 22 May 1949. Before entering politics, he was an

industrial engineer Industrial engineering is an engineering profession that is concerned with the optimization of complex processes, systems, or organizations by developing, improving and implementing integrated systems of people, money, knowledge, information a ...

Political career

Member of Parliament

Robertson was first elected to Parliament in the 1987 election, representing

Papatoetoe Papatoetoe is a suburb in Auckland, New Zealand. It is the largest suburb in Auckland by population and is located to the northwest of Manukau Central, and 18 kilometres southeast of Auckland CBD. Papatoetoe has the unofficial title of Auckland ...

replacing the retiring Eddie Isbey. He would hold the seat until the 1996 elections, when the Papatoetoe seat was abolished. That same year, Robertson was then elected to represent the replacement seat of

Manukau East Manukau East was a New Zealand parliamentary electorate that returned one member of parliament to the House of Representatives. It was first formed for the . Between the and the 2020 electorate adjustment it was held by Jenny Salesa, a member ...

. In November 1990 he was appointed as Labour's spokesperson for Energy and Statistics by Labour leader

Mike Moore Michael Moore is an American filmmaker and author. Michael Moore may also refer to: Academia * Michael G. Moore (fl. 1970s–2020s), professor of education * Michael S. Moore (academic) (fl. 1960s–2020s), American law professor * Michael Moore ...

. In the

Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand The Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand was the List of New Zealand governments, government of New Zealand from 10 December 1999 to 19 November 2008. New Zealand Labour Party, Labour Party leader Helen Clark negotiated a coalition with Jim A ...

he was an assistant

speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

, able to preside when any of the other presiding officers are unavailable. In 2006 Robertson reported to the

New Zealand Police The New Zealand Police ( mi, Ngā Pirihimana o Aotearoa) is the national police service and principal law enforcement agency of New Zealand, responsible for preventing crime, enhancing public safety, bringing offenders to justice, and maintai ...

that a

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...

dealer Dealer may refer to: Film and TV * ''Dealers'' (film), a 1989 British film * ''Dealers'' (TV series), a reality television series where five art and antique dealers bid on items * ''The Dealer'' (film), filmed in 2008 and released in 2010 * ...

was operating next to his electorate office in

Ōtara Ōtara is a suburb of South Auckland, New Zealand (formerly Manukau City), situated 18 kilometres to the southeast of the Auckland CBD. Ōtara lies near the head of the Tamaki River (actually an arm of the Hauraki Gulf), which extends south tow ...

. In 2013, Robertson voted against the Marriage Amendment Bill, which aimed to permit same-sex marriage in New Zealand, with fellow Labour MPs

William Sio Aupito Tofae Su'a William Sio (born 1960) is a politician who became a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives on 1 April 2008 for the Labour Party as a list MP. Since the November , he has represented the Māngere electorate. Pers ...

Rino Tirikatene Rino Tirikatene (born 1972) is a New Zealand politician and a member of the House of Representatives, representing the Te Tai Tonga electorate since the . He is a member of the Labour Party. He comes from a family with a strong political histor ...

and

Damien O'Connor Damien Peter O'Connor (born 16 January 1958) is a New Zealand Labour Party politician who currently serves as Minister of Agriculture, Minister for Biosecurity, Minister for Trade and Export Growth, Minister for Land Information and Minister ...

. On 6 June 2013, Robertson announced that he would retire from Parliament in order to pursue a career in local-body politics. Robertson was appointed a

Companion of the Queen's Service Order The Queen's Service Order, established by royal warrant of Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, is used to recognise "valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to the Crown or similar services within the pu ...

, for services as a Member of Parliament, in the 2015 New Year Honours.

Local-body politics

Robertson was elected to the

Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board The Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board is one of the 21 local boards of the Auckland Council. It is overseen by the Manukau Ward councillors. The local board area includes the suburbs of Ōtara, Papatoetoe, East Tamaki, Puhinui and central Manuk ...

in the 2013 Auckland elections and was re-elected in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

and

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 ...

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, Ross 1949 births Living people New Zealand Labour Party MPs Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand MPs for Auckland electorates Companions of the Queen's Service Order 21st-century New Zealand politicians Local politicians in New Zealand New Zealand justices of the peace