Murray John Finlay Luxton (14 September 1946 – 16 November 2021) was a New Zealand National Party politician, serving as a Member of Parliament from 1987 to 2002. From 2008 to 2015, he was the Chairman of DairyNZ, the organisation that represents all New Zealand dairy farmers. He was co-chair of the Waikato River Authority, a Crown/iwi co-governance organisation established through

Treaty of Waitangi The Treaty of Waitangi ( mi, Te Tiriti o Waitangi) is a document of central importance to the History of New Zealand, history, to the political constitution of the state, and to the national mythos of New Zealand. It has played a major role in ...

settlement legislation to clean up the

Waikato River The Waikato River is the longest river in New Zealand, running for through the North Island. It rises on the eastern slopes of Mount Ruapehu, joining the Tongariro River system and flowing through Lake Taupō, New Zealand's largest lake. It th ...

Early life and family

Born in

Morrinsville Morrinsville is a provincial town in the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island, with an estimated population of as of The town is located at the northern base of the Pakaroa Range, and on the south-western fringe of the Hauraki Plains ...

on 14 September 1946, Luxton was educated at Hamilton Boys' High School and Massey University (BAgSc, DipAgSc, DipBusSc, MMgt). His father,

Jack Luxton John Finlay Luxton (14 August 1923 – 29 August 2005) was a dairy farmer and New Zealand Member of Parliament. Biography Luxton was born in 1923 in Waitoa, between Morrinsville and Te Aroha. He attended the local primary school, follo ...

, was a National Party MP from 1966 to 1987. After an initial role as a Ministry of Agriculture dairy specialist, Luxton and his late wife Merryl went dairy farming. Periods of project consulting in Africa, Asia and the Pacific were interspersed with dairy farming in New Zealand over the following decade.

Member of Parliament

Luxton was first elected to Parliament in the 1987 election as the MP for . He replaced his father, Jack Luxton, who held the electorate then Matamata for 21 years from , and had been Chairman of Committees in Parliament. Luxton held Matamata until the 1996 election, when a boundary change caused him to stand in the seat of Karapiro. In the 1999 election, he opted to become 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 ...

, leaving the Karapiro seat to newcomer

Lindsay Tisch William Lindsay Tisch (born 9 October 1947), known as Lindsay Tisch, is a former New Zealand National Party politician. Early life Tisch was born in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1947. When he was a child, his family moved to Matamata. He obtain ...

Minister

The National Party won the 1990 election, and

Jim Bolger James Brendan Bolger ( ; born 31 May 1935) is a New Zealand retired politician of the National Party who was the 35th prime minister of New Zealand, serving from 1990 to 1997. Bolger was born to an Irish immigrant family in Ōpunake, Taran ...

became

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 i ...

, Luxton was appointed to Cabinet. His ministerial roles have included Minister of Energy, Minister of Housing,

Minister of Māori Affairs Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of governme ...

, Minister of Police,

Minister of Commerce A Commerce minister (sometimes business minister, industry minister, trade minister or international trade minister) is a position in many governments that is responsible for regulating external trade and promoting economic growth (commercial polic ...

, Minister of Industry, Minister of Fisheries,

Minister of Lands The Minister of Lands in New Zealand was a cabinet position appointed by the Prime Minister to be in charge of the Department of Lands and Survey. List of ministers The following ministers held the office of Minister of Lands. ;Key Ta ...

, Minister of Customs and Minister of Agriculture. He was also an Associate Minister of Education and of Overseas Trade. Luxton was regarded by many as one of the more economically liberal members of the National Party.

After politics

Luxton did not seek re-election in the 2002 election. He was one of the founders of the Open Country Cheese Company and the Kaimai Cheese Company, located near Matamata, in the Waikato, along with former colleague

Wyatt Creech Wyatt Beetham Creech (born 13 October 1946) is a United States-born retired New Zealand politician. He served as the 14th deputy prime minister of New Zealand in Jenny Shipley's National Party government from August 1998 to December 1999. Ear ...

. He held a number of directorships in the agribusiness sector including the Tatua Coop Dairy Company, having been a previous Chairman, and Wallace Corporation, and has farming interests. He was chair of DairyNZ, the New Zealand Dairy Industry Good organisation which represents all New Zealand dairy farmers, between 2008 and 2015. He was married to Mary Scholtens, QC. He was for a short period (2005–06) a director of listed investment and property company Blue Chip, Luxton resigned from that Board. Luxton was appointed a Co-Chair of the Waikato River Authority and was a member of the New Zealand Constitutional Advisory Panel. He also sat on the boards of the Royal New Zealand Ballet Company and Landcare Research, one of the Crown Research Institutes. He was chair of the Asia NZ Foundation. Luxton died in Wellington on 16 November 2021, after a long illness.

Honours

In the 2003 Queen's Birthday Honours, Luxton 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 public services. He was made a

Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...

, for services to the dairy industry, in the

2017 New Year Honours The 2017 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours were awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

. Awarded Massey University's Sir Geoffrey Peren Medal 2013, Awarded D.Sc. by Lincoln University 2016.

References