Christopher John Auchinvole (born 7 March 1945) is a New Zealand politician. He represented the National Party in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

from 2005 to 2014.

Early years

Auchinvole was born in

Prestwick Prestwick ( gd, Preastabhaig) is a town in South Ayrshire on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland about southwest of Glasgow. It adjoins the larger town of Ayr to the south on the Firth of Clyde coast, the centre of which is about south, an ...

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...

, Scotland, on 7 March 1945, and attended the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst in England. He later moved to New Zealand and became a naturalised New Zealander in 1980. In New Zealand he has been involved with the

export An export in international trade is a good produced in one country that is sold into another country or a service provided in one country for a national or resident of another country. The seller of such goods or the service provider is an ...

industry, and operated a company based on the

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

. He has also been involved in the

Uniting Church The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) was founded on 22 June 1977, when most congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, about two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church of Australia and almost all the churches of the Congregational Unio ...

, becoming a lay preacher.

Member of Parliament

In the 2005 election, Auchinvole stood as the National Party's candidate for the

West Coast-Tasman West Coast-Tasman electorate boundaries used since the West Coast-Tasman is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate. Since its formation for the , it has been held by Damien O'Connor of the Labour Party apart from one parliamentary term, when N ...

electorate. Despite reducing the incumbent's majority by 5,568 votes, he was unsuccessful. Nevertheless, he entered

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

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 ...

, having been ranked 34th. In the 2008 election, Auchinvole won the electorate with a small majority beating Labour's

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 ...

who had represented the West Coast since . Damien O'Connor regained the electorate in 2011 despite a record defeat for the Labour Party. Auchinvole is a wedding celebrant, and officiated at the wedding in Parliament of fellow MP

Tau Henare Raymond Tau Henare (born 29 September 1960) is a former New Zealand Māori parliamentarian. In representing three different political parties in parliament—New Zealand First, Mauri Pacific and the National Party—Henare served as a Member o ...

on 7 March 2012. He was a strong supporter of the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill which sought to legalise

same-sex marriage in New Zealand Same-sex marriage in New Zealand has been legal since 19 August 2013. A bill for legalisation was passed by the House of Representatives on 17 April 2013 by 77 votes to 44 and received royal assent on 19 April. It entered into force on 19 Augus ...

. His speech in support of the bill during its second reading was well received.

Retirement

On 2 October 2013 Auchinvole confirmed that he would be stepping down at the 2014 election. Auchinvole was replaced for the 2014 election by

Maureen Pugh Maureen Helena Pugh (born 1958) is a New Zealand politician who is a Member of Parliament for the National Party. She has twice appeared to have won a list seat based on preliminary results, then missed out on a seat when the final results cam ...

, Former Westland District Mayor as the West Coast-Tasman Candidate however she did not win the seat but later entered Parliament on the list following

Tim Groser Timothy John Groser (born 6 March 1950) is a New Zealand politician and diplomat. A member of the New Zealand National Party, Groser was a Member of Parliament between 2005 and 2015, and a cabinet minister between 2008 and 2015. He resigned fro ...

's resignation. Following the 2014 election Auchinvole has retired with his wife to raise Highland Cattle on their West Coast properties in Moana near

Lake Brunner Lake Brunner ( mi, Kōtuku Moana or ) is the largest lake in the West Coast Region of New Zealand, located southeast of Greymouth. The main settlement, Moana, is on its northern shore. It is an important settlement and waystation for local ...

on the West Coast.

References

External links

Chris Auchinvole MP
official site
Profile
at National party * {{DEFAULTSORT:Auchinvole, Chris 1945 births Living people New Zealand National Party MPs People from Prestwick Scottish emigrants to New Zealand People from the West Coast, New Zealand New Zealand list MPs New Zealand MPs for South Island electorates Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives 21st-century New Zealand politicians New Zealand justices of the peace Naturalised citizens of New Zealand