Jack Arnold Elder (born 3 July 1949) is a New Zealand former politician. He was an MP from

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 ...

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 ...

, representing the Labour Party,

New Zealand First New Zealand First ( mi, Aotearoa Tuatahi), commonly abbreviated to NZ First, is a nationalist and populist political party in New Zealand. The party formed in July 1993 following the resignation on 19 March 1993 of its leader and founder, Winst ...

and

Mauri Pacific Mauri Pacific () was a short-lived political party in New Zealand. It was formed in 1998 by five former members of the New Zealand First party. It has often been described as a Māori party. Officially, Mauri Pacific was a multiculturalist par ...

Early life

Jack Elder was born and raised in West Auckland, attending New Lynn Primary, Avondale Intermediate and

Kelston Boys High School Kelston Boys' High School ("KBHS") (Te kura tuarua o nga tamatane o kerehana) is an all-boys state secondary school in Kelston, a suburb in the Waitakere region of Auckland, New Zealand. It was created in 1963 when the roll of Kelston High Scho ...

– where he was head boy and captain of the rugby first fifteen. Elder studied

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

and

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

at the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

and alongside future

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 is not ...

Helen Clark Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008, and was the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was ...

and future

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

Phil Goff Philip Bruce Goff (born 22 June 1953) is a New Zealand politician. He was a member of the New Zealand Parliament from 1981 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 2016. He served as leader of the Labour Party and leader of the Opposition between 11 No ...

was a member of Princes Street Labour. Elder was awarded a B.A in both History and Political Studies as well as a M.A in Political Studies. He then became a teacher at schools such as Henderson High School from 1974 to 1977 and Rutherford College from 1979 to 1981. He was a member of the

New Lynn New Lynn is a residential suburb in West Auckland, New Zealand, located 10 kilometres to the southwest of the Auckland city centre. The suburb is located along the Whau River, one of the narrowest points of the North Island, and was the locatio ...

Borough Council from 1976 to 1983 including being elected Deputy Mayor in 1980. In 1975 he unsuccessfully sought the Labour Party candidacy for the electorate alongside 26 other aspirants following the retirement of

Hugh Watt Hugh Watt (19 March 1912 – 4 February 1980) was a New Zealand politician who was a Labour member of Parliament and the acting prime minister of New Zealand between 31 August and 6 September 1974, following the death of Prime Minister Norma ...

, but lost to Frank Rogers. In 1980 he put his name forward to replace long serving MP

Warren Freer Warren Wilfred Freer (27 December 1920 – 29 March 2013) was a New Zealand politician and member of the Labour Party. He represented the Mount Albert electorate from 1947 to . He is internationally known as the first Western politician ever ...

in the safe Labour seat of Mount Albert, but missed out on the nomination to

Member of Parliament

Elder was first elected to

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 ...

in the 1984 election as the

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

MP for , having previously made unsuccessful attempts in

Helensville Helensville is a town in the North Island of New Zealand. It is sited northwest of Auckland, close to the southern extremity of the Kaipara Harbour. New Zealand State Highway 16, State Highway 16 passes through the town, connecting it to Waimauk ...

in the 1978 election and the 1981 election. He was re-elected in the 1987 election, the 1990 election, and in the 1993 election. In 1990, Elder was awarded the

New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal The New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal was a commemorative medal awarded in New Zealand in 1990 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, and was awarded to approximately 3,000 people. Background The New Zea ...

. After the 1990 election he was appointed Shadow Minister of Agriculture by

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 January 1993 he also picked up the Overseas Trade portfolio in a minor reshuffle. Within the Labour Party, Elder was a staunch supporter of Moore, and belonged to the more economically liberal wing of the party. When

replaced Moore as party leader he was dropped from the Agriculture portfolio, but continued as Shadow Minister of Overseas Trade. Elder remained aligned with Moore and consequently he was ranked 40th on Labour's

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 ...

, the lowest of any sitting MP. In response he questioned his ties with Labour and position in parliament, not ruling out resigning and forcing a by-election. Clark countered Elder's critiques saying Elder's list ranking reflected his lack of achievements as an MP. Elder bridled at Clark's comments, pointing to his 29 year membership and his time as Shadow Minister of Agriculture where he laboriously explained party policy to "incredulous farmers". He was clear that he didn't blame Clark and thought party processes and policies were responsible for his dissatisfaction. When suggestions arose that Moore would found a new party, Elder was considered likely to follow. In the end, Moore remained with

, but Elder was still dissatisfied. On 3 April 1996, Elder left the Labour Party to join

, a centrist conservative party led by

Winston Peters Winston Raymond Peters (born 11 April 1945) is a New Zealand politician serving as the leader of New Zealand First since its foundation in 1993. Peters served as the 13th deputy prime minister of New Zealand from 1996 to 1998 and 2017 to 2020 ...

. He became New Zealand First's spokesman for local government.

National Coalition Government

In the 1996 election, Elder was re-elected to

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 ...

for

, having unsuccessfully contested the

Waipareira Waipareira was a New Zealand parliamentary electorate that existed for one parliamentary term from 1996 to 1999. Located in West Auckland, it was held by Brian Neeson of the New Zealand National Party, who had narrowly beaten Labour's Chris ...

electorate. When

formed a coalition with the governing National Party, Elder was appointed to

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

, becoming

Minister of Internal 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, and Minister of Civil Defence. As Minister of Police Elder officially opened the

Queenstown Police Station Queenstown Police Station is the largest police station in the Otago Lakes Central Area which is one of three policing areas in the Southern District of the New Zealand Police. The Otago Lakes Central Area headquarters has returned to Queenstown P ...

on Friday 10 July 1998. When

's coalition with

National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

began to collapse, however, Elder joined the group of MPs who quit

and continued to offer support to the Government. He officially left

on 18 August 1998. In exchange for his continued support for the government, Elder was allowed to remain Minister of Internal Affairs and Minister of Civil Defence, although he was no longer part of

. Later, Elder joined with four other former

MPs to found the

Party. Elder eventually chose not to seek re-election, and retired from

at the 1999 election.

Later life

Elder spent time off from working, before returning to teaching two years after leaving

Notes

References

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Elder, Jack 1949 births Living people People educated at Kelston Boys' High School University of Auckland alumni New Zealand educators Local politicians in New Zealand Deputy mayors of places in New Zealand Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand New Zealand First MPs New Zealand Labour Party MPs Mauri Pacific MPs New Zealand list MPs Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand MPs for Auckland electorates Unsuccessful candidates in the 1981 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1978 New Zealand general election