Jenny Kirk (politician)

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Jenny Kirk
MNZM
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Birkenhead
In office
15 August 1987 – 27 October 1990
Preceded byJim McLay
Succeeded byIan Revell
Personal details
Born
Jennifer Norah Kirk

(1945-02-18)18 February 1945
Died30 September 2021(2021-09-30) (aged 76)
Whangārei, New Zealand
Political partyLabour

Jennifer Norah Kirk MNZM (18 February 1945 – 30 September 2021) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party.

Biography[edit]

Kirk was born in 1945 and was educated at Westlake High School and later the Auckland Business College. She had several jobs in both New Zealand and Australia as a secretary, hotel worker, motel manager and journalist. She was involved in the National Organisation for Women and on several Parent Teacher Associations and school committees.[1]

She married aged 21 and had two sons before the marriage ended via divorce. In October 1986 she remarried to Owen Saunders.[2]

In 1983 she joined the Labour Party and was a delegate on the Glenfield Labour electorate committee from 1983 to 1985 and became the founding chairperson of the Birkenhead-Northcote branch of the Labour Party in 1986. From 1985 to 1986 she was an electorate secretary for Judy Keall the Member of Parliament for Glenfield.[2]

New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate Party
1987–1990 42nd Birkenhead Labour

She represented the Birkenhead electorate[3] from the 1987 election; when she defeated the National candidate for the seat, Barry Gustafson, after Jim McLay retired. After being elected she shared a flat in Wellington with Keall. She was the chairperson of Labour's caucus health committee where she was an advocate of continued state involvement in healthcare, particularly to assist poor people.[4] In 1990 she was defeated[5] by the new National candidate, Ian Revell.

She became Chief Executive of the National Foundation for the Deaf from 1990 to 1994. At the 1995 local-body elections she was elected as a member of the North Shore City Council for the Birkenhead ward. Re-elected three years later, she served on the council until 2001.[6] Kirk was instrumental in the construction of the Northern Busway which connects the North Shore to central Auckland after securing funding from Mark Gosche the Minister of Transport.[7]

In 1993, Kirk was awarded the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal.[8] In the 2002 Queen's Birthday and Golden Jubilee Honours, she was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to local-body and community affairs.[9] Kirk died in Whangārei on 30 September 2021.[10]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Who's Who 1987, p. 62–63.
  2. ^ a b Who's Who 1987, p. 63.
  3. ^ Thomas, Ben (27 June 2008). "Bassett: politics, partners and Pope". The National Business Review. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
  4. ^ "Constant Compromise With Alien Environment". The New Zealand Herald. 28 December 1987. p. 9.
  5. ^ "Conservative With Eye on Links to U.S. Wins New Zealand Vote". Associated Press. 28 October 1990. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
  6. ^ "Results". Sunday News. 11 October 1998. p. 5.
  7. ^ "Former Labour MP and North Shore councillor Jenny Kirk dies aged 76". Stuff.co.nz. 8 October 2021. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  8. ^ "The New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal 1993 – register of recipients". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 26 July 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
  9. ^ "Queen's Birthday and Golden Jubilee honours list 2002". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 3 June 2002. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  10. ^ "Jenny Kirk death notice". The New Zealand Herald. 6 October 2021. Retrieved 6 October 2021.

References[edit]

  • Who's Who in the New Zealand Parliament 1987. Wellington: Parliamentary Service. 1987.
  • Ministers and Members in the New Zealand Parliament by G.A. Wood (University of Otago Press, 2nd edition 1996) ISBN 1-877133-00-0
New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Birkenhead
1987–1990 		Succeeded by
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