Died May 15, 1985 Political party Labour | Name Arthur Faulkner Role New Zealand Politician | |
Born 20 November 1921Grey Lynn, Auckland, New Zealand ( 1921-11-20 ) | ||
SYND 25 6 73 NEW ZEALAND DEFENCE MINISTER INTERVIEWED
Arthur James Faulkner (20 November 1921 – 15 May 1985) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party.
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Member of Parliament
Faulkner stood unsuccessfully for the Franklin electorate in 1951 and the North Shore electorate in 1954.
He then stood for and won the Roskill electorate in 1957, and held the seat to 1981, when he retired.
When United States Vice President Spiro Agnew visited Wellington in mid-January 1970, Faulkner along with several other Labour Members of Parliament including Bob Tizard, Jonathan Hunt, and Martyn Finlay boycotted the state dinner to protest American policy in Vietnam. However, other Labour MPs including Opposition Leader Norman Kirk attended the function which dealt with the Nixon Doctrine.
He was a Cabinet Minister, and was Minister of Defence from 1972 to 1974 in the Third Labour Government. He stood for deputy to Bill Rowling in 1974. He was popular in caucus, but both Ron Barclay and Warren Freer saw him as indecisive and not leadership material. As Barclay learned that Faulkner could win on the first ballot, he got Freer to stand for deputy to split the vote, and Bob Tizard won on the fourth ballot.
He was President of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1978.
Personal life
He married May Cox in 1945, and they had 2 sons and 3 daughters.