Preceded by Peter Tennent Majority 5,439 (16.5%) Succeeded by Andrew Judd Name Harry Duynhoven | Preceded by Tony Friedlander Role New Zealand Politician Succeeded by John Armstrong Party New Zealand Labour Party | |
Preceded by John McLeod and Len Howners | ||
Harry James Duynhoven (born 1955) is a New Zealand politician and member of the New Zealand Labour Party. He was the mayor of the city of New Plymouth and surrounding districts from 2010-2013. He assumed office in October 2010. He was a Member of Parliament for the New Plymouth electorate from 1987-1990, and again from 1993-2008. He is currently a NPDC councilor representing the New Plymouth City ward and a board member on Taranaki's DHB.
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Speech by mayor harry duynhoven
Early life
Duynhoven was born in New Plymouth on 22 June 1955. He left Spotswood College at age sixteen to become an electrician, and eventually became technical teacher at the collegiate and polytechnic level.
Member of Parliament
Duynhoven entered Parliament in the 1987 elections, winning the New Plymouth seat from incumbent National Party MP, Tony Friedlander. In the 1990 elections, he lost the seat to National's John Armstrong, but won it back in the 1993 elections. In the 2008 election he lost to New Zealand National Party candidate, Jonathan Young by 105 votes, the smallest margin in the election.
In 2003, it was alleged that Duynhoven might have accidentally violated an electoral regulation, thus depriving him of his seat. This claim arose after Duynhoven applied to resume his citizenship of the Netherlands. His father was from the Netherlands, and Duynhoven had possessed citizenship from birth, but had temporarily lost it due to a change of Netherlands law. According to electoral law, applying for foreign citizenship would require Duynhoven to vacate his seat. The law was seen by many as misguided, however, and Duynhoven, with his huge majority, was almost certain to re-enter Parliament in the event of a by-election. As such, the government passed an act retroactively amending the law.
Duynhoven served as a Minister outside Cabinet of Helen Clark's Labour Government with the portfolio of Associate Minister of Transport, and later, Minister for Transport Safety and Associate Minister of Energy until his government's defeat. He did not stand as a party list candidate in the 2008 general election.
Duynhoven was made a Companion of the Queen's Service Order in the 2012 New Year Honours, for services as a Member of Parliament.
Local Government Politics
In October 2010, Duynhoven was elected Mayor of New Plymouth. Three years later, on 12 October 2013, Mr Duynhoven became the first New Plymouth mayor since Edward Hill in 1956 to be ousted after one term."
On 11 January 2015, Duynhoven confirmed months of speculation that he would stand in the upcoming New Plymouth by-election to replace two councillors, John McLeod and Len Howers, who resigned in late-2014. Duynhoven said his decision to stand in the by-election comes after receiving "a huge number of phone calls and visits from people asking me to stand."
On 11 March 2015, Duynhoven made his political come-back and won a seat in the New Plymouth City Ward by-election alongside Roy Weaver after being dumped by voters for another term as Mayor and now is a first time Councillor.
In October 2016, Duynhoven was re-elected to the New Plymouth District Council after being elected to the council in the 2015 by-election and he was elected to the Taranaki District Health Board after the 2016 local elections concluded.