Prime Minister David Lange Succeeded by Margaret Moir Preceded by Gerard Wall Preceded by Herbert Pickering | Succeeded by Robin Gray Name Kerry Burke Preceded by Paddy Blanchfield | |
On the Land S01E17 - Sir Kerry Burke
Sir Thomas Kerry Burke (born 24 March 1942) served as Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives from 1987 to 1990. He was a member of the Labour Party, and served throughout the second term of the Fourth Labour Government.
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Early life
Burke was born in Christchurch, New Zealand. In 1960, he began three years of study at the University of Canterbury, after which he studied for a year at the Christchurch College of Education. He taught at Rangiora High School from 1967 to 1972 and at Greymouth High School from 1976 to 1978.
Political career
Burke was first elected to Parliament as the Labour MP for Rangiora in the 1972 election. In the 1975 election, however, he lost his seat, and remained outside Parliament for three years. In the 1978 election, Burke was elected as the Labour MP for the West Coast electorate.
When Labour won the 1984 election, Burke became Minister of Immigration and Minister of Employment. He held these roles until the 1987 election, when he was chosen to replace the outgoing Gerard Wall as Speaker. At 45 he was the second youngest Speaker in the history of the Parliament of New Zealand.
He served in this role for three years, losing the Speakership and his seat when Labour lost the 1990 election.
He was first elected councillor of the Canterbury Regional Council in 1998 and was chairman from 2004. On 24 October 2007, following the local body elections, he was elected Chairman for a further term. On 24 September 2009, Burke lost a motion of no confidence and was replaced as Chairman. In 2010 the New Zealand Government fired Burke, and the remaining Regional Councillors of Environment Canterbury, two years after the previous Local Body Elections. They were replaced by Government-appointed Commissioners and elections for Environment Canterbury are to be held in 2013. The reason cited for the sacking was due to poor direction, "woeful" performance and governance and an overall collapse of confidence in the organisation.
Outside politics
He was knighted in the 1990 New Year Honours and patron of Cholmondeley Children's Home in Governors Bay but relinquished this role according to the 2015 Annual Report prior to his drink driving conviction in January 2016 (below). In March 2012 Sir Kerry joined the board of the Draco Foundation (NZ) Charitable Trust, an organisation whose purpose is the protection and promotion of democracy and natural justice in New Zealand. The trust was denied charitable status by the Charities Commission and on appeal by the High Court of New Zealand (Judgement Ron Young J charities.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/draco-foundation-nz-charitable-trust.pdf). The Draco organisation was judged to have no public benefit and was set up for political purposes.
In January 2016 aged 73 Burke was convicted of drink driving having 517mcg of alcohol to a litre of breath. He was fined $400 and disqualified from driving for six months.