Name Margaret Shields Role New Zealand Politician | ||
 | ||
Died May 29, 2013, Paraparaumu, New Zealand | ||
Education Wellington Girls' College | ||
Dame Margaret Kerslake Shields DNZM QSO JP (née Porter, 18 December 1941 – 29 May 2013) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. She had three terms in the House of Representatives in the 1980s and was afterwards a member of the Greater Wellington Regional Council, including as chairman.
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Early life
Shields was born on 18 December 1941 in Wellington, and was educated at Wellington Girls' College from 1955 to 1959.
Political career
Shields first stood for Labour in the 1975 election in the Karori electorate, coming second to Hugh Templeton. Shields had initially been declared the winner of the 1978 election in the Kapiti electorate, but she lost by 83 votes on a magisterial recount to Barry Brill.
From the 1981 election she represented the Kapiti electorate in Parliament, but in the 1990 election she was defeated by Roger Sowry; one of a number of losses contributing to the fall of the Fourth Labour Government. She was Minister of Customs and Consumer Affairs from 1984 and the Minister of Women's Affairs from 1987 to 1990.
In 1995, Shields was elected to the Greater Wellington Regional Council. She became its deputy chairwoman in 1998, and was its first female chair from 2001 to 2004.
Honours
In the 1996 Queen's Birthday Honours Shields was appointed a Companion of the Queen's Service Order and later in the 2008 New Year Honours was appointed a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. In the Special Honours 2009 Shields accepted redesignation as a Dame Companion, following the reintroduction of titular honours by the government.
Death
Shields died in Paraparaumu in 2013 and was survived by her husband Pat and one of her two daughters.