Name Suzanne Sinclair | ||
Suzanne Mary Sinclair (born 4 May 1946) is a former New Zealand politician of the Labour Party.
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Early life
Sinclair was born in Auckland. Before entering politics, Sinclair was a teacher and a special needs tutor.
Politics
Sinclair was on Auckland City Council in the 1980s. She was a Labour Party MP from 1993 to 1996, representing the Titirangi electorate. She was first elected to Parliament in the 1993 election as MP for Titirangi when she beat the incumbent, National's Marie Hasler. The Titirangi electorate was abolished when mixed-member proportional (MMP) voting was introduced for the 1996 election. In the 1996 election, Sinclair unsuccessfully contested the Waitakere electorate, when she was in turn beaten by Hasler. Sinclair was also a list candidate ranked at 27, but Labour did not win sufficient votes for her to remain in Parliament.
After politics
For some years before the Britomart Transport Centre opened in 2003, Sinclair was the head of the Britomart information centre, which was funded by Auckland City Council. She was appointed by the Minister of Transport, Mark Gosche, to the chairmanship of the Road Safety Trust in March 2001, and she stepped down from this role in December 2007. Sinclair is currently Relationship Manager at the Ministry of Social Development (MSD). She chairs the WALSHtrust, an organisation in West Auckland supporting people with mental health, illness, and disability issues.