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Chris Carter (New Zealand politician)

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The Honourable
Chris Carter
43rd Minister of Education
In office
5 November 2007 – 19 November 2008
Prime MinisterHelen Clark
Preceded bySteve Maharey
Succeeded byAnne Tolley
21st Minister of Housing
In office
19 October 2005 – 5 November 2007
Prime MinisterHelen Clark
Preceded bySteve Maharey
Succeeded byMaryan Street
2nd Minister for Building Issues
In office
21 December 2004 – 19 October 2005
Prime MinisterHelen Clark
Preceded byMargaret Wilson
Succeeded byClayton Cosgrove
8th Minister of Conservation
In office
15 August 2002 – 5 November 2007
Prime MinisterHelen Clark
Preceded bySandra Lee
Succeeded byStephanie Chadwick
11th Minister of Local Government
In office
15 August 2002 – 19 October 2005
Prime MinisterHelen Clark
Preceded bySandra Lee
Succeeded byNanaia Mahuta
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Te Atatu
In office
27 November 1999 – 30 September 2011
Preceded bySeat recreated
Succeeded byPhil Twyford
In office
6 November 1993 – 12 October 1996
Preceded byBrian Neeson
Succeeded bySeat abolished
Personal details
Born (1952-05-04) 4 May 1952 (age 72)
Auckland, New Zealand
Political partyLabour
Domestic partnerPeter Kaiser[1]
Alma materUniversity of Auckland
ProfessionTeacher

Christopher Joseph Carter[2] JP (born 4 May 1952) is a former New Zealand Labour Party and independent Member of the New Zealand Parliament. He was a senior Cabinet Minister in the Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand, serving lastly as Minister of Education, Minister Responsible for the Education Review Office and Minister of Ethnic Affairs.[3] He was the Member of Parliament for the Te Atatu electorate, where he was first elected in 1993. He did not win re-election (to the replacement seat, Waipareira) in 1996, but won a new and expanded Te Atatu seat in 1999. In 2010, he was suspended from the Labour Party caucus following a dispute with party leader Phil Goff, shortly afterwards he became an independent MP.[4][5] He was expelled by the Labour Party for breaching the Party's constitution in bringing the Party in disrepute, on 11 October 2010.[6] In September 2011 Carter resigned from Parliament following his appointment to a United Nations position in Afghanistan where he served for 4 years. In 2015 he was appointed to head UN operations in Rakhine State in Myanmar where he served for 3 years. In 2018 he rejoined the New Zealand Labour Party and stood for election as a Labour Party representative in the 2019 New Zealand local elections. Carter was elected and appointed as Chairperson of the Henderson Massey Local Board with 11,250 votes. He also won election in 2019 as one of the seven elected board members of the Waitemata District Health Board with 14,593 votes. Both positions have three year terms.

Early and personal life

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Carter was born on 4 May 1952, and brought up in the Auckland suburb of Panmure. He was educated at St Peter's College, Auckland and at the University of Auckland where he received an MA (Hons) in history.

Before entering politics, Carter had served as a teacher and as a poultry farmer. His partner is Peter Kaiser, a headmaster, and they have been together for over 40 years. On 10 February 2007, Carter and Kaiser were joined[7] in the first civil union for a Cabinet Minister or Member of Parliament since civil unions in New Zealand were introduced after legislation was passed in December 2004.

Member of Parliament

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New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate List Party
1993–1996 44th Te Atatu Labour
1999–2002 46th Te Atatu 34 Labour
2002–2005 47th Te Atatu 25 Labour
2005–2008 48th Te Atatu 19 Labour
2008–2010 49th Te Atatū 7 Labour
2010–2011 Changed allegiance to: Independent

At the 1987 election Carter stood unsuccessfully as the Labour Party candidate in the Albany electorate, losing to National's Don McKinnon. In a local-body election in 1988 he stood as a candidate for the Te Atatu ward of the Auckland Regional Authority, but was unsuccessful. He placed third out of six candidates.[8] In the lead up to the 1990 election he contested the Labour nomination for the seat of Te Atatu. One of six contenders, he emerged one of the two front-runners alongside news service manager Dan McCaffrey. At the selection meeting McCaffrey was successful.[9]

At the 1993 election he stood as the Labour candidate for Te Atatu and won the seat.[10] In 1993 he was appointed Labour's spokesperson for Ethnic Affairs.[11] In 1994, Carter was named by the Speaker of the House Peter Tapsell for calling John Banks a hypocrite over his anti-abortion stance on abortions.[12]

The Te Atatu seat was abolished for the 1996 election and he lost the newly created Waipareira electorate to National's Brian Neeson by just 107 votes,[13] and not having been placed on the Labour list for the election.[14]

After losing his seat, Carter started one of the first branches of New Zealand Rainbow Labour for centre-left lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender people (LGBT) and others during the 1996–1999 term. At the 1999 election the Te Atatu seat was recreated and he won the seat once again. From 1999 to 2002 he was Labour's junior whip.[10]

After being re-elected in 2002 Carter was elevated to cabinet and was appointed Minister of Conservation, Minister of Local Government and Minister of Ethnic Affairs. In 2004 he was additionally appointed Minister for Building Issues.[10] Carter was the first openly gay man ever appointed as a New Zealand Cabinet minister. He had been a strong advocate of gay equality for some time, and continued this role on entering Parliament.

At the 2005 election, Carter was re-elected to his seat with 59.4% of the vote, a majority of 10,447. Labour lost power in the 2008 election. Carter was re-elected, but his majority was almost halved to 5,298.[15]

On 14 June 2010, 4 days after the release of ministerial credit card records, Carter along with two other MPs Shane Jones MP and Mita Ririnui MP (Lab – Lists) were demoted by Opposition Leader Phil Goff MP (Mount Roskill) for misuse of such credit cards. In the case of Carter, he was accused of purchasing personal items with the card, which was outside the rules for Ministerial expenditure as a minister under the former Clark government over a six-year period. Carter repaid the money in full, a total of $26 ($NZ). His main dispute with Phil Goff was over allegations by Goff that Carter had travelled too much as a Cabinet Minister. All of Carter's travel as a minister was official travel and approved by Cabinet (of which Goff was a member). Carter's demotion included removal from the front bench, and loss of the shadow portfolio of Foreign Affairs. Carter subsequently speculated publicly about whether he would continue as a Member of Parliament.

As a cabinet minister, Carter was entitled to the title of The Honourable and became The Hon. Mr Chris Carter,[16] which is a title granted for the rest of his life.[17]

On 29 July 2010 Carter was suspended from the Labour Party caucus for allegedly being behind an anonymous letter sent around the press gallery claiming there was a leadership challenge against Phil Goff; a charge he later admitted.[4] On 17 August 2010, Speaker Lockwood Smith announced that Carter was officially an independent MP and no longer a Labour MP.[5]

Carter remained an independent MP until his resignation as a Member of Parliament on 30 September 2011. Because Carter's resignation was less than six months prior to the general election on 26 November 2011 election, no by-election was held to fill the vacancy he created.

United Nations

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In early September 2011 Carter was appointed as programme manager of the Governance Unit of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Afghanistan, leading the strengthening of local governance in all 34 Afghan Provinces. He served in that role for 4 years.

On 18 October 2013, Carter was waiting for a colleague to leave his compound in Kabul when a suicide bomber attacked a passing military convoy on the street some 25 metres (82 ft) away; he was separated from the blast by a glass wall. If his Australian colleague had not been late, they could have been the victims of the attack themselves. Carter considered it a "close shave".[18]

In September 2015 Carter was appointed as the Senior UN Advisor for Rakhine State in Myanmar after serving for 4 years in Afghanistan. His Myanmar role, which he filled until 2019, was to lead and coordinate development by UN Agencies operating in Rakhine State, a region of Myanmar marked by serious religious and ethnic conflict between Buddhist and Muslim communities.

Local politics

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In 2019, Carter retired from the United Nations after seven years' service and returned to New Zealand to live in Te Atatū. He had rejoined the New Zealand Labour Party in 2018. In the 2019 New Zealand local elections, he was elected a member of Auckland Council's Henderson-Massey Local Board and became chairperson. He was re-elected in 2022 and retained the position of chairperson. He was also elected as a member of the Waitemata District Health Board.[19]

References

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  1. ^ Meng-Yee, Carolyne (13 June 2010). "Big-spending MP may quit". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 13 June 2010.
  2. ^ "New Zealand Hansard – Members Sworn Volume:651;Page:2". New Zealand Parliament. Archived from the original on 23 February 2013. Retrieved 26 November 2009.
  3. ^ "Ministerial List for Announcement on 31 October 2007" (Press release). New Zealand Government. 31 October 2007. Archived from the original (DOC) on 1 October 2008. Retrieved 22 November 2007.
  4. ^ a b "Ousted MP's letter "stupid and disloyal"". Television New Zealand. 29 July 2010. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
  5. ^ a b "Speaker: Carter now an independent". The New Zealand Herald. 17 August 2010. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2010.
  6. ^ "Carter tells Labour council: I'll dish dirt on senior MPs". The New Zealand Herald. 12 October 2010. Archived from the original on 21 October 2010. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
  7. ^ McNaughton, Maggie; Perry, Keith (10 February 2007). "Minister to marry in gay union". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 22 October 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2010.
  8. ^ "ARA election results". Auckland Star. 9 October 1988. p. A8.
  9. ^ "Six seek Bassett's Te Atatu seat". The New Zealand Herald. 14 February 1990. p. 1.
  10. ^ a b c "Hon Chris Carter". New Zealand Parliament. 30 September 2011. Archived from the original on 26 October 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
  11. ^ "The Labour Shadow Cabinet". The Dominion. 14 December 1993. p. 2.
  12. ^ Hansard. Vol. 542. New Zealand Parliament. p. 768.
  13. ^ "Electorate Candidate and Party Votes Recorded at Each Polling Place – Waipareira" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 February 2013. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
  14. ^ "Part III – Party Lists of Successful Registered Parties" (PDF). Electoral Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  15. ^ "Te Atatu results 2008". Archived from the original on 5 December 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
  16. ^ "Members of Executive Council Appointed". The New Zealand Gazette: 2948. 20 August 2002. Retrieved 22 July 2012.
  17. ^ "Retention of the Title "The Honourable"". The New Zealand Gazette: 5156. 18 December 2008. Retrieved 22 July 2012.
  18. ^ Forbes, Michael (21 October 2013). "Taliban bomb explodes close to ex-NZ MP". The Dominion Post. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
  19. ^ Niall, Todd (12 March 2019). "MP Chris Carter returns for elections". The Dominion Post. p. 10.

Further reading

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Media related to Chris Carter at Wikimedia Commons

New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Te Atatu
1993–1996

1999–2011 		Vacant
Seat abolished
Vacant
Seat recreated
 Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Conservation
2002–2007 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of Housing
2005–2007 		Succeeded by
Minister of Education
2007–2008 		Succeeded by
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