Suzanne Sinclair | |
---|---|
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Titirangi | |
In office 6 November 1993 – 12 October 1996 | |
Preceded by | Marie Hasler |
Succeeded by | Electorate abolished |
Member of the Auckland City Council for Avondale Ward | |
In office 11 October 1986 – 14 October 1995 | |
Preceded by | Ward established |
Succeeded by | Phil Raffills |
Personal details | |
Born | Auckland, New Zealand | 4 May 1946
Political party | Labour |
Children | 1 |
Occupation | Teacher |
Suzanne Mary Sinclair ONZM JP (born 4 May 1946) is a former New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. She was an MP from 1993 to 1996, representing the Titirangi electorate.
Sinclair was born in 1946 at Auckland.[1] She was educated at Epsom Girls' Grammar School before attending Auckland Teachers College where she attained a diploma in teaching. Subsequently, she had a career in education as a teacher, literacy tutor, and a tutor for the Hillary Commission. She had one son.[2]
Aside from education, Sinclair worked as an employment officer at the Department of Labour, a co-ordinator of the Friends of the Zoo programme at Auckland Zoo and managed a hire plant nursery business.[2]
Years | Term | Electorate | Party | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1993–1996 | 44th | Titirangi | Labour |
Sinclair joined the Labour Party in 1975 and held party positions in the New Lynn electorate and Labour's Auckland Regional Council. She was also a member of Labour's New Zealand Council.[2]
In 1980 Sinclair stood unsuccessfully for the Auckland City Council on a Labour Party ticket.[3] She was later elected to the council after at large was abolished and replaced with a ward system. She was elected in 1986 as a councillor for the Avondale Ward. She was re-elected in 1989 and 1992 before deciding not to stand again in 1995.[4] She was also a member of the Avondale Community Board, the Portage Licensing Trust and the Auckland Institute of Technology Council.[2]
Sinclair was first elected to Parliament in the 1993 election as MP for Titirangi when she beat the incumbent, National's Marie Hasler.[5][6] 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.[7] Sinclair was also a list candidate ranked at 27, but Labour did not win sufficient votes for her to remain in Parliament.[8]
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.[9] She was appointed by the Minister of Transport, Mark Gosche, to the chairmanship of the Road Safety Trust in March 2001,[10] and she stepped down from this role in December 2007.[11] 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.[12]
In the 2020 New Year Honours, she was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the community and governance.[13] She is also a Justice of the Peace.[2]