Tim Barnett
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Christchurch Central
In office
1996–2008
Preceded byLianne Dalziel
Succeeded byBrendon Burns
Personal details
Born
Timothy Andrew Barnett

(1958-08-04) 4 August 1958 (age 65)
Rugby, Warwickshire, England
NationalityBritish
New Zealander
Political partyNew Zealand Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
Residence(s)Miramar, Wellington, New Zealand
OccupationChief Executive
Websitetimbarnett.org.nz

Timothy Andrew Barnett (born 4 August 1958) is a New Zealand politician who was the member of the New Zealand House of Representatives for Christchurch Central from 1996 to 2008, representing the Labour Party. He is a British immigrant to New Zealand and New Zealand's second openly gay politician. Barnett moved to South Africa in 2009 to work in the field of HIV/AIDS. He returned to New Zealand in 2012 when he was appointed by the Labour Party as their general secretary.

Early life

Born in Rugby, Warwickshire, England, on 4 August 1958, he moved to New Zealand in 1991 with his former partner, Jonathan Kirkpatrick.[1] Educated at the London School of Economics, graduating with a B.Sc. (Honours) in Economics (Government) in 1981. In the United Kingdom he had been the inaugural executive director of the Stonewall Lobby Group, which was the first professional lobby group set up in that country to work for equal rights for lesbian and gay people.

Member of Parliament

New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate List Party
1996–1999 45th Christchurch Central none Labour
1999–2002 46th Christchurch Central none Labour
2002–2005 47th Christchurch Central none Labour
2005–2008 48th Christchurch Central none Labour

He was elected to Parliament as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Christchurch Central in 1996. He has been active in many community-based organisations in New Zealand, including the lesbian, gay and transgender (LGBT) section of the Labour Party, (Rainbow Labour) which he helped to found in 1997, and is a supporter of UniQ, the Queer Students Association at New Zealand universities. He was the Parliamentary promoter of the Prostitution Law Reform Bill, a Bill in his name, which became law in 2003 and thus made New Zealand the first country in the world to decriminalise prostitution, and an outspoken supporter of the Civil Union Bill, which became law in 2004 and made New Zealand the first country outside Europe to legislate for equal relationship status for lesbian and gay couples. He was appointed Senior Government Whip after the 2005 election. He was known to be very active in his local electorate chairing a Youth Advisory Committee as well as being a regular contributor to the St Albans Neighbourhood News.

At the 2005 general election, Barnett was re-elected with 52.35% of the vote and a majority of 6,694. He retired at the 2008 general election.

After Parliament

Barnett was appointed as the global programmes manager for the World AIDS Campaign in February 2009 and was based in Cape Town, South Africa.

In July 2012, Barnett returned to New Zealand and was appointed as general secretary of the Labour Party.[2]

In October 2015, Barnett was appointed to the iwi tribal authority of the Ngāi Tūhoe as the Group Manager for Iwi (Tribe) based at the Southern Hemisphere's largest living building, Te Uru Taumatua, in Taneatua. In that role Barnett held the portfolio's Health, Housing, Education and Social Well-Being. Barnett resided in the rural township of Ruatoki during that period.

In June 2017, Barnett become the CEO of FinCap (The National Building Financial Capability Trust), a new nationwide organisation dedicated to serving and strengthening New Zealand's network of financial capability and budget advice agencies. Those local services support people facing urgent and deep financial problems to manage their debts and successfully find ways forward. FinCap has a network of 200 agencies throughout NZ and works with government and NGOs on a range of issues that aims to change of landscape of harm that debt and other associated factors has on the well being of all New Zealanders.

To date, Barnett also supports and assist with iwi governance strategic planning as an advisor and a mentor to Members of the New Zealand Parliament.

Further reading

  • Access to justice: rhetoric or reality [Australasian Law Reform Agencies Conference (2004: Wellington, NZ)], Wellington, [N.Z.]: Law Commission, 2004
  • Human rights and New Zealand law: proceedings of the Centre for Peace Studies seminar, 18 September 1999 [Occasional paper (University of Auckland. Centre for Peace Studies); no. 8.], Auckland, [N.Z.]: Centre for Peace Studies, University of Auckland, 1999
  • Barnett, Tim (1996), Aroha poha tikanga: volunteering in Aotearoa/New Zealand: produced for the Community Employment Group of the Department of Labour, Christchurch, [N.Z.]: The Group
  • Barnett, Tim (1996), Volunteer centres in Aotearoa/New Zealand / produced for the Community Employment Group of the Department of Labour, Christchurch, [N.Z.]: The Group
  • Barnett, Tim (2001), Report by the New Zealand delegate to the Ninth Annual Meeting of the Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum held in Valparaíso, Chile 14–19 January 2001 [New Zealand. Delegation (Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (9th: 2001: Valparaíso, Chile)), Wellington, [N.Z.]: House of Representatives
  • Barnett, Tim (chair) (2000), Inquiry into matters relating to the visit of the president of China to New Zealand in 1999: report of the Justice and Electoral Committee, Wellington, [N.Z.]: House of Representatives
  • Barnett, Tim (chair) (2001), Inquiry into the 1999 general election: report of the Justice and Electoral Committee, Wellington, [N.Z.]: House of Representatives
  • Barnett, Tim (chair) (2001), Transcripts of evidence heard in the course of an inquiry into matters relating to the visit of the president of China to New Zealand in 1999 : special report of the Justice and Electoral Committee, Wellington, [N.Z.]: House of Representatives
  • Barnett, Tim (chair) (2004), Inquiry into the 2002 general election: report of the Justice and Electoral Committee, Wellington, [N.Z.]: House of Representatives
  • Barnett, Tim (chair) (2005), Inquiry into the 2004 Local Authority elections: report of the Justice and Electoral Committee, Wellington, [N.Z.]: House of Representatives
  • Barnett, Tim (chair) (2005), Visit to Australia 22 to 26 May 2005: report of the Justice and Electoral Committee, Wellington, [N.Z.]: House of Representatives
  • Derby, Mark; Howie, Glen (photographer) (2002), Good work and no pay: ten years of volunteering in Wellington, Wellington, [N.Z.]: Steele Roberts, ISBN 1-877228-25-7
  • Kerr, Jacqueline; Weitkunat, Rolf; Moretti, Manuel (eds.) (2005), ABC of behaviour change: a guide to successful disease prevention and health promotion, Edinburgh, [Scotland]: Elsevier Churchill Livingstone, ISBN 0-443-07428-3 ((citation)): |first3= has generic name (help)

References

  1. ^ "Ex-St Paul's dean quits AUT job over missing cash". Otago Daily Times. 30 July 2011. Archived from the original on 4 March 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
  2. ^ Small, Vernon (18 July 2012). "Labour appoints Tim Barnett general secretary". Stuff. Archived from the original on 22 August 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2012.

External links

New Zealand Parliament Preceded byLianne Dalziel Member of Parliament for Christchurch Central 1996–2008 Succeeded byBrendon Burns Party political offices Preceded byChris Flatt General Secretary of the Labour Party 2012–2016 Succeeded byAndrew Kirton Preceded byJill Pettis Senior Whip of the Labour Party 2005–2008 Succeeded byDarren Hughes
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