Everything about Richard Prebble totally explained
Richard William Prebble CBE, born
7 February 1948, was for many years a member of the
New Zealand Parliament. Initially a member of the
Labour Party, he joined the newly formed
ACT New Zealand party under
Roger Douglas in
1996.
Early life
Prebble was born in
Kent,
England, and raised in
Auckland. His father, Ken Prebble, was an
Anglican priest, and a leader in the
Charismatic movement as vicar of St. Pauls. He attended the
University of Auckland, gaining a
BA degree in
1970 and an
LLB (Hons.) degree in
1972. He was admitted to the Bar in
1971, and practised law in both New Zealand and
Fiji.
Member of Parliament
Labour in opposition
Prebble was originally a member of the
Labour Party, and stood as its candidate for the Auckland Central electorate in the
1975 election. His candidacy was successful. Once inside Parliament, Prebble became aligned with
Roger Douglas, leader of the right-wing faction within the Labour Party. Douglas supported the
privatization of state assets, the
deregulation of the economy, and the removal of trade barriers such as
tariffs and
subsidies. The party's traditional left-wing faction strongly opposed all these policies.
Cabinet minister
When
Labour Party won the
1984 election,
Douglas became
Minister of Finance, and began implementing his economic policy. Prebble, along with
David Caygill, proved one of his greatest supporters,
Douglas, Prebble, and
Caygill becoming sometimes known as "the Troika".
Prebble's ministerial roles granted him significant opportunities to pursue his policies - from
1984 to
1987, he served as Minister of Transport and
Minister of Railways. In these roles he promoted the privatization of state-owned transport infrastructure. He also served as Associate Minister of Finance during this period, allowing him to support
Douglas more closely. In
1987, he became Minister for State-owned Enterprises, Postmaster General, Minister of Works, and Minister of Broadcasting, portfolios in which he continued to advance
Douglas's policies. During his ministerial career, Prebble was effectively placed in charge of the ongoing privatisation of government assets.
Prebble's position became troubled, however, because of growing tensions between Douglas and the
Prime Minister,
David Lange. While
Lange had supported
Douglas's reforms in the beginning, believing that they were necessary to end the economic problems that the government inherited, he became increasingly hostile to the scale and pace that
Douglas demanded -
Lange tended to see the reforms as a means to an end, while
Douglas considered deregulation and privatisation as important goals in and of themselves. In November
1988, after a long period of bitter dispute, Prebble was fired from
Cabinet, and
Douglas was forced to resign.
Labour in opposition
Prebble retained his Auckland Central seat in the
1990 election, which
Labour lost, arguably because of public dissatisfaction with the reforms. In the
1993 election, however, Prebble lost his seat to
Sandra Lee-Vercoe, deputy leader of the left-wing
Alliance. For the next three years, he worked as a
consultant.
ACT New Zealand
New Zealand's switch to the
MMP electoral system, which made it easier for smaller parties to enter Parliament, provided the means for Prebble to return to national politics. When
Douglas established the
ACT New Zealand party, dedicated to the same
laissez-faire economic policies he'd promoted while in power, Prebble quickly became involved. In March
1996,
Douglas stepped down as the new party's leader, and Prebble took over.
1996 campaign
In the
1996 election, the first to be held under
MMP,
ACT won eight seats in
Parliament. Prebble won the Wellington Central electorate after a hotly contested campaign.
Views vary over whether he won Wellington Central on his own merits or because of an implied endorsement from
National Prime Minister Jim Bolger.
ACT had by this time started billing itself as a natural coalition partner for
National, and if Prebble won Wellington Central, it would be able to enter Parliament regardless of its party vote.
Two days before the election
Jim Bolger admitted in an interview with
Paul Holmes that the polls pointed to a Prebble victory in Wellington Central although he thought it a pity because he liked the
National candidate,
Mark Thomas. Some argue that Prebble won because of this implied endorsement. Others argue that Prebble had already won, independent media polls already having put him in the lead a week out from the election. In the end, it proved to be moot, as
ACT won 6.1% of the vote of the nationwide party vote, above the 5% threshold necessary to have seats in parliament.
1999 campaign
Prebble lost his Wellington Central seat (the boundaries of which were significantly changed by the Electoral Commission, to Prebble's disfavour) to Labour's
Marian Hobbs in the
1999 election, but remained in
Parliament as a
list MP and leader of
ACT. After the
2002 election, speculation grew that Prebble would be replaced as leader, but a challenge failed to eventuate.
Retirement
In February
2004, after a particularly poor poll result, speculation about Prebble's position appeared once again, with second-ranked
Rodney Hide cited as a potential challenger. No challenge eventuated. On
27 April 2004, however, Prebble announced his voluntary retirement from the leadership, saying that "there comes a point in politics when there's a time for a change, when there's time for a fresh face". After a so-called "primary" contest, Hide took over as
ACT leader on
13 June 2004.
Prebble initially made no announcement about whether he'd remain in
Parliament beyond the following election but indicated that he was "leaning towards" leaving. In mid-July 2004, however, he announced that he'd seek the office of
Speaker upon the retirement of
Jonathan Hunt. However, he didn't stand for election when the new
Speakerwas elected in March 2005 as he'd decided to retire at the next election.
He delivered his valedictory speech to a full gallery on 28 July 2005, a copy of which can be read at
(External Link
)
Since the
2005 election Prebble has increasingly been involved in print media and on television as a political commentator. He continues to hold directorships with a number of New Zealand companies, including freight transport firm
Mainfreight.
Prebble's latest book,
Out of the Red, was released on October 23rd (Labour Day), 2006.
Books & party political publications
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Prebble's contribution was the paper: "New Zealand: tenth by 2010."
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Prebble's contribution was the paper: "Old values, new ideas."
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The second edition of this book is entitled Now it's time to act - [notethe ISBN].
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This is the second edition of I've been thinking - [notethe ISBN] containing additional material.
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Prebble's contributions are the papers: "Why I don't vote
National";
and (co-authored with Deborah Coddington) "Lessons of freedom and choice."
Trivia
When fired from Cabinet in 1988, Prebble held a State House Ejection Party before leaving his Cabinet minister's house.
Prebble's wife Doreen, from whom he's separated, is a Solomon Islander and a former Honorary Consul for the Solomon Islands in New Zealand.Further Information
Get more info on 'Richard Prebble'.
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