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Jennifer Norah Kirk MNZM (18 February 1945 – 30 September 2021) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party.
Jenny Kirk | |
|---|---|
| Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Birkenhead | |
| In office 15 August 1987 – 27 October 1990 | |
| Preceded by | Jim McLay |
| Succeeded by | Ian Revell |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Jennifer Norah Kirk 18 February 1945 |
| Died | 30 September 2021 (aged 76) Whangārei, New Zealand |
| Political party | Labour |
Kirk was born in 1945 and was educated at Westlake High School and later the Auckland Business College. She had several jobs in both New Zealand and Australia as a secretary, hotel worker, motel manager and journalist. She was involved in the National Organisation for Women and on several Parent Teacher Associations and school committees.[1]
She married aged 21 and had two sons before the marriage ended via divorce. In October 1986 she remarried to Owen Saunders.[2]
In 1983 she joined the Labour Party and was a delegate on the Glenfield Labour electorate committee from 1983 to 1985 and became the founding chairperson of the Birkenhead-Northcote branch of the Labour Party in 1986. From 1985 to 1986 she was an electorate secretary for Judy Keall the Member of Parliament for Glenfield.[2]
| Years | Term | Electorate | Party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987–1990 | 42nd | Birkenhead | Labour | ||
She represented the Birkenhead electorate[3] from the 1987 election; when she defeated the National candidate for the seat, Barry Gustafson, after Jim McLay retired. After being elected she shared a flat in Wellington with Keall. She was the chairperson of Labour's caucus health committee where she was an advocate of continued state involvement in healthcare, particularly to assist poor people.[4] In 1990 she was defeated[5] by the new National candidate, Ian Revell.
She became Chief Executive of the National Foundation for the Deaf from 1990 to 1994. At the 1995 local-body elections she was elected as a member of the North Shore City Council for the Birkenhead ward. Re-elected three years later, she served on the council until 2001.[6] Kirk was instrumental in the construction of the Northern Busway which connects the North Shore to central Auckland after securing funding from Mark Gosche the Minister of Transport.[7]
In 1993, Kirk was awarded the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal.[8] In the 2002 Queen's Birthday and Golden Jubilee Honours, she was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to local-body and community affairs.[9] Kirk died in Whangārei on 30 September 2021.[10]
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