Geoffrey Palmer (politician)

Sir Geoffrey Winston Russell Palmer (* April 21, 1942 in Nelson) is a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. From August 1989 to September 1990 he was the prime minister of New Zealand. He was instrumental in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act of 1990, a law that guarantees basic civil rights.

Life

Palmer visited the Nelson College in his native town, after which he studied at the Victoria University of Wellington to 1964 policy and jurisprudence. In Chicago, he completed his training as a lawyer from 1967. For a time he taught at the University of Iowa and the University of Virginia in the United States. In addition, he worked as a consultant for the Australian government. In 1974 he became a professor in Wellington.

1979 Palmer was elected in the constituency of Christchurch from Parliament. From 1983, he led the Labour Party in opposition. His party was able to win the elections in 1984, he became deputy prime minister under David Lange, chief government adviser and Minister of Justice. The following legislative period he occupied the post of Minister for the Environment, for which he took a personal interest. After an extensive economic reform by Finance Minister Roger Douglas, there was a crisis in the Labour Party. The extensive privatization and the elimination of subsidies and tariffs were very unpopular with the people. Long first had to release and withdraw in August Douglas. As his deputy Palmer was head of government.

In public, Palmer has been associated with the unpopular reforms and had from the beginning a difficult time in his place went to Mike Moore at the 1990 election and lost significantly against Jim Bolger. Palmer returned to the Victoria University, where he taught law. At the same time he was a professor at the University of Iowa and worked as a legal advisor. In 1994 he founded with Mai Chen a law firm. He also served in the 1990s in one case as an ad hoc judge at the International Court in The Hague. Since December 2002 he represented New Zealand at the International Whaling Commission He also leads a commission, which is to check the laws of New Zealand and revise since 1 December 2005. He is a member of the Order and bearer of the Order of St Michael and St George and recipient of the Order of Australia.