Jeanette Fitzsimons

Jeanette Mary Fitzsimons, CNZM ( born January 17, 1945 in Dunedin ) is a New Zealand politician and environmentalist. She is a member of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, was the speaker and chairman of the party and from October 1996 to February 2010 Member of the Parliament of New Zealand.

Training and Private

Jeanette Fitzsimons was born in Dunedin, Otago, studied teaching and received her bachelor's and then her Diploma of Teaching ( Dip TCHG ). She is married to Harry Parke, has two sons, Mark and Jeremy and runs an organic farm in Kauaeranga Valley, near Thames on the Coromandel Peninsula.

Professional career

She worked as a school teacher, a teacher of foreign languages, as a freelancer and was a volunteer in various environmental organizations, NGOs operate. She worked from the early 1970s until 1974 in the field of development aid for international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland.

From 1980 to 1992 she taught at the Department of Planning, the University of Auckland in the field of environmental research and energy planning. During this time she published the aspects of energy and transportation planning, management of hazardous substances, climate change, resource management and consumer behavior in relation to public order. She also worked as a consultant for local and regional authorities, as well as for the government to develop a bill for the Land Transport Management Act.

Political career

Jeanette Fitzsimons political career began in 1974 with the entry in the Values ​​Party, founded in Wellington in May 1972, said of some, that they have been the first Green party in the world. Fitzsimons was their energy policy spokesperson, a position she held from 1977 to 1982. She was also elected candidate for the House of Representatives in the election years 1978 and 1981.

When in May 1990 from the Value Party and the Greens, the Green Party of Aotearoa Group New Zealand was formed, she was a member of the party. After the Green Party in respect of the old electoral law did not get a seat in the same year in the parliamentary elections, despite the region 6.8%, it was decided to form an alliance with other parties. In 1991, the Green Party was then a four-party coalition ( NewLabour, Democrat, Green and Mana Motuhake ), which appeared under the name Alliance party and in which she was the deputy chairman from 1992 to 1999. In the election of 1993, the alliance was 18.2 % 2 seats in parliament.

In 1996, Allianz received on the basis of the new electoral law, in which smaller parties their share of the vote in accordance with more seats in parliament were, with 11.3 % of the vote and 13 seats Jeanette Fitzsimons won them a. From this time until her resignation in February 2010 she was a member of parliament without interruption. In 1995 she was elected the second president of the Green Party equal. As the 1999 election the Green Party resigned from the alliance, she ran as a candidate for the Green Party and won one of the 7 seats.

In addition to numerous roles as spokeswoman for her party, she was in Parliament

• Of 4 March 1997 to 19 October 1999 as a member of the Transport and Environment Committee,
• 21 December 1999 to 11 August 2005, when Chairman of the Local Government and Environment Committee,
• Of 16 November 2005 to 3 October 2008, when a member of the Finance and Expenditure Committee,
• Of 13 September 2006 to 3 October 2008, when a member of the Officers of Parliament Committee,
• 9 December 2008 to 31 August 2009, as a member of the Emissions Trading Scheme Review Committee and
• December 9, 2008 to February 11, 2010, as a member of the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee

Active.

Resignation

In preparation for their withdrawal from the parliament Jeanette Fitzsimons handed over in June 2009 its position as an equal party chairman to her chosen successor Metiria Turei. In January 2010, already reached its 65 years, she then stepped from February 10, 2010 with her farewell speech in the Parliament of the parliamentary stage, but not from the political scene. After a six month break, they will announce their decision on their future political work.

Swell

• Jeanette Fitzsimons - New Zealand Parliament - ( accessed on March 17, 2010)