Geoffrey Palmer (politician)

Sir Geoffrey Winston Russell Palmer (born 21 April 1942) is a New Zealand lawyer, legal academic, and former politician, who was a member of Parliament from 1979 to 1990.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1964 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1965.

After working for a time in Wellington, he attended the University of Chicago Law School, gaining a Juris Doctor in 1967.

He moved from New Zealand to Iowa in August 1969 to become a professor at the University of Iowa College of Law.

In his first year, he taught the newly adapted small-section courses of American Property law, Conflict Resolution, and International law.

He also developed the curriculum for a Torts course to be taught during the second year of law school.

This was the first course of its kind in the United States and he was granted tenure in his second year of teaching at the college.

In 1972, he left to be a visiting professor at the University of Virginia College of Law.

Eventually, in 1974, he was appointed to a professorship of law at Victoria University of Wellington, bringing him back to New Zealand.

At the 1975 general election, Palmer took part in the "Citizens for Rowling" campaign.

In a 1979 by-election, Palmer was elected to Parliament as the member for Christchurch Central, having stood as the Labour Party candidate.

In March 1981 he was elevated to the shadow cabinet as spokesperson for constitutional affairs and associate spokesperson for justice.

Following Labour's unexpected loss at the 1981 general election Palmer gained the social welfare and accident compensation portfolios.

In 1983, Palmer stood for the deputy leadership of the party.

In a three-way contest, in which all candidates were from Christchurch to reflect geographical proportionality, Palmer trailed on the first ballot to Papanui MP Mike Moore.

Lyttelton MP Ann Hercus was eliminated and on the second ballot almost all of her supporters voted for Palmer, who beat Moore by one vote.

He became deputy Leader of the Opposition.

As minister of justice from 1984 to 1989, Palmer was responsible for considerable reforms of the country's legal and constitutional framework, such as the creation of the Constitution Act 1986, New Zealand Bill of Rights, Imperial Laws Application Act, and the State Sector Act.

When, in 1984, the Labour Party won the general elections, Palmer became Deputy Prime Minister of the Fourth Labour Government.

He also became Attorney-General and Minister of Justice.

The new justice minister, who had promoted proportional representation as a law professor in his book Unbridled Power?, also published in 1984, set up a Royal Commission to investigate the electoral system and propose modifications or alternatives.

His Royal Commission reported in December 1986, recommending the mixed-member proportional representation system.

After the 1987 elections, when Labour was re-elected, he also became Minister of the Environment, an area in which he took personal interest.

The most notable feature of New Zealand politics at the time was the economic change promoted by the Finance Minister, Roger Douglas.

Douglas was advancing monetarist policies involving extensive privatisation of state assets and the removal of tariffs and subsidies—these reforms were dubbed "Rogernomics".

These policies, which contravened Labour's basic policy platform and campaign promises, were deeply unpopular with Labour's traditional support base, and resulted in a confrontation between Prime Minister David Lange and Roger Douglas.

Lange also reneged from his promise to hold a binding referendum on the MMP system.

He served as the 33rd prime minister of New Zealand for a little over a year, from August 1989 until September 1990, leading the Fourth Labour Government.

Palmer conceded defeat on MMP at an April 1989 Labour regional conference, saying that the issue was "effectively dead for the immediate future."

Eventually, Douglas was removed from Cabinet, but the dispute had weakened Lange enough that he resigned a month later.

Palmer, being deputy leader, took over as Prime Minister.

Electoral reformers in the Labour Party kept up the pressure, and in September 1989, after Palmer had become prime minister, the full annual conference of the Labour Party passed a remit endorsing a referendum on the principle of proportional representation.

Palmer, however, was perceived by the public as being too closely involved with Douglas's reforms.

Of particular concern to many people was his work on the legal aspects of state sector rearrangement, such as his preparation of the State Owned Enterprises Act.

The presence of David Caygill (a Douglas ally) as Minister of Finance further compounded perception that Palmer was doing nothing to address public concerns.

The only area in which Palmer won praise from traditional left-wing supporters was in his handling of the Environment portfolio, which he kept when he became Prime Minister – it was his work here in initiating the resource management law reform process that eventually led to the creation of the Resource Management Act 1991.

Palmer later reflected on his brief premiership:

He served as president of the New Zealand Law Commission, from 2005 to 2010.

Palmer was born in Nelson and attended Nelson Central School, Nelson Intermediate School and Nelson College.

At Victoria University of Wellington, he studied both political science and law.