Jeanette Fitzsimons

Template:Short description Template:Use New Zealand English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox officeholder Jeanette Mary Fitzsimons Template:Post-nominals (née Gaston; 17 January 1945 – 5 March 2020) was a New Zealand politician and environmentalist.<ref name=":3" /> She was the co-leader of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand from 1995 to 2009, and was a Member of Parliament from 1996 to 2010.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>

Early life

Born in Dunedin on 17 January 1945, Fitzsimons was the daughter of Doris Mary Gaston (née Harrison) and John Fisher Gaston.<ref name="Whos who">Template:Cite journal</ref> She was raised in nearby Mosgiel, and in Waiuku, near Auckland,<ref name=":4">Template:Cite news</ref> and was educated at Waiuku District High School from 1957 to 1959, and then Epsom Girls' Grammar School in Auckland between 1960 and 1961.<ref name="Whos who"/> She studied French and music at the University of Auckland from 1962 to 1964, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree, and was considered a talented violinist.<ref name="Whos who"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She also earned a Diploma of Education.<ref name="Whos who"/>

After teaching at her old school, Epsom Girls' Grammar, in 1966 and 1967,<ref name=":3">Template:Cite journal</ref> Fitzsimons lived in Geneva, Switzerland, from 1968 to 1974, where she joined Friends of the Earth and the Environmental Defence Society. When the Values Party was formed to contest the 1972 New Zealand general election, her father sent her newspaper clippings about the party and she became interested in its environmentalist-based policies. When she returned to New Zealand in 1974, she joined the party.<ref name=":4" />

From 1980 to 1992, Fitzsimons was a lecturer in environmental studies and energy planning at the University of Auckland. She was also active in environmental organisations such as the New Zealand Biological Producers' Council and the Environmental Council and worked as an environmental consultant to local authorities.<ref name=":0" />

Political career

Fitzsimons' first entry into politics was with the Values Party. At the 1977 local body elections she stood as a Values Party candidate for the Auckland Regional Authority in the Auckland City and Waiheke Island ward, she was unsuccessful polling second to last.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She was its energy spokesperson from 1977 to 1982, and stood as a candidate in the 1978 and 1981 elections in the Remuera electorate.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> When the Values Party merged with a number of other groups to form the Green Party, Fitzsimons became an active member of the new organisation.

When the Green Party joined with several other left-wing parties to form the Alliance Party, Fitzsimons became co-deputy leader, a position she held from 1992 to 1999.<ref name=":0" /> In the 1993 election, Fitzsimons unsuccessfully contested the Hauraki electorate under the Alliance banner. In 1995, she became co-leader of the Green Party, which remained within the Alliance.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Member of Parliament

Template:NZ parlbox header Template:NZ parlbox Template:NZ parlbox Template:NZ parlbox Template:NZ parlbox Template:NZ parlbox Template:NZ parlbox footer In the 1996 election, the first to be conducted under the new MMP electoral system, Fitzsimons was placed third on the Alliance party list. She also stood as the party's candidate in the Coromandel. She was unsuccessful in the Coromandel electorate, but entered Parliament on the Alliance list.<ref name=":1" />

In 1998, Fitzsimons' Energy Efficiency Bill was drawn from the member's ballot. It was eventually passed into law as the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act 2000.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Greens contested the 1999 election as an independent party, with Fitzsimons and Rod Donald serving as co-leaders. Fitzsimons was placed first on the party's list, and once again contested the Coromandel seat. To observers, it seemed that the Greens' chances of entering parliament were dependent on Fitzsimons' performance in Coromandel; in order to receive proportional representation, the party needed to either gain five percent of the national vote or win an electorate seat, and it appeared that the former option was unlikely. Labour Leader (and Prime Minister after the election) Helen Clark encouraged Labour supporters to give their constituency vote to Fitzsimons<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and their party vote to Labour.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> When normal votes had been counted, it appeared that Fitzsimons had been defeated in Coromandel by National's Murray McLean, but when special votes were tallied, Fitzsimons had a narrow lead. This guaranteed the Green Party seats in parliament regardless of whether it crossed the five percent threshold.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In her second term, Fitzsimons promoted bills to extend New Zealand's nuclear-free zone<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and to reduce road traffic.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Both were defeated at their second readings.

Fitzimons with her co-leader, Russel Norman, Template:Circa

In the 2002 election, Fitzsimons was defeated in Coromandel. She remained in Parliament on the Green Party's list, and remained co-leader of the party until 2009.

Following the 2005 election, she became the spokeswoman for the government's solar heating promotion initiatives. This was agreed to as part of a policy package negotiated by the Green Party in exchange for its undertaking not to oppose the Labour-led Government on matters of confidence and supply until the next parliamentary elections. In the 2005 term, Fitzsimons had three member's bills drawn, addressing climate change<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="rmcc">Template:Cite web</ref> and dog microchipping.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> None passed, though her Resource Management (Climate Protection) Amendment Bill did reach a second reading.<ref name="rmcc"/>

Fitzsimons was a list only candidate in the 2008 election and retained a seat in Parliament as she was ranked at number one on the party list.

In February 2009, Fitzsimons announced that she would step down as party co-leader, and she was replaced by Metiria Turei on 30 May 2009.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In June 2009, her Sustainable Biofuel Bill was drawn from the member's ballot.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The bill passed its first reading,<ref>New Zealand Parliamentary Debates 656 5260.</ref> but was subsequently defeated at its second reading on 4 April 2012 by a vote of 69–51, with National, New Zealand First, ACT and United Future opposing it.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Fitzsimons left Parliament on 11 February 2010, and was replaced by the next candidate on the Green Party list, Gareth Hughes, whose biography of Fitzsimons was published in 2022.<ref name=":1" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

She was the Green Party spokesperson on Climate Change, Energy, Finance & Revenue, Genetic Engineering, Research, Science & Technology, Sustainable Economics, Transport and Treaty Issues (Associate Spokesperson).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Post-retirement life

Fitzsimons continued an active involvement in environmental causes following her retirement from politics. In 2013, she joined Greenpeace executive director Bunny McDiarmid on a ship which was protesting oil drilling off the coast of Raglan.<ref name=":4" /> In 2017, she was part of a group of protesters who chained themselves to a gate at Fonterra's Clandeboye factory in South Canterbury as a protest against the company's use of coal.<ref name=":2" />

She was a patron of the Soil & Health Association, and on the advisory board of the University of Otago Centre for Sustainability.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Recognition

The New Zealand Herald named her New Zealand Politician of the Year in 2007.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In October 2008, respondents to a ONE News Colmar Brunton poll regarded Fitzsimons as the most trustworthy political party leader in New Zealand.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the 2010 Queen's Birthday Honours, Fitzsimons was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for public services.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Personal life

Fitzsimons was married twice. She married her first husband, Bevin Fitzsimons in 1966, and they moved to Geneva, Switzerland in 1968.<ref name="Whos who"/><ref name=":4" /> They lived there for six years and had two sons while in Geneva.<ref name=":4" /> After divorcing in 1986, she remarried, to Harry Renford Parke, in 1994.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Whos who"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1991, Fitzsimons and Parke bought land in the Kauaeranga Valley east of Thames at the base of the Coromandel Peninsula and established Pakaraka Farm.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref> The farm operates from solar power and micro-hydro power systems and sells olive oil, chestnut products, pecans and livestock.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Death

On 5 March 2020, Fitzsimons suffered a fall on her farm. She died in Thames Hospital of a stroke in the evening of the same day, aged 75.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Politicians from across the political spectrum including her Green colleagues and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern paid tribute to her.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Further reading

• Hughes, Gareth. (2022). A gentle radical : The life of Jeanette Fitzsimons. Auckland: Allen & Unwin.

External links

• Jeanette Fitzsimons Template:Webarchive at the Green Party website

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