Jonathan Hunt (New Zealand politician)

Hunt was born in Lower Hutt, but grew up in Palmerston North. He had a twin brother, David, who died four days after they were born.[2] Hunt's father was a child welfare officer, reassigned to the Manawatu in 1942. Hunt was educated at Palmerston North Boys' High School and later Auckland Grammar School; later he enrolled at the University of Auckland, where he gained a BA (Hons) degree in history.[3]

In 1958, Hunt was elected editor of the Auckland University Students' Association's (AUSA) Craccum magazine for the 1959 year. While at University Hunt is also credited with founding the Princes Street Labour branch. He was a 'radio quiz kid' and in 1963 he toured South-East Asia with a Rotary group of Young New Zealanders.[4]

After graduating, Hunt became a History, English and Latin teacher from 1961 to 1966 at Kelston Boys High School in West Auckland where he also coached cricket.[2] He was then a university tutor. Hunt also has a long-standing relationship with the Department of Political Studies at the University, which for many years has collected and archived Hunt's personal and professional papers. Hunt lived in Karekare on Auckland's west coast and he was well known for his passionate interest in the sport of cricket.[5] He was the secretary of the Auckland Secondary Schools' Cricket Association.[4]

In 1966, Hunt was elected to Parliament in Auckland's New Lynn electorate replacing the retiring Rex Mason, whom Hunt was to later write a biography of in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography.[6] He remained MP for New Lynn until 1996, when he became a list MP after losing in Tamaki to National's Clem Simich. Hunt was returned twice more as a list MP; losing Waitakere to National's Brian Neeson in the 1999 election, and as a list-only candidate in the 2002 election.

In mid-January 1970, United States Vice President Spiro Agnew visited Wellington. Hunt along with several other Labour Members of Parliament including Bob Tizard, Arthur Faulkner, and Martyn Finlay boycotted the state dinner to protest American policy in Vietnam. However, other Labour MPs including Opposition Leader Norman Kirk attended the function which dealt with the Nixon Doctrine.[7]

Hunt was appointed junior government whip upon Labour's victory in 1972 election.[8] He was later promoted further in 1974 by Prime Minister Bill Rowling to the position of Chairman of Committees.[9] As Chairman of Committees he had the responsibility of deputising for the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the 67 year old Stan Whitehead. Whitehead was in ill-health and Hunt acted on his behalf more than he had expected to. When Whitehead suffered a heart attack in the last parliamentary session of 1975 Hunt was nearly drafted to replace him as Speaker, though Whitehead was to make a recovery.[5]

After the shock defeat of the Rowling government, Hunt was appointed to Rowling's shadow cabinet and designated as Shadow Minister of Health in 1976.[10] He left the shadow cabinet, at his own request, in 1979 with the intention of setting himself up to become Speaker of the House should Labour win the next election.[11] Labour did not win and in the next parliamentary term he was senior whip and Shadow Minister of Broadcasting.[12][13]

In December 2004, it was announced that he would retire from politics and replace Russell Marshall as New Zealand High Commissioner in London, a move that had long been anticipated. He was replaced as Speaker by Margaret Wilson on 3 March 2005, and left Parliament on 30 March. As a list MP, his vacant parliamentary seat was filled by the next available candidate on the Labour Party list, Lesley Soper.

Some controversy arose in mid-2005, when recently after he arrived in London, Hunt was told publicly by the New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark that he could not apply for the U.K pension as it was not appropriate given his position of New Zealand High Commissioner and the fact that he was already collecting a New Zealand parliamentary pension.[20]

On 21 November 2007 the New Zealand Foreign Minister, Winston Peters, announced that the next High Commissioner to London would be Derek Leask from March 2008.[21]

Hunt (right) and Australian cricket captain Allan Border in 1986.

Hunt is the patron of the University of Auckland Debating Society.[22] He is a lifelong enthusiast for the sport of cricket and was an administrator for the sport for many years.[4]

In 1977, Hunt was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal, and in 1990 he received the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal.[23] In the 2005 New Year Honours, Hunt was appointed as a Member of the Order of New Zealand.[24]

Hunt was also the subject of a documentary, "Father of the House", directed by Simon Burgin and Xavier Forde, which was filmed in Wellington in 2005. The film was a finalist in the DocNZ film festival in the same year. It has also been regularly screened on the Documentary Channel on Sky Television since 2006.