Former Speaker of the House and one of New Zealand’s longest-serving MPs, Jonathan Hunt, has died aged 85.
Hunt was first elected to Parliament in 1966 under Labour’s then leader Norman Kirk. He became chief whip and then a minister in the David Lange Government, and Speaker of the House during Helen Clark's time.
He retired in 2005 after nearly 40 years of service.
Hunt was described as a "stalwart" of the Labour Party and, as the Minister of Broadcasting, approved the license for TV3 – New Zealand’s first commercial television channel.
In his valedictory speech, he spoke of his work to help save the National and Concert programmes. He also served as Postmaster-General, Minister of Housing and Minister of Tourism.
Hunt was also known for controversy over $29,170 worth of taxi fares he ran up in one year travelling between his west coast beach home at Karekare and Auckland Airport 52km away.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said Hunt’s contribution as an MP, Minister, Speaker of the House and High Commissioner to the United Kingdom represents "a lifetime of public service at the highest level".
According to the Labour Party, one of the pieces of legislation Jonathan was most proud of was the Adult Adoption Information Act 1985, which made a change that enabled adults to find out who their birth parents were, or birth mothers to find out about their adult adoptees.
He was also very proud of his Parliamentary work, saying as he left that, "I just like to think that the New Zealand Parliament today is a very much better place than it was".
"Jonathan was legendary for his warmth and hospitality and had a deep love of cricket. He was always generous with his time to young people with an interest in politics and was very supportive of new MPs, even after he left Parliament," Hipkins said.
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