John Hayes (New Zealand politician)

John is a New Zealand MP representing Wairarapa from the National party.

After a period working as an economist John joined the Foreign Service. He has lived and represented New Zealand in Singapore, India, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia as Charge d'Affairs, Papua New Guinea (as High Commissioner) and Iran (as Ambassador). John has worked on most of the important issues confronting New Zealand. He has been an advisor to Prime Ministers and senior Ministers and has direct experience of the political process having been Principal Private Secretary to Mike Moore when he was Minister of Overseas Trade.

John gained prominence working with Don McKinnon to successfully resolve the Bougainville conflict. He was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in recognition of his contribution. Currently he is a shareholder/ director of business interests in the Wairarapa. He was a Director of the New Zealand Export Import Corporation for 3 years.

John was educated at Rongotai College and holds a BAgrSci degree from Lincoln. He was active in student politics as President of the Lincoln College Students Association and on the New Zealand University Students Association. He was inaugural Chair of the Chartwell School Board under the “Tomorrows Schools” reforms.

John is a Trustee of the “We The Peoples Foundation” and the “Bridget Nicholls Trust”. His interests include yachting and fishing.

John is married to Helen and they live in Greytown. Their two children are working as lawyers.The New Zealand politician and diplomat John Hayes ONZM (born 15 March 1948) became a member of the New Zealand Parliament in 2005.

As a former High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea (1989-1993), Hayes took a very active role alongside the former New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Don McKinnon during the Bougainville conflict in the 1990s. He became involved in negotiations for setting up peace-talks by visiting leaders of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA), and of its affiliate the Bougainville Interim Government (BIG). One such meeting saw BRA rebels shooting down Hayes' helicopter. ["New Zealand International Review", May-June 1998 v23] He subsequently served as New Zealand's Ambassador to Iran (1993-1995).

In the 2005 election, Hayes ran for the New Zealand National Party, which ranked him 50th on its party list. Simultaneously he stood as a candidate in the Wairarapa electorate, formerly (1999-2005) held by the world's first transexual mayor (1995-2000), Georgina Beyer, who became a Labour MP (1999-2007). He won the Wairarapa seat (with a majority of 2752 votes over Denise MacKenzie of the Labour Party [cite web
url= http://2005.electionresults.govt.nz/electoratestatus.html
title= Official Count Results -- Electorate Status
accessdate= 2008-08-27
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Political views

External links

* [http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/MPP/MPs/MPs/e/2/e/48MP127381-Hayes-John.htm Parliamentary website page for John Hayes]

References