Tim Barnett (politician)

Tim Barnett MP
File:Tim Barnett.jpg
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Christchurch Central
In office 1996 – 2008
Preceded by	Lianne Dalziel
Succeeded by	Brendon Burns
Personal details
Born	(1958-08-04) 4 August 1958 Rugby
Nationality	United Kingdom New Zealand
Political party	New Zealand Labour Party Labour Party (UK)
Website	timbarnett.org.nz

Timothy Andrew "Tim" Barnett (born 4 August 1958) was the member of the New Zealand House of Representatives for Christchurch Central from 1996 to 2008, representing the Labour Party. He was a British immigrant to New Zealand and New Zealand's second openly gay politician. Barnett moved to South Africa in 2009 to work in the field of HIV/AIDS. He returned to New Zealand in 2012 when he was appointed by the Labour Party as their General Secretary.

Early life

Born in Rugby, UK on 4 August 1958, he moved to New Zealand in 1991 with his then partner, Educated at the London School of Economics, graduating with a B.Sc. (Honours) in Economics (Government) in 1981. In the UK he had been the inaugural Executive Director of the Stonewall Lobby Group, which was the first professional lobby group set up in that country to work for equal rights for lesbian and gay people.

Member of Parliament

Parliament of New Zealand
Years	Term	Electorate	List	Party
1996–1999	45th	Christchurch Central	none	Labour
1999–2002	46th	Christchurch Central	none	Labour
2002–2005	47th	Christchurch Central	none	Labour
2005–2008	48th	Christchurch Central	none	Labour

He was elected to Parliament as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Christchurch Central in 1996. He has been active in many community-based organisations in New Zealand, including the lesbian, gay and transgender (LGBT) section of the Labour Party, (Rainbow Labour) which he helped to found in 1997, and is a supporter of UniQ, the Queer Students Association at New Zealand universities. He was the Parliamentary promoter of the Prostitution Law Reform Bill, a Bill in his name, which became law in 2003 and thus made New Zealand the first country in the world to decriminalise prostitution, and an outspoken supporter of the Civil Union Bill, which became law in 2004 and made New Zealand the first country outside Europe to legislate for equal relationship status for lesbian and gay couples. He was appointed Senior Government Whip after the 2005 election. He was known to be very active in his local electorate chairing a Youth Advisory Committee as well as being a regular contributor to the St Albans Neighbourhood News.

At the 2005 general election, Barnett was re-elected with 52.35% of the vote and a majority of 6,694. He retired at the 2008 general election.

After Parliament

Barnett was appointed as the Global Programmes Manager for the World AIDS Campaign in February 2009 and was based in Cape Town, South Africa.

In July 2012, Barnett returned to New Zealand and was appointed as General Secretary of the Labour Party.

Further reading

• Barnett's contribution is a paper entitled: "Law reform and politicians."

• Barnett's contribution is a paper entitled: "Human rights and New Zealand law."

• Barnett is one of eighteen people profiled in this volume.

• Barnett's contribution is a paper entitled: "Political and legal environments."

External links

• Tim Barnett's website (archived)
• Former Members of New Zealand Parliament page

New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by Lianne Dalziel	Member of Parliament for Christchurch Central 1996–2008	Succeeded by Brendon Burns