New Year Honours: Political passion that led to the top

By VERNON SMALL

New Zealand's first woman Prime Minister, Jenny Shipley, has been made a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services as a member of Parliament.

Mrs Shipley was Prime Minister in the National-led Government from December 8, 1997, after she had toppled Jim Bolger as National leader, until December 10, 1999. Her career in Parliament spanned 15 years from 1987, when she was elected MP for Ashburton, to the 2002 election when she stood down as MP for Rakaia.

Infuriated by the direction taken by the National Government of the early 1980s under Sir Robert Muldoon, she linked up with former party president Sue Wood, former Finance Minister Ruth Richardson and a new generation who tried to take the party back to its roots after National's defeat in 1984.

As a minister in roles which included transport, health, social welfare and state services, her most controversial act was to cut welfare benefits in 1991 - a move which sparked outrage and saw her burned in effigy in street protests.

Her part in lowering the floor on pension payments during the Asian economic crisis of 1997-1999 also drew criticism.

In her valedictory speech this year she said she was proudest of her work de-institutionalising and improving the status of the mentally ill.

It was, she said, one of the great successes of the 1990s. She also warned against middle-class capture of social welfare, saying that had not been the intention of the founders of the welfare state.

Since leaving Parliament Mrs Shipley, 50, has taken on a company directorship with an international executive search and business development consultancy.

She also has her own private consultancy and recently formed a business partnership with former Deputy Prime Minister Wyatt Creech and Sammy Wong, husband of National MP Pansy Wong. It advises business migrants looking for investment opportunities.

Mrs Shipley and husband Burton recently sold their family home in Ashburton and moved into a Parnell, Auckland, apartment. However, she remains a South Islander at heart and has said she expects to return there.

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