Chris Carter (New Zealand politician)

The Honourable Chris Carter
8th Minister of Conservation
In office 15 August 2002 – 5 November 2007
Preceded by	Sandra Lee
Succeeded by	Stephanie Chadwick
Minister of Ethnic Affairs
In office 15 August 2002 – 19 November 2008
Preceded by	George Hawkins
Succeeded by	Pansy Wong
11th Minister of Local Government
In office 15 August 2002 – 19 October 2005
Preceded by	Sandra Lee
Succeeded by	Nanaia Mahuta
Minister of Housing
In office 19 October 2005 – 5 November 2007
Succeeded by	Maryan Street
Minister for Building Issues
In office 21 December 2004 – 19 October 2005
43rd Minister of Education
In office 5 November 2007 – 19 October 2008
Preceded by	Steve Maharey
Succeeded by	Anne Tolley
Minister Responsible for the Education Review Office
In office 5 November 2007 – 19 October 2008
Succeeded by	Anne Tolley
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Te Atatu
In office 27 November 1999 – 26 November 2011
In office 6 November 1993 – 12 October 1996
Preceded by	Brian Neeson
Succeeded by	Phil Twyford
Personal details
Born	(1952-05-04) 4 May 1952 Auckland, New Zealand
Political party	Labour
Domestic partner	Peter Kaiser
Occupation	Former secondary school teacher

Christopher Joseph Carter (born 4 May 1952) is a former New Zealand Labour Party and independent Member of the New Zealand Parliament. He was a senior Cabinet Minister in the Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand, serving lastly as Minister of Education, Minister Responsible for the Education Review Office and Minister of Ethnic Affairs. He was the Member of Parliament for the Te Atatu electorate, where he was first elected in 1993. He did not win re-election (to the replacement seat, Waipareira) in 1996, but won a new and expanded Te Atatu seat in 1999. In 2010 he was suspended from the Labour Party caucus following a dispute with party leader Phil Goff, shortly afterwards he became an independent MP. He was expelled by the Labour Party for breaching the Party's constitution in bringing the Party in disrepute, on 11 October 2010. In September 2011 Carter resigned from Parliament following his appointment to a United Nations position in Afghanistan where he served for 4 years. In 2015 he was appointed to head UN operations in Rakhine State in Myanmar where he served for 3 years. In 2018 he rejoined the New Zealand Labour Party and stood for election as a Labour Party representative in the 2019 New Zealand local elections.Chris Carter was elected and appointed as Chairperson of the Henderson Massey Local Board with 11,250 votes. He also won election in 2019 as one of the 7 elected Board Members of the Waitemata District Health Board (WDHB) with 14,593 votes. Both positions have 3 year terms.

Early and personal life

Chris Carter was born on 4 May 1952, and brought up in the Auckland suburb of Panmure. He was educated at St Peter's College, Auckland and at the University of Auckland where he received an MA (Hons) in history.

Before entering politics, Carter had served as a teacher and as a poultry farmer. His partner is Peter Kaiser, a headmaster, and they have been together for over 40 years. On 10 February 2007, Carter and Kaiser were joined in the first civil union for a Cabinet Minister or Member of Parliament since civil unions in New Zealand were introduced after legislation was passed in December 2004.

Member of Parliament

New Zealand Parliament

Years	Term	Electorate	List	Party
1993–1996	44th	Te Atatu			Labour
1999–2002	46th	Te Atatu	34		Labour
2002–2005	47th	Te Atatu	25		Labour
2005–2008	48th	Te Atatu	19		Labour
2008–2010	49th	Te Atatū	7		Labour
2010–2011	Changed allegiance to:				Independent

Carter was the first openly gay man ever appointed as a New Zealand Cabinet minister. He has been a strong advocate of gay equality for some time, and has continued this role since entering Parliament.

In 1994, Carter was named by the Speaker of the House Peter Tapsell for calling John Banks a hypocrite over his pro-life stance on abortions.

Carter started one of the first branches of New Zealand Rainbow Labour for centre-left lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender people (LGBT) and others during the 1996–1999 term, after having lost the newly created Waipareira electorate to National's Brian Neeson by just 107 votes, and not having been placed on the Labour list for the election.

At the 2005 election, Carter was re-elected to his seat with 59.4% of the vote, a majority of 10,447.

Labour lost power in the 2008 election. Carter was re-elected, but his majority was almost halved to 5,298.

On 14 June 2010, 4 days after the release of ministerial credit card records, Carter along with two other MPs Shane Jones MP and Mita Ririnui MP (Lab – Lists) were demoted by Opposition Leader Phil Goff MP (Mount Roskill) for misuse of such credit cards. In the case of Carter, he was accused of purchasing personal items with the card, which was outside the rules for Ministerial expenditure as a minister under the former Clark government over a six-year period. Carter has since repaid the money in full, a total of $26 ($NZ). His main dispute with Phil Goff was over allegations by Goff that Carter had travelled too much as a Cabinet Minister. All of Carter's travel as a minister was official travel and approved by Cabinet (of which Goff was a member). Carter's demotion included removal from the front bench, and loss of the shadow portfolio of Foreign Affairs. Carter subsequently speculated publicly about whether he would continue as a Member of Parliament.

As a cabinet minister, Carter was entitled to the title of The Honourable and became The Hon. Mr Chris Carter, which is a title granted for the rest of his life.

On 29 July 2010 Carter was suspended from the Labour Party caucus for allegedly being behind an anonymous letter sent around the press gallery claiming there was a leadership challenge against Phil Goff; a charge he has since admitted. On 17 August 2010, Speaker Lockwood Smith announced that Chris Carter was officially an independent MP. In 2018 he rejoined the NZ Labour and is once again a financial member of the Party.

United Nations

In early September 2011 Carter was appointed as programme manager of the Governance Unit of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Afghanistan, leading the strengthening of local governance in all 34 Afghan Provinces. He served in that role for 4 years. His parliamentary seat remained vacant until the 26 November 2011 election as there is no requirement to hold a by-election when there is less than six months to a general election.

On 18 October 2013, Carter was waiting for a colleague to leave his compound in Kabul when a suicide bomber attacked a passing military convoy on the street some 25 metres (82 ft) away; he was separated from the blast by a glass wall. If his Australian colleague had not been late, they could have been the victims of the attack themselves. Carter considered it a "close shave".

In September 2015 Chris Carter was appointed as the Senior UN Advisor for Rakhine State in Myanmar after serving for 4 years in Afghanistan. His Myanmar role, which he filled until 2019, was to lead and coordinate development by UN Agencies operating in Rakhine State, a region of Myanmar marked by serious religious and ethnic conflict between Buddhist and Muslim communities.

Local politics

In 2019, Carter retired from the United Nations after seven years' service and returned to New Zealand to live in Te Atatu. He was elected as a Labour Party team member for Auckland Council's Henderson-Massey Local Boardwith 11,250 votes. In December 2019 he was elected Chairperson of the Henderson-Massey Local Board. He was also elected, by 14,593 votes, as one of the 7 elected Board Members of the Waitemata District Health Board, the most populous District Health Board in NZ, covering Auckland's Northshore and western suburbs.2019 New Zealand local elections.

Further reading

• Allan, James (ed.) (1996). Growing up gay: New Zealand men tell their stories. Auckland, [N.Z.]: Godwit. ISBN 0-908877-84-6. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)
• For some more biographical details: List of alumni of St Peter's College, Auckland

External links

Media related to Chris Carter at Wikimedia Commons

• Parliamentary website page