Mike Williams (New Zealand politician)

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Mike Williams
32nd President of the Labour Party
In office
19 November 2000 – 2 March 2009
Vice PresidentTerry Scott
Pat Webster
Marian Hobbs
LeaderHelen Clark
Phil Goff
Preceded byBob Harvey
Succeeded byAndrew Little
Personal details
Born1949
Political partyLabour
Alma materVictoria University
University of Auckland

Kenneth Michael Williams (born 1949) is a former president of the New Zealand Labour Party. [1]

Early life[]

Williams lived in Wainuiomata as a child before his family moved to Hastings. There he attended Karamu High School and was a friend of Paul Holmes.[2] At the age of 17, joined the New Zealand Labour Party. He was recruited to the party by MP Jonathan Hunt.[3] He attended Victoria University, where he joined the marches against apartheid, nuclear weapons and the Vietnam war. He obtained a Master of Arts in New Zealand History from the University of Auckland. It was here that he first met future Prime Minister Helen Clark, where they were both members of the Princes Street Branch of the Labour Party.[2]

Commercial activities[]

Williams set up two successful companies based on his experience of Labour Party organisation. Insight Research (now UMR Insight) was a market research company (which was sold in 1994) and Insight Data, which specialised in direct-mail and marketing and was sold in 1997.[2] Williams has been an information technology consultant[4] and was a director (until December 2008) of Genesis Energy, the NZ Transport Agency, and GNS Science.[5]

Political involvement[]

Williams initially started working for the Labour Party as an education officer during the 1981 election campaign, which Labour narrowly lost.[6] Afterwards, he rapidly moved into fundraising where he instigated a number of new practices including, a pledge system (whereby supporters agreed to pay a regular amount using the then-new automatic bank transfer system), sending out requests for donations to the party membership, enclosing pre-paid reply envelopes, visiting businesses to solicit donations, systematic canvassing and direct-mailing. These activities helped the party to achieve a landslide victory at the next election in 1984. After the election, Williams joined the Australian Labor Party in Canberra but had returned to New Zealand within a year. He attained a job at parliament working for Prime Minister David Lange, in charge of Lange's external communications and direct mail.[7]

Williams was appointed as Campaign Manager for the 1999 election which was won by the Labour Party.[2] After the election he was elected as party president at that years annual conference. He defeated former Labour MP Richard Northey 347 votes to 138.[3] Williams retired as Labour's president in 2009 after Labour's defeat in the 2008 election.[8]

Recent activities[]

Since 2009 he has been the Chief Executive Officer of the , a charity which campaigns to raise awareness of the dangers of methamphetamine.[9]

Williams unsuccessfully stood for several local government positions in the 2010 Auckland local elections. These were the Henderson-Massey Local Board, the Waitakere Licensing Trust, and the Waitemata District Health Board.[10][11]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Young, Audrey (14 September 2009). "Salute to a 'fairly good bastard'". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  2. ^ a b c d Watkin, Tim (1 December 2001). "Labour's shadow man". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  3. ^ a b Espiner, Guyon (19 November 2000). "Labour feeling no pains". Sunday Star-Times. p. A2.
  4. ^ "Labour rolling out the pork barrels, say Nats". The New Zealand Herald. NZPA. 1 November 2000. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  5. ^ Trevett, Claire (8 December 2008). "Mike Williams resigns from SOE boards". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  6. ^ Franks & McAloon 2016, p. 192.
  7. ^ Bassett 2008, p. 390.
  8. ^ Franks & McAloon 2016, p. 246.
  9. ^ Paul Holmes and Andrew Laxon (29 August 2009). "Williams to steer campaign against P". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  10. ^ "Local Elections 2010 - Instructions & Candidate Information (AC101)" (Press release). Electoral Commission (New Zealand). September 2010.
  11. ^ "2010 Election Results" (Press release). Auckland Transition Agency/Auckland Council. October 2010. Archived from the original on 11 October 2010. Retrieved 17 October 2010.

References[]

  • Bassett, Michael (2008). Working with David: Inside the Lange Cabinet. Auckland: Hodder Moa. ISBN 978-1-86971-094-1.
  • Franks, Peter; McAloon, Jim (2016). Labour: The New Zealand Labour Party 1916-2016. Wellington: Victoria University Press. ISBN 978-1-77656-074-5.
Party political offices
Preceded by
Bob Harvey
 President of the Labour Party
2000–2009 		Succeeded by
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