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Kevin Hague

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Kevin Hague
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Green Party List
In office
2008–2016
Succeeded byBarry Coates
Personal details
Born (1960-03-18) 18 March 1960 (age 64)
Aldershot, Hampshire, England
NationalityNew Zealander
Political partyGreen Party
ChildrenOne
OccupationChief Executive of the Royal Forest & Bird Protection Society of New Zealand
Former Member of Parliament

Kevin Grant Hague (born 18 March 1960) is a New Zealand public servant, activist and a former politician.

Hague was a Member of Parliament for the Green Party from 2008 to 2016. Previously he had been a human rights and gay rights advocate, the executive director of the New Zealand AIDS Foundation, and the chief executive of the West Coast District Health Board. His retirement from Parliament coincided with his appointment as chief executive of the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand, a role he held until 2022.

Early life and family

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Hague was born in Aldershot, Hampshire, England, on 18 March 1960, and moved to New Zealand in 1973 with his family when he was 13 years old.[1][2] His father, Charles, was a building inspector and his mother, Margaret, was an accounting assistant; he has two siblings.[3][4] The family settled in Hamilton and Hague attended Hamilton Boys' High School, where he was on the student council and led a successful campaign to reinstate a school house system.[3] He became a naturalised New Zealand citizen in 1978.[2]

Hague studied mathematics and physics at the University of Auckland and was president of the Auckland University Students' Association in 1980.[1][5] During this time, he was a member of the Young Nationals but later became interested in progressive Scandinavian politics.[3]

Hague met his partner, Ian, in 1984 while protesting an upcoming New Zealand rugby union tour of South Africa, which was later cancelled.[3][6][7] He previously lived on Waiheke Island for ten years, where he ran a bookshop, and now lives in Greymouth.[8]

Career and activism

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Hague during the 2008 election campaign

Hague has been an activist for a number of causes. In the 1980s he was heavily involved in the campaign against sporting contacts with apartheid South Africa.[7] During protests against the 1981 Springbok tour, Hague was arrested five times, including after participating in a pitch invasion that caused the cancellation of a July match to be played in Hamilton, and he was concussed by police while protesting the September match in Auckland.[1]

Hague is openly gay and in 1988 began work as a research officer for the New Zealand AIDS Foundation, which provides education on HIV/AIDS issues and advocacy and support for those with HIV and AIDS. He edited Terry Stewart's 1996 book Invisible families: a New Zealand resource for parents of lesbian and gay children.[9]

From 1998 to 2003 he was the AIDS Foundation's executive director.[7] As director, Hague criticised the 1999 government decision, promoted by immigration minister Tuariki Delamere, to ban HIV-positive migrants from entering New Zealand, saying it would be un-humanitarian.[10][11] The ban was eventually lifted in 2021.[12]

Hague served on the National Health Committee from 2001 to 2005 and chaired the Public Health Advisory Committee (a subcommittee of the NHC) from 2002 to 2004.[13] He left the AIDS Foundation in September 2003 to become general manager for planning and funding at the West Coast District Health Board and became the board's chief executive in 2005.[14][15] In 2007, he was appointed to the government's health quality improvement committee.[13]

Member of Parliament

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New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate List Party
2008–2011 49th List 7 Green
2011–2014 50th List 3 Green
2014–2016 51st List 3 Green

Hague was selected as the Green Party candidate for the West Coast-Tasman electorate ahead of the 2008 general election. Dominion-Post journalist Vernon Small described him as one of the Greens' "impressive new candidates."[16] Hague's candidacy followed several years of political activity with the Greens and unsuccessful attempts from both Labour and National to recruit him to stand for their parties.[17] He finished third in the electorate contest but was elected to Parliament as a list MP for the Green Party, ranked 7 on the party list.[18] He re-contested West Coast-Tasman in the 2011 and 2014 elections and was returned to Parliament as a list MP each time, being placed third on the Green Party list.

During his eight years in Parliament, Hague was the Green Party's health spokesperson and sat on the health committee. He also held responsibility for biosecurity, conservation, rural affairs, rainbow issues, and sport.[19] He successfully campaigned against Meridian Energy's plans to dam the Mōkihinui River between 2009 and 2012, and advocated for reform of the Accident Compensation Corporation in 2012.[3]

Hague had not supported the introduction of civil unions in 2004 because he did not think they provided equality for gay couples with heterosexual couples.[17] He promoted gay rights in Parliament, speaking in favour of the revocation of the gay panic defence in 2009[20] and drafting legislation to legalise same-sex marriage and to improve adoption law, including for gay adoptions, in 2012.[21][22] He organised political support for Louisa Wall's Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill, which legalised same-sex marriage in New Zealand in 2013.[23] Hague said once the bill had passed its third reading, in April 2013, there would be a number of "incredibly emotional" weddings between gay couples.[24] Later, he said he had accepted he "was wrong" about civil unions, believing that marriage equality would not have been possible without civil unions as a stepping stone.[17]

Green Party co-leader Russel Norman indicated he would vacate that role in 2015. Hague contested the resulting leadership contest against first-term MP James Shaw. He was seen by commentators as the "safe choice" as the most experienced candidate with the strongest record in Parliament, but lost to Shaw in a 69–56 vote on 30 May 2015.[25][26] Hague would later say that losing was "a blow."[27] He announced on 5 September 2016 that he would resign from Parliament to become the chief executive of Forest & Bird.[27] He was replaced by Barry Coates.[28][29]

Later career

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Hague was chief executive of the conservation group Forest & Bird for six years from 2016 to 2022. He was succeeded by Nicola Toki.[30][31]

Hague holds several health sector appointments made by the Sixth Labour Government, which came to power the year after he left Parliament. In 2019, he was appointed a member of the interim board of Te Hiringa Mahara, the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission and later became its deputy chair.[32][33] In 2022, following an appointment as chair of the West Coast Primary Health Organisation, he was appointed to chair the Takiwā Poutini Partnership.[34] He was reappointed to the chair of the Public Health Advisory Committee in November 2022 for a three-year term.[35]

In July 2022 he became a volunteer Civil Defence and Emergency Management controller for the West Coast.[36]

Bibliography

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  • Stewart, Terry (1996). Hague, Kevin (ed.). Invisible Families. Heartflags Pty Limited. ISBN 978-0-9805523-0-0.
  • Yensen, Helen; Hague, Kevin; McCreanor, Tim (1989). Honouring the Treaty. Auckland, N.Z. ; New York, N.Y., USA: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-012425-5.

References

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  1. ^ a b c Reid, Neil (27 March 2011). "Arresting times". Sunday Star Times. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Kevin Grant Hague in the New Zealand, naturalisations, 1843–1981". Ancestry.com Operations. 2010. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d e Davison, Isaac (29 June 2012). "Dogged haul to the spotlight for Green MP". NZ Herald. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  4. ^ "Charles HAGUE Obituary (1932". Legacy.com. 25 April 2022. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  5. ^ "Scoop's Meet The New MPs Project: Kevin Hague". Scoop News. 14 October 2009. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  6. ^ "Debate: What the MPs said". NZ Herald. 17 April 2013. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  7. ^ a b c "GayNZ.com Green Party candidate Kevin Hague". www.gaynz.com. Archived from the original on 11 January 2009. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  8. ^ Firth, Minka (10 September 2009). "Roosevelt's ideas for modern times". Gulf News. pp. 18–19.
  9. ^ Stewart 1996.
  10. ^ Maling, Nick (12 November 1999). "Govt aims to save lives, money with HIV ban". The Dominion. p. 7.
  11. ^ Espiner, Guyon (13 April 1999). "Delamere seeks to bar HIV migrants, considers tourists". The Evening Post. p. 1.
  12. ^ "Migrants no longer automatically excluded due to HIV status". 1News. 29 October 2021. Archived from the original on 22 January 2022. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  13. ^ a b "New appointments to key quality committee | Beehive.govt.nz". www.beehive.govt.nz. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  14. ^ "New manager". The Press. 2 July 2003. p. A4.
  15. ^ Madgwick, Paul (2 August 2005). "Coast DHB has new head". The Press. p. A4.
  16. ^ Small, Vernon (2 June 2008). "Greens' fears of old enemy colour views of red versus blue". The Dominion Post. p. B4.
  17. ^ a b c "Kevin Hague profile [AI Text] » PrideNZ.com". Home » PrideNZ.com. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  18. ^ "Election Results – West Coast-Tasman". New Zealand Ministry of Justice, Chief Electoral Office. November 2008. Archived from the original on 11 December 2008. Retrieved 9 November 2008.
  19. ^ "Hague, Kevin – New Zealand Parliament". www.parliament.nz. 26 March 2024. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  20. ^ "Hague, Kevin: Crimes (Provocation Repeal) Amendment Bill". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  21. ^ "Gay marriage bill has double chance for selection". NZ Herald. 15 June 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  22. ^ Trevett, Claire (14 October 2012). "MP seeks big adoption changes". NZ Herald. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  23. ^ "Gay marriage bill passes first step". The New Zealand Herald. 30 August 2012.
  24. ^ "Marriage equality will be 'emotional'". 3 News NZ. 15 April 2013.
  25. ^ "James Shaw elected new Green Party male Co-leader". Scoop.co.nz. 30 May 2015. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  26. ^ Davidson, Isaac (28 May 2015). "Greens' co-leadership race: Sensible or flash – the Green choice". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
  27. ^ a b "Green MP Kevin Hague resigns from Parliament". RNZ. 5 September 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  28. ^ "Green MP quits". 5 September 2016.
  29. ^ "Kevin Hague quits Greens for Forest and Bird". 5 September 2016. Retrieved 5 September 2016 – via New Zealand Herald.
  30. ^ "Appointment announced to replace Hague". Otago Daily Times Online News. 22 January 2022. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  31. ^ "Forest & Bird Welcomes Nicola Toki As New Chief Executive". www.scoop.co.nz. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  32. ^ "Governance". Te Hiringa Mahara—Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission. 18 December 2020. Archived from the original on 8 March 2024. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  33. ^ "Forest & Bird boss among five appointed to mental health commission". Newshub. 12 September 2019. Archived from the original on 1 December 2020. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  34. ^ "'Postcode lottery' approach to health to be tackled in pilot scheme". Stuff. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  35. ^ "Committee members". Ministry of Health NZ. 26 January 2024. Archived from the original on 29 September 2023. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  36. ^ "Council chairman objects to former Forest and Bird chief taking on Civil Defence role". Stuff. 7 July 2022. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
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