member of Parliament
What position did Geoffrey Palmer (politician) take in Sep 1990?
Geoffrey Palmer ( politician ) Sir Geoffrey Winston Russell Palmer ( born 21 April 1942 ) is a New Zealand lawyer , legal academic , and past politician , who was a member of Parliament from 1979 to 1990 . He served as the 33rd Prime Minister of New Zealand for a little over a year , from August 1989 until September 1990 , leading the Fourth Labour Government . As Minister of Justice from 1984 to 1989 , Palmer was responsible for considerable reforms of the countrys legal and constitutional framework , such as the creation of the Constitution Act 1986 , New Zealand Bill of Rights , Imperial Laws Application Act , and the State Sector Act . He served as president of the New Zealand Law Commission , from 2005 to 2010 . Early life and education . Palmer was born in Nelson and attended Nelson Central School , Nelson Intermediate School and Nelson College . At Victoria University of Wellington , he studied both political science and law . He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1964 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1965 . After working for a time in Wellington , he attended the University of Chicago Law School , gaining a Juris Doctor in 1967 . He moved from New Zealand to Iowa in August 1969 to become a professor at the University of Iowa College of Law . In his first year , he taught the newly adapted small-section courses of American Property law , Conflict Resolution , and International law . He also developed the curriculum for a Torts course to be taught during the second year of law school . This was the first course of its kind in the United States and he was granted tenure in his second year of teaching at the college . In 1972 , he left to be a visiting professor at the University of Virginia College of Law . Eventually , in 1974 , he was appointed to a professorship of law at Victoria University of Wellington , bringing him back to New Zealand . At the 1975 general election , Palmer took part in the Citizens for Rowling campaign . Political career . Member of Parliament . In a 1979 by-election , Palmer was elected to Parliament as the member for Christchurch Central , having stood as the Labour Party candidate . In March 1981 he was elevated to the shadow cabinet as spokesperson for constitutional affairs and associate spokesperson for justice . Following Labours unexpected loss at the 1981 general election Palmer gained the social welfare and accident compensation portfolios . In 1983 Palmer stood for the deputy leadership of the party . In a three-way contest , in which all candidates were from Christchurch to reflect geographical proportionality , Palmer trailed on the first ballot to Papanui MP Mike Moore . Lyttelton MP Ann Hercus was eliminated and on the second ballot almost all of her supporters voted for Palmer , who beat Moore by one vote . He became deputy Leader of the Opposition . When , in 1984 , the Labour Party won the general elections , Palmer became Deputy Prime Minister of the Fourth Labour Government . He also became Attorney-General and Minister of Justice . The new justice minister , who had promoted proportional representation as a law professor in his book Unbridled Power? , also published in 1984 , set up a Royal Commission to investigate the electoral system and propose modifications or alternatives . His Royal Commission reported in December 1986 , recommending the mixed-member proportional representation system . After the 1987 elections , when Labour was re-elected , he also became Minister of the Environment , an area in which he took personal interest . Leadership . The most notable feature of New Zealand politics at the time was the economic change promoted by the Finance Minister , Roger Douglas . Douglas was advancing monetarist policies involving extensive privatisation of state assets and the removal of tariffs and subsidies—these reforms were dubbed Rogernomics . These policies , which contravened Labours basic policy platform and campaign promises , were deeply unpopular with Labours traditional support base , and resulted in a confrontation between Prime Minister David Lange and Roger Douglas . Lange also reneged from his promise to hold a binding referendum on the MMP system . Palmer conceded defeat on MMP at an April 1989 Labour regional conference , saying that the issue was effectively dead for the immediate future . Eventually , Douglas was removed from Cabinet , but the dispute had weakened Lange enough that he resigned a month later . Palmer , being deputy leader , took over as Prime Minister . Electoral reformers in the Labour Party kept up the pressure , and in September 1989 , after Palmer had become prime minister , the full annual conference of the Labour Party passed a remit endorsing a referendum on the principle of proportional representation . Palmer , however , was perceived by the public as being too closely involved with Douglass reforms . Of particular concern to many people was his work on the legal aspects of state sector rearrangement , such as his preparation of the State Owned Enterprises Act . The presence of David Caygill ( a Douglas ally ) as Minister of Finance further compounded perception that Palmer was doing nothing to address public concerns . The only area in which Palmer won praise from traditional left-wing supporters was in his handling of the Environment portfolio , which he kept when he became Prime Minister – it was his work here in initiating the resource management law reform process that eventually led to the creation of the Resource Management Act 1991 . Palmer later reflected on his brief premiership : Two months before the 1990 elections , it was clear that Labour would not win . The perceived damage done by Roger Douglass reforms , as well as Palmers lack of general charisma , caused too many Labour supporters to abandon the party . In addition , Palmer was perceived as being too academic and aloof , reminding people of the paternalistic attitude that Douglas was accused of . Palmer was replaced by Mike Moore , who Labour believed would give it a better chance of winning . Palmer stated he had been prepared to lead the party to a likely defeat but was just as happy to step aside : I was actually pretty pleased to get out at the end of 1990 . I was quite happy to run through as PM and take the defeat , but if other people wanted to do it — be my guest ! Palmer also chose to retire from parliament at the election , and was replaced as the Labour candidate in his seat by Lianne Dalziel . The leadership change failed , however , and the opposition National Party under Jim Bolger won a landslide victory . Palmer became the second Labour leader to leave the party leadership without ever leading the party into an election after Alfred Hindmarsh . Of the Labour Prime Ministers and notwithstanding Hugh Watts tenure as interim prime minister following the death of Norman Kirk , Palmer is the only one who had not also served as Leader of the Opposition before and/or after his tenure as Prime Minister . Palmer is currently a lecturer in the Faculty of Law at Victoria University of Wellington . After Parliament . Palmer later went on to serve as Professor of Law at Victoria University again . He also held a position as Professor of Law at the University of Iowa , and worked for a time as a law consultant . While at the University of Iowa he taught courses on International law and global environment issues as well as a two-week mini course about the International Court of Justice . The MMP system which he had helped promote was adopted in a 1993 referendum . In 1994 , he established Chen Palmer & Partners , a specialist public law firm he began with Wellington lawyer Mai Chen . In September 2001 Palmer became a founding trustee of Motu Economic and Public Policy Research and in December 2002 was appointed to be New Zealands representative to the International Whaling Commission ( IWC ) . Palmer continued his involvement with , and teaching at Victoria University of Wellington and was regularly engaged as an expert consultant on public and constitutional law issues . His son Matthew Palmer was also a prominent legal academic and public servant , and has recently been appointed a High Court Judge . Law Commissioner . On 1 December 2005 Palmer was appointed to the presidency of the New Zealand Law Commission ( the government agency that reviews , reforms and seeks to improve the countrys laws ) by the Governor-General for a term of five years . During his tenure , he persuaded the Government to engage in a programme of reviewing the old Law Commission reports with a view to actioning them . This resulted in a number of existing reports being actioned . Palmer stepped down from the Law Commission at the end of his tenure on 1 December 2010 . UN Inquiry . In August 2010 Palmer was chosen to chair a UN Inquiry panel into the fatal Israeli raid on the Mavi Marmara , a Turkish ship participating in a Gaza-bound protest flotilla in May of that year . The panel included the outgoing Colombian President Álvaro Uribe as the Vice-chair , and representatives from Turkey and Israel . The report , released on 2 September 2011 , found that Israels naval blockade was imposed as a legitimate security measure in order to prevent weapons from entering Gaza by sea and its implementation complied with the requirements of international law , and that Israeli soldiers enforcing the blockade faced organized and violent resistance from a group of passengers when they boarded the ship . However , the report also found that the Israeli soldiers responded with excessive and unreasonable force and recommended that Israel make an appropriate statement of regret and pay compensation . Constitutional reform campaign . In September 2016 , Palmer and legal academic Andrew Butler published A Constitution for Aotearoa New Zealand . In this book the pair outlined their arguments for New Zealand to adopt a written Constitution , and also drafted out what this would look like . They then invited public submissions on the subject online and spent a year promoting the book and their campaign . The pair released a second book in 2018 , Towards Democratic Renewal that amends some of their proposal in the previous text and further argues their cause for a written Constitution , taking on board the response of the public . This campaign is ongoing . Honours and awards . Palmer was appointed a member of Her Majestys Privy Council in 1985 . He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 1991 New Year Honours , and made an Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia in the same year . In 1991 he was listed on the United Nations Global 500 Roll of Honour for his work on environmental issues . These included reforming resource management law . Palmer also sat as a Judge ad hoc on the International Court of Justice in 1995 . He holds honorary doctorates from three universities . In 2008 Palmer was one of the first people appointed as Senior Counsel during the temporary change from Queens Counsel in the Helen Clark Government . Lectures . - Lecture entitled Perspectives on International Dispute Settlement from a Participant in the Lecture Series of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law - Constitutional change and democratic renewal on 9 October 2017 at TEDxVUW conference , Victoria University of Wellington . External links . - Profile , NZ History - Prime Ministers Office biography ( archived ) - Law Commission biography