Helen Clark

:This entry discusses the New Zealand Prime Minister. For others, see Helen Clark (disambiguation).

Member of Parliament

First elected to the New Zealand House of Representatives in 1981, representing the Mt. Albert electorate, in Auckland, she was one of four women who entered the parliament in that election. At the time she was only the second woman elected to an Auckland electorate and the seventeenth woman elected to the New Zealand parliament. During her first term (1981 - 1984) she became a member of the Statutes Revision Committee. In her second term (1984 - 1987), she chaired the Select Committees on Foreign Affairs and on Disarmament and Arms Control, both of which combined with Defence in 1985 to form a single committee.

Related Topics:
New Zealand House of Representatives - Auckland - Select Committee

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Clark served in the Labour cabinets of David Lange, Geoffrey Palmer and Mike Moore, first as Minister of Housing and Conservation, then as Minister of Health and later as deputy Prime Minister. She became Leader of the Opposition during the National Party administrations of Jim Bolger and Jenny Shipley during the 1990s.

Related Topics:
David Lange - Geoffrey Palmer - Mike Moore - Jim Bolger - Jenny Shipley - 1990s

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Clark served as Minister of Conservation from August 1987 until January 1989. She was Minister of Housing from August 1987 until August 1989. She became Minister of Health in January 1989 and Minister of Labour and Deputy Prime Minister in August 1989. She chaired the Cabinet Social Equity Committee, and was a member of the Cabinet Policy Committee, Cabinet Committee on Chief Executives, Cabinet Economic Development and Employment Committee, Cabinet Expenditure Review Committee, Cabinet State Agencies committee, Cabinet Honours Appointments and Travel Committee, and Cabinet Domestic and External Security Committee.

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From October 1990 until December 1993, Clark was Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Opposition spokesperson for Health and Labour, and a member of the Social Services Select Committee and the Labour Select Committee. Clark became Leader of the Opposition on 1 December 1993.

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