Judith Tizard

The Honourable Judith Tizard MP
Judith Tizard at the 2007 Kiwi Foo Camp
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Panmure
In office 1990 – 1996
Preceded by	Bob Tizard
Succeeded by	Seat abolished
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Auckland Central
In office 1996 – 2008
Preceded by	Sandra Lee-Vercoe
Succeeded by	Nikki Kaye
Personal details
Born	(1956-01-03) January 3, 1956 Auckland, New Zealand
Nationality	New Zealand
Political party	Labour
Profession	Restaurant Owner and Manager

Judith Ngaire Tizard (born 3 January 1956) is a former New Zealand politician, and a member of the Labour Party.

Early life

Tizard was born in Auckland in 1956 into a political family - her mother, Dame Catherine Tizard, served as Mayor of Auckland and as Governor-General, and her father, Bob Tizard, was a prominent Labour Party cabinet minister and Deputy Prime Minister. Before succeeding her father as the Member of Parliament for Panmure in 1990, Tizard worked in the Labour Party Research Unit (1976–1977), was a member of the Auckland Electric Power Board (1977–1983), a restaurant owner and manager, O'Connells Restaurant, Auckland (1978–1982), was involved in the catering industry (1981–1984), and was a member of the Auckland Regional Council (1988–1991). She has a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in History from the University of Auckland.

Member of Parliament

Tizard entered Parliament at the 1990 election as MP for Panmure. After being re-elected in 1993, she shifted her candidacy to Auckland Central, which she won in the 1996 election, defeating Sandra Lee-Vercoe. She became a Minister outside of Cabinet, serving as Minister of Consumer Affairs, Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, Associate Minister of Transport, Associate Minister of Commerce, and Minister responsible for Archives New Zealand and the National Library.

Before the 2008 general election Tizard was given the low list placing of 38. She was then defeated in her electorate by National's Nikki Kaye by a margin of 1,497 votes.^[1] Her list placing meant she would not return to parliament unless Labour list MPs quit.^[2]

On 25 March 2011, Labour list MP Darren Hughes resigned from Parliament. Whilst Tizard was next in line, Labour Party president Andrew Little expressed preference for Louisa Wall to replace Hughes as she intended to contest the upcoming 2011 general election,^[3] unlike Tizard and the four other list candidates preceding Wall (Mark Burton, Mahara Okeroa, Martin Gallagher and Dave Hereora). Tizard, like her lower-ranked colleagues, decided not to take the seat.^[4]

Controversy

In 2008 Tizard championed an amendment to the Copyright Act, which required internet service providers (ISPs) to develop policies to terminate the Internet account of repeat copyright infringers. She defended this position when meeting Internet lobby groups, saying it is necessary to protect New Zealand artists, and referred to the release of New Zealand film Sione's Wedding, which, she claimed, was damaged by unlawful distribution on the Internet.^{[citation needed]}

On 16 October 2008 a press release^[5] was published by Tizard responding to "alarmist claims made by a small group of IT commentators in the media that recent amendments to the Copyright Act would have ISPs cutting off the accounts of their users based on unsubstantiated accusations of copyright infringement. [...] This is quiet [sic] simply untrue, and I am sure they know it." That press release seems to have been retracted.^[6]

On 23 March 2009, the Prime Minister announced that the law would not take effect and would be re-written.^[7]

References

External links

• Ministerial profile
• Judith Tizard's speech to Parliament at the passing of the amendment to the Copyright Act
• Six different lobby groups decry "A deeply flawed law that undermines fundamental rights and simply will not work."
• A meeting with Judith Tizard about copyright