John Luxton

{{Infobox officeholder

|honorific-prefix = The Honourable

|name = John Luxton

|honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|CNZM|QSO|size=100%}}

|image = John Luxton (cropped).jpg

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|caption = Luxton in 2017

|constituency_MP = {{NZ electorate link|Matamata}}

|parliament = New Zealand

|majority =

|term_start = 1987

|term_end = 1996

|predecessor = Jack Luxton

|constituency_MP2 = {{NZ electorate link|Karapiro}}

|parliament2 = New Zealand

|majority2 =

|term_start2 = 1996

|term_end2 = 1999

|successor2 = Lindsay Tisch

|constituency_MP3 = National Party List

|parliament3 = New Zealand

|majority3 =

|predecessor3 =

|successor3 =

|term_start3 = 1999

|term_end3 = 2002

|birth_name = Murray John Finlay Luxton

|birth_date = {{Birth date|1946|09|14|df=y}}

|birth_place = Morrinsville, New Zealand

|death_date = {{Death date and age|2021|11|16|1946|09|14|df=y}}

|death_place = Wellington

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|party = National

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|relations = Jack Luxton (father)

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|alma_mater = Massey University

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Murray John Finlay Luxton {{post-nominals|country=NZL|CNZM|QSO|size=85%}} (14 September 1946 – 16 November 2021) was a New Zealand National Party politician, serving as a Member of Parliament from 1987 to 2002. From 2008 to 2015, he was the Chairman of DairyNZ, the organisation that represents all New Zealand dairy farmers. He was co-chair of the Waikato River Authority, a Crown/iwi co-governance organisation established through Treaty of Waitangi settlement legislation to clean up the Waikato River.

Early life and family

Born in Morrinsville on 14 September 1946,{{cite book |last= Temple |first= Philip |title= Temple's Guide to the 44th New Zealand Parliament |year= 1994 |publisher= McIndoe Publishers |location= Dunedin |isbn= 0-86868-159-8 |page=71}} Luxton was educated at Hamilton Boys' High School and Massey University (BAgSc, DipAgSc, DipBusSc, MMgt). His father, Jack Luxton, was a National Party MP from 1966 to 1987.

After an initial role as a Ministry of Agriculture dairy specialist, Luxton and his late wife Merryl went dairy farming. Periods of project consulting in Africa, Asia and the Pacific were interspersed with dairy farming in New Zealand over the following decade.

Member of Parliament

{{NZ parlbox|term=42nd|start={{NZ election link year|1987}}|end=1990|party=New Zealand National Party|electorate=Matamata}}

{{NZ parlbox|term=43rd|start={{NZ election link year|1990}}|end=1993|party=New Zealand National Party|electorate=Matamata}}

{{NZ parlbox|term=44th|start={{NZ election link year|1993}}|end=1996|party=New Zealand National Party|electorate=Matamata}}

{{NZ parlbox|term=45th|start={{NZ election link year|1996}}|end=1999|party=New Zealand National Party|electorate=Karapiro|list=33}}

{{NZ parlbox|term=46th|start={{NZ election link year|1999}}|end=2002|party=New Zealand National Party

|electorate=List

|list=14}}

Luxton was first elected to Parliament in the 1987 election as the MP for {{NZ electorate link|Matamata}}. He replaced his father, Jack Luxton, who held the {{NZ electorate link|Piako}} electorate then Matamata for 21 years from {{NZ election link year|1966}}, and had been Chairman of Committees in Parliament.

Luxton held Matamata until the 1996 election, when a boundary change caused him to stand in the seat of Karapiro. In the 1999 election, he opted to become a list MP, leaving the Karapiro seat to newcomer Lindsay Tisch.

=Minister=

The National Party won the 1990 election, and Jim Bolger became Prime Minister, Luxton was appointed to Cabinet. His ministerial roles have included Minister of Energy, Minister of Housing, Minister of Māori Affairs, Minister of Police, Minister of Commerce, Minister of Industry, Minister of Fisheries, Minister of Lands, Minister of Customs and Minister of Agriculture. He was also an Associate Minister of Education and of Overseas Trade. Luxton was regarded by many as one of the more economically liberal members of the National Party.

After politics

Luxton did not seek re-election in the 2002 election. He was one of the founders of the Open Country Cheese Company and the Kaimai Cheese Company, located near Matamata, in the Waikato, along with former colleague Wyatt Creech.

He held a number of directorships in the agribusiness sector including the Tatua Coop Dairy Company, having been a previous chairman, and Wallace Corporation, and has farming interests. He was chair of DairyNZ, the New Zealand Dairy Industry Good organisation which represents all New Zealand dairy farmers, between 2008 and 2015.{{cite web |url=https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/new-year-honours-2017-citations-companions-new-zealand-order-merit |title=New Year honours 2017 – citations for Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit |date=15 December 2016 |publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet |access-date=24 July 2017}} He was married to Mary Scholtens, QC.

He was for a short period (2005–06) a director of listed investment and property company Blue Chip, Luxton resigned from that Board. Luxton was appointed a co-chair of the Waikato River Authority and was a member of the New Zealand Constitutional Advisory Panel. He also sat on the boards of the Royal New Zealand Ballet Company and Landcare Research, one of the Crown Research Institutes. He was chair of the Asia NZ Foundation.asianz.org.nz

Luxton died in Wellington on 16 November 2021, after a long illness.{{cite news |title=Dairy industry champion and former National Cabinet minister John Luxton dies |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/dairy-industry-champion-and-former-national-cabinet-minister-john-luxton-dies/YOGWSCRZONORDX5TGR47L2D5WM/ |access-date=16 November 2021 |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=16 November 2021}}

Honours

In the 2003 Queen's Birthday Honours, Luxton was appointed a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for public services.{{cite web | url=https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/publications/queens-birthday-honours-list-2003 | title=Queen's Birthday honours list 2003 |date=2 June 2003| publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet | access-date=24 July 2017}} He was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the dairy industry, in the 2017 New Year Honours.{{cite web | url=https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/publications/new-year-honours-list-2017 | title=New Year honours list 2017 |date=31 December 2016 | publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet | access-date=24 July 2017}}

Awarded Massey University's Sir Geoffrey Peren Medal 2013,{{cite web|url=https://www.massey.ac.nz/|title=Massey University of New Zealand - Te Kunenga Ki Pūrehuroa - Massey University|first=Massey University, New|last=Zealand|website=www.massey.ac.nz}} Awarded D.Sc. by Lincoln University 2016.{{cite web |url=http://www.lincoln.ac.nz |title = Home :: Lincoln University}}

References

1990 Parliamentary Candidates for the New Zealand National Party by John Stringer p. 42 (New Zealand National Party, 1990)
[http://www.executive.govt.nz/93-96/minister/luxton/index.html Hon John Luxton] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071213065807/http://www.executive.govt.nz/93-96/minister/luxton/index.html |date=13 December 2007 }} at executive.govt.nz