Murray Robert Smith

{{For|the New Zealand United Future politician|Murray Smith (New Zealand politician)}}

Murray Robert Smith (6 June 1941 – 27 September 2009) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party.

Biography

{{NZ parlbox

|start = {{NZ election link year|1972}}

|end = 1975

|term = 37th

|electorate = {{NZ electorate link|Whangarei}}

|party = New Zealand Labour Party

}}

Smith was born in Hamilton in 1941. He became a civil servant and later a member of the Whangarei Adult Education Committee.{{cite news |title=21 new members in House |work=The Press |date=27 November 1972 |page=3 }}

=Political career=

He joined the Labour Party and was secretary of both the Marsden and Hamilton Labour Representation Committees. He unsuccessfully contested Piako in 1966 finishing third and Marsden in 1969 finishing second.

He was elected for the Whangarei electorate with the swing to Labour in the 1972 general election. Smith was also assisted by the National Government's decision to contract the construction of naval patrol craft overseas, which impacted local workers in Whangarei's ship building industry.{{cite news |url = https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19721123.2.198 | title = Electorate Survey | accessdate = 19 April 2024 |work=Christchurch Press | via = paperspast.natlib.govt.nz |issue=33081 |date=23 November 1972 |page=22}} In his maiden speech to Parliament Smith called for greater protection of the coastline by banning the construction of houses on the seaward side of coastal roads. He was seeking to ensure better public access to the coastal areas.{{cite news |url = https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19730302.2.32 | title = No work, no benefit| accessdate = 19 April 2024 |work=Christchurch Press | via = paperspast.natlib.govt.nz |issue=33164 |date=2 March 1973 |page=3}}

Smith was defeated in the next election in 1975 which saw a significant swing back to National.{{cite book |last= Wilson |first= James Oakley |title= New Zealand parliamentary record, 1840–1984 |edition= 4 |orig-year= First ed. published 1913 |year= 1985 |publisher=V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer |location= Wellington |oclc= 154283103 |page=235}} In early 1977 he contemplated standing as a candidate for the Labour Party nomination in the Mangere by-election, however he ultimately decided to withdraw from the candidacy race.{{cite news |title=Labour backing may now go to outsider |publisher=Auckland Star |date=15 February 1977 |page=1 }}

=Public service=

Formerly a Public Trust accountant, he was made managing director of the Development Finance Corporation and executive chairman of New Zealand Railways by Labour. From his time in Parliament, he was a friend of Roger Douglas, and of Michael Bassett who said that his "contribution to New Zealand went well beyond what he managed in three short years to do for the people of Whangarei".

=Baháʼí Faith=

He joined the Baháʼí community in 1989, becoming the chief executive officer in New Zealand in 1991 and deputy secretary-general of the Baháʼí international secretariat in 1994. He died in Raglan on 27 September 2009.{{cite web |title=In Memory of Murray Robert Smith |url=http://www.amemorytree.co.nz/remembrance.php?personid=82967 |publisher=A Memory Tree Limited |access-date=28 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304025645/http://www.amemorytree.co.nz/remembrance.php?personid=82967 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |title=Obituaries — Murray Robert Smith |url= http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Debates/Debates/3/e/b/49HansD_20091013_00000001-Obituaries-Murray-Robert-Smith.htm |publisher=New Zealand Parliament |access-date=28 November 2012}}