Sukhi Turner

Last updated

Glenn Turner
​
(m. 1973)​
Dame
Sukhi Turner
DNZM
Sukhi Turner 2009.jpg
Turner in 2009
55th Mayor of Dunedin
In office
1995–2004
Children2

Dame Sukhinder Kaur Gill Turner DNZM (born Sukhinder Kaur Gill, 13 April 1952), commonly known as Sukhi Turner, is an Indian-born-New Zealand politician who served as the Mayor of Dunedin, New Zealand, from 1995 until her retirement from the position in 2004. She was also regarded by some as New Zealand's most prominent politician from the country's Indian community.

Contents

Early life

Turner was born in Ludhiana, the largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, to Squadron Leader Jasbir Singh Gill and Premjit Kaur on 13 April 1952. [1] [2]

Born as Sukhinder Kaur Gill, she is a Sikh. She attended Bethany College, West Virginia, United States, gaining qualifications in history and political science. She moved to New Zealand after marrying Glenn Turner, a prominent New Zealand cricket player, in July 1973, and became a naturalised New Zealander in August 1973. [2] Sukhi and Glenn Turner settled in Dunedin in 1982. They have two children. [3]

Political career

Turner has taken part in a wide range of community work, focusing particularly on education. She has taken an active role in school committees and associations, and in 1992, [4] successfully stood for election to the Dunedin City Council. After a three-year term on the council, Turner chose to contest the mayoralty, challenging long-serving incumbent Richard Walls. She was successful, and was subsequently re-elected twice. Her win over sitting mayor Richard Walls was reported on widely and she was noted for bringing diversity to the mayoralty, with Wellington newspaper The Evening Post stating of Turner "Dunedin voters broke new ground. Their new mayor is a woman, an Indian and a Green." [5] Turner announced that she would retire from the position in October 2004, when her third term expired. She was replaced by Peter Chin. [3] [6]

In 1993, Turner was awarded the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal. [7]

Life after politics

In the 2002 Queen's Birthday and Golden Jubilee Honours, Turner was appointed a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to local government. [8] Following the reinstatement of titular honours by the New Zealand government in 2009, she accepted redesignation as a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. [9]

In early 2004, Turner was among the recipients of the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, an award given by the Indian government to honour those who have made a significant contribution to Indian immigrant communities in other countries.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silvia Cartwright</span> 18th Governor-General of New Zealand

Dame Silvia Rose Cartwright is a New Zealand jurist who served as the 18th Governor-General of New Zealand, from 2001 to 2006. She was the second woman to hold the office, after Dame Catherine Tizard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neena Gill</span> British politician

Neena Gill, is a British Labour Party politician. She served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the West Midlands first from 1999 to 2009, and then from 2014 to 2020.

Christine Elizabeth Fletcher is a New Zealand politician. Currently an Auckland Council councillor, she was previously a National Party Member of Parliament from 1990 to 1999, and served one term as Mayor of Auckland City between 1998 and 2001. In October 2010 she became the co-leader of the Auckland local body ticket Citizens & Ratepayers after winning the Albert-Eden-Roskill ward on the new Auckland Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Austin</span> New Zealand politician

Margaret Elizabeth Austin is a former New Zealand politician. She was an MP from 1984 to 1996, representing first the Labour Party and then briefly United New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Owen Marshall</span> New Zealand writer (born 1941)

Owen Marshall Jones, who writes under the pen name Owen Marshall, is a New Zealand short story writer and novelist. The third son of a Methodist minister younger brother of Allan Jones, and older brother of Rhys Jones, he came of age in Blenheim and Timaru, and graduated from the University of Canterbury with an MA in English in 1964. Marshall taught in a rural boys' high school for 25 years before becoming a full-time author.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine Tizard</span> New Zealand politician and 16th governor-general of New Zealand (1931–2021)

Dame Catherine Anne Tizard was a New Zealand politician who served as mayor of Auckland City from 1983 to 1990, and the 16th governor-general of New Zealand from 1990 to 1996. She was the first woman to hold either office.

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is a celebratory day observed on 9 January by the Republic of India to mark the contribution of the Overseas Indian community towards the development of India. The day commemorates the return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa to Mumbai on 9 January 1915.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fran Wilde</span> New Zealand politician

Dame Frances Helen Wilde is a New Zealand politician, and former Wellington Labour member of parliament, Minister of Tourism and Mayor of Wellington. She was the first woman to serve as Mayor of Wellington. She was chairperson of the Greater Wellington Regional Council from 2007 until 2015, and since 2019 she has chaired the board of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stan Rodger</span> New Zealand politician (1940–2022)

Stanley Joseph Rodger was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. He was president of the Public Service Association between 1970 and 1973 and Member of Parliament for Dunedin North from 1978 to 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Walls</span> New Zealand politician

Richard Francis Walls was a New Zealand politician and businessman.

Jennifer Norah Kirk was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hamish Hay</span> New Zealand politician (1927–2008)

Sir Hamish Grenfell Hay was a New Zealand politician, who served as Mayor of Christchurch for fifteen years, from 1974 to 1989. He is Christchurch's longest-serving mayor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Himanshu Gulati</span> Norwegian politician

Himanshu Gulati is a Norwegian politician representing the Progress Party. Gulati was the chairperson of the Progress Party's Youth from 2012 to 2014. He served as State Secretary in the Ministry of Justice and Public Security from 2013 to 2014, and at the Office of the Prime Minister from 2014 until 2017. In 2017 he was elected as a representative in the Norwegian parliament from Akershus, where he has served in the Committee on Justice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Priyanca Radhakrishnan</span> New Zealand politician

Priyanca Radhakrishnan is a New Zealand politician who has been elected to the New Zealand parliament since the 2017 general election as a representative of the New Zealand Labour Party and was Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector from 2020 to 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adrienne Stewart</span> New Zealand arts patron (born 1936)

Dame Ellen Adrienne Stewart, Lady Stewart is a New Zealand arts patron.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgina Kingi</span> New Zealand educator

Dame Georgina Kingi is a New Zealand educator who has been principal of the St Joseph's Māori Girls' College since 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aroha Reriti-Crofts</span> New Zealand community worker (1938–2022)

Dame Aroha Hōhipera Reriti-Crofts was a New Zealand community worker who was national president of the Māori Women’s Welfare League.

Barbara Gay Williams is a retired New Zealand nurse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Hanan</span> New Zealand local-body politician (born 1937)

Dame Elizabeth Ann Hanan is a New Zealand local-body politician and community leader. She served as deputy mayor of Dunedin between 1998 and 2004.

Dame Patricia Mary Harrison is a New Zealand educationalist.

References

  1. ↑ Singh, Teena (2 December 2001). "Ludhiana girl's hat-trick as mayor in New Zealand". The Tribune, Chandigarh . Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  2. 1 2 "New Zealand, naturalisations" . Ancestry.com Operations. 2010. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  3. 1 2 Kumar, Rajesh. "Bowling 'em over". India Empire. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  4. ↑ "Sukhi Turner: Politician by choice, Punjabi at heart, Kiwi by nature". The Tribune. 18 February 2020. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  5. ↑ Martin, Caroline (25 October 1995). "Shaking the old guard". The Evening Post . p. 7.
  6. ↑ "Mayoralty campaign heats up in cold southern winter with record candidates". 19 August 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  7. ↑ "The New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal 1993 – register of recipients". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 26 July 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
  8. ↑ "Queen's Birthday and Golden Jubilee honours list 2002". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 3 June 2002. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  9. ↑ "Special honours list 1 August 2009". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 5 April 2011. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
Political offices
Preceded by Mayor of Dunedin
1995–2004		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.