Wyatt Creech

New Zealand Parliament

The Right Honourable Wyatt Creech CNZM
14th Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand
In office 14 August 1998 –10 December 1999
Years	Term	Electorate	List	Party
1988–1990	42nd	Wairarapa			National
1990 –1993	43rd	Wairarapa			National
1993 –1996	44th	Wairarapa			National
1996 –1999	45th	Wairarapa	12		National
1999 –2002	46th	List	2		National

In the 1987 election, Creech contested the Wairarapa seat for the National Party. On election night, Creech won on the provisional vote count by 65 votes, and attended the first National caucus. The official count (completed two weeks later) reversed the election night provisional count and the constituency was won by the incumbent Labour Party MP, Reg Boorman by seven votes. Creech challenged that result with a petition under the provisions of the Electoral Act; supported initially by MPs Roger McClay and Winston Peters (who had been involved in recounts in Taupo and Hunua) but not the party hierarchy, according to Creech's account in a book by Ross Meurant. A Judicial Recount, the initial step, saw Boorman's lead reduced to one vote. ^[3]

Creech then launched a full Electoral Petition on two counts. First, that a number who had voted in the election were not qualified to vote in the Wairarapa constituency on various grounds (including failure to qualify under the residency rules), and second, that Boorman had violated laws that set a limit on election spending by candidates. ^[1] Boorman in his counter challenge also challenged a number of votes on various grounds. In all, more than 200 votes were reviewed by the Electoral Court. The process took eleven months to complete. On 12 July 1988, the Electoral Court found in Creech's favour on both counts in its judgement on the Wairarapa Election Petition, and he took his seat immediately with a majority of 34 votes (9994 to 9960). ^[3] Over his period as MP for Wairarapa his majority significantly increased from this narrow initial victory, increasing to over 7 thousand votes by the 1996 election. ^[4]

Cabinet minister

When the National Party won the 1990 election, Creech was appointed to the Cabinet of the fourth National government as its most junior member. Initially, his two main roles were Minister of Revenue and Minister of Customs. Over the three terms of the National (and after the 1996 Election the National-led) government he held a number of other Cabinet portfolios, including Minister of Education, Minister of Health, Minister for State Owned Enterprises, Minister of Courts, Minister of Employment, and Associate Minister of Finance.

Creech chaired the cross party committees of MP's that developed the Superannuation Accord and the Employment Accord. Creech supported Jenny Shipley's December 1997 party-room coup against Prime Minister Jim Bolger, and Creech became Deputy Leader of the National Party on 8 December 1997. ^[5]

Deputy Prime Minister

In August 1998, the coalition between the National Party and New Zealand First broke down, and New Zealand First's Winston Peters was sacked as Deputy Prime Minister. Shipley appointed Creech to fill the vacancy. ^[6] However, barely a year later, the Shipley government was heavily defeated by Labour. Prior to this election, Creech had stood aside from contesting the Wairarapa Electorate as the National Party candidate and became a List MP. Under National Party rules, his position as Deputy Leader automatically put him in the second position on National's Party's Party List, assuring his reelection as a Member of Parliament even as National was forced into opposition. He was appointed a member of the Privy Council just before the election. ^[7]

After National lost the 1999 election he was Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister of Health under Shipley. ^[8] Creech remained as the party's deputy leader until February 2001, when he chose to stand down. He was replaced by Bill English. ^[9] Creech did not stand for re-election in the 2002 election.

Post-politics career

Following his retirement from politics, Creech headed up a small group that took advantage of the opportunities created by the deregulation of the dairy industry by the founding of the Open Country Cheese Company, located near Matamata, in Waikato. This has now grown into Open Country Dairy Co Ltd with both milk powder and cheese production facilities in Waharoa (near Matamata), Waikato, Awarua (near Invercargill) and Wanganui. The original cheese company was formed on 28 November 2001 (the date on which the Dairy Industry Restructuring Act 2001 received the Royal Assent. Manufacturing commenced in October 2004. ^[10]

He stood down from the board of this company in 2008. In 2007 Creech and his associates launched as an offshoot from the commodity product manufacturing operation Open Country a new specialty cheese production focussed operation Kaimai Cheese (named after the local mountain range) and served from commencement as its Chairman. ^[11]

He stood down from the board of this company in 2013 when their assets were sold to a new producer. In 2009 he joined the board of NZ Windfarms. ^[12] retiring from that board in December 2013. Creech also served for a two-year period on the boards of Seales Limited, a Waikato-based stock feed manufacturing firm, the Cognition Education Trust, a trust supporting education research in New Zealand. he then joined the board of Healthcare Holdings Limited (providing various community-based health services).^{[ citation needed ]}

In September 2009, Creech joined the New Zealand Fire Service Commission as Deputy Chair. As of mid 2014 he serves as Chair of the New Zealand Fire Service Commission and Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (replacement Crown entity for the New Zealand Historic Places Trust) and Deputy Chair of Healthcare Holdings Limited.^{[ citation needed ]}

In 2009–2010, Creech was commissioned by the Minister for the Environment and the Minister of Local Government to head a review of the performance of Environment Canterbury. ^[13] Their report was highly critical of the performance and capability of the organisation, and while the recommendations were controversial, were fully implemented by the government. ^[14]

Creech served as part of the Solomon Islands International Election Observer Team in the 2001 General Election in that nation. He also led the New Zealand Election Observer Team in the August 2010 General Election in Solomon Islands. He also served on the International Election Observer Team for the Falkland Islands referendum on its future status in 2013.^{[ citation needed ]}

Creech served from December 2004 until June 2006 as a director of investment and property company Bluechip. He resigned in June 2006. The company failed in November 2008. As former directors, Creech and John Luxton (who resigned in October 2006) were included (2012) in two lawsuits which alleged breach of their duty to investors. ^[15] No in-court proceedings in relation to this claim eventuated, and in 2014 all legal claims against the former directors were abandoned.^{[ citation needed ]}

In 2014, he was appointed chair of Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Board by the Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, Chris Finlayson. ^[16]

Honours and awards

In 1990, Creech was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal. ^[17] In the 2003 New Year Honours, he was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services as a Member of Parliament. ^[18]

Notes

1. "Rt. Hon. Wyatt Creech". New Zealand Parliament . Archived from the original on 20 November 2000. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
2. Who's Who 1993, p. 26.
3. Meurant 1989, pp. 181–198.
4. "Official Count Results (1996) – Electorate Candidate and Party votes recorded at each polling place" (PDF). NZ Electoral Commission. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
5. "PM announces appointments to APEC council". Executive.govt.nz. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
6. "Appointment of Ministers" (27 August 1998) 131 The New Zealand Gazette 3189 at 3190.
7. "The Privy Council". dpmc.govt.nz. Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
8. "Shadow Cabinet List – Leader Of Opposition". Scoop. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
9. Keen, Ryan (8 February 2001). "English scores deputy leader". The Southland Times .
10. "Open Country Cheese Company » News & Investor Information » The Board of Directors". 23 September 2006. Archived from the original on 23 September 2006.
11. Malcolm Burgess (29 April 2007). "Big cheese sees bright future for dairy". The New Zealand Herald . Retrieved 11 September 2011.
12. "Creech to join NZ Windfarms board". The Press . 20 April 2009. Retrieved 11 September 2011.
13. "Investigation of the performance of Environment Canterbury under the Resource Management Act & Local Government Act | Ministry for the Environment". Mfe.govt.nz. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
14. "Environment Canterbury faces the axe". The Press . 20 February 2010.
15. "Blue Chip investors seeking justice". The Sunday Star-Times. 29 January 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
16. "Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Board members appointed". Mch.govt.nz. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
17. Taylor, Alister; Coddington, Deborah (1994). Honoured by the Queen – New Zealand. Auckland: New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa. p. 111. ISBN   0-908578-34-2.
18. "New Year honours list 2003". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 31 December 2002. Retrieved 20 July 2019.

References

• Meurant, Ross (1989). The Beat to the Beehive. Auckland: Harlen Books. ISBN   978-0-908757-05-3.
• Who's Who in the New Zealand Parliament 1993. Wellington: Parliamentary Service. 1993.

New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by Reg Boorman	Member of Parliament for Wairarapa 1988–1999	Succeeded by Georgina Beyer
Political offices
Preceded by Peter Neilson	Minister of Customs 1990–1993	Succeeded by Murray McCully
	Minister of Revenue 1990–1996	Succeeded by Peter Dunne
Preceded by Lockwood Smith	Minister of Education 1996–1999	Succeeded by Nick Smith
Preceded by Winston Peters	Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand 1998–1999	Succeeded by Jim Anderton
Preceded by Bill English	Minister of Health 1999	Succeeded by Annette King
Party political offices
Preceded by Don McKinnon	Deputy Leader of the National Party 1997–2001	Succeeded by Bill English