Bob Clarkson
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Robert Moncrieff Clarkson (born 1939 in Gisborne) is a former Member of the
New Zealand Parliament The New Zealand Parliament () is the unicameral legislature of New Zealand, consisting of the Monarchy of New Zealand, Sovereign and the New Zealand House of Representatives. The King is usually represented by his Governor-General of New Zeal ...
. He was the
National Party National Party or Nationalist Party may refer to: Active parties * National Party of Australia, commonly known as ''The Nationals'' * Bangladesh: ** Bangladesh Nationalist Party ** Jatiya Party (Ershad) a.k.a. ''National Party (Ershad)'' * Californ ...
MP for
Tauranga Tauranga (, Māori language for "resting place," or "safe anchorage") is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty Region and the List of cities in New Zealand, fifth-most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of or roughly 3% of t ...
from 2005 to 2008.


Early life and family

Clarkson was raised in
Kaiti The regular script is the newest of the major Chinese script styles, emerging during the Three Kingdoms period , and stylistically mature by the 7th century. It is the most common style used in modern text. In its traditional form it is the t ...
, near Gisborne, on his parents' dairy farm. He attended
Gisborne Boys' High School Gisborne Boys' High School is a boys' secondary school situated in Gisborne, New Zealand. It was founded as a co-educational school in 1909 as Gisborne High School. In 1956, the school became Gisborne Boys' High School when it was split into two ...
but left at age 15 with no qualifications. In 1958, Clarkson qualified as a fitter and turner in Gisborne. He then moved to the
Waikato The Waikato () is a region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipā District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the nort ...
and worked on the
Kaimai Tunnel The Kaimai Tunnel is a railway tunnel through the Kaimai Range in the North Island of New Zealand. Since it was opened in 1978, it has held the title of longest tunnel, at , in New Zealand, assuming this distinction from the previous title ho ...
. He began selling and servicing tractors in
Matamata Matamata () is a town in Waikato, New Zealand. It is located near the base of the Kaimai Ranges, and is a thriving farming area known for Thoroughbred horse breeding and training pursuits. It is part of the Matamata-Piako District, which take ...
before deciding to import V8 motors from the United States, a business he continued for nine years. Clarkson then moved into commercial building construction. Clarkson played
field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...
for the
Poverty Bay Poverty Bay (Māori language, Māori: ''Tūranganui-a-Kiwa''), officially named Tūranganui-a-Kiwa / Poverty Bay, is the largest of several small bays on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island to the north of Hawke Bay. It stretches for ...
provincial team. He was selected as a standby
goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...
for the New Zealand team that won gold at the
1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...
. He was also a member of the New Zealand stock car racing team from 1968 to 1971, and won seven New Zealand titles in dragster racing between 1972 and 1975. Clarkson has two daughters from his first marriage.


Member of Parliament

A long-time member of the National Party, Clarkson was recruited to be National's
Tauranga Tauranga (, Māori language for "resting place," or "safe anchorage") is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty Region and the List of cities in New Zealand, fifth-most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of or roughly 3% of t ...
candidate at the 2005 general election by East Coast MP
Tony Ryall Anthony Boyd Williams Ryall (born 19 November 1964) is a former New Zealand politician. He represented the National Party in the New Zealand Parliament from 1990 to 2014. Between 2008 and 2014 he served as a cabinet minister, holding the posts ...
. He challenged
Winston Peters Winston Raymond Peters (born 11 April 1945) is a New Zealand politician. He has led the political party New Zealand First since he founded it in 1993, and since November 2023 has served as the 25th Minister of Foreign Affairs (New Zealand), ...
, leader of the
New Zealand First New Zealand First (), commonly abbreviated to NZ First or NZF, is a political party in New Zealand, founded and led by Winston Peters, who has served three times as Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand, deputy prime minister. The party has form ...
party, who had held the seat for twenty-one years. The contest was of national significance as a party must win 5% of the vote or an electorate seat to qualify for proportional representation in parliament. A loss by Peters could have deprived New Zealand First of its electorate seat, leaving it vulnerable to a decline in its vote. Clarkson won the seat by 730 votes, a 2.02% majority over Winston Peters. However, New Zealand First retained representation by achieving 5.72% of the vote. As a member of parliament, Clarkson was the National Party's associate spokesperson for Building and Construction and Housing. He held socially conservative views and did not support the civil union legislation that gave legal recognition to same-sex partnerships or adoption by same-sex couples.


Controversies


Sexual harassment allegation: "left testicle"

During the campaign sexual harassment allegations were made against Clarkson by a former employee. Clarkson claimed the allegations were the result of a misunderstanding arising from a mention of his left testicle to a colleague. It was claimed Clarkson repeatedly made jokes, such as "I bet my left testicle the all blacks will win" to female employees. Clarkson, in the heat of the controversy, grabbed and talked about his crotch to a female reporter.


Campaign overspending petition

Winston Peters Winston Raymond Peters (born 11 April 1945) is a New Zealand politician. He has led the political party New Zealand First since he founded it in 1993, and since November 2023 has served as the 25th Minister of Foreign Affairs (New Zealand), ...
filed a petition in the
High Court of New Zealand The High Court of New Zealand () is the superior court of New Zealand. It has general jurisdiction and responsibility, under the Senior Courts Act 2016, as well as the High Court Rules 2016, for the administration of justice throughout New Zeala ...
alleging that Clarkson had spent more on campaigning than is allowed under the
Electoral Act 1993 The Electoral Act 1993 is an Act of the New Zealand Parliament for regulating elections in New Zealand. It "establishes the electoral agencies, electoral system, election processes (including that for disputing results), how MPs are replaced b ...
. The Act prescribes a campaign spending limit of $20,000 per local candidate. Peters alleged that Clarkson had spent more than $100,000. However the High Court found that Clarkson had only spent $18,159. The court ordered Peters to pay $40,000 in legal costs to Bob Clarkson.


Controversy over minority groups

In several interviews, Clarkson made a number of comments which caused offense to
Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
and
homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" exc ...
groups. He was reported as saying that Muslim women wearing burqas, who did not want to fit in should "go back to Islam or Iraq" and that burqas should not be worn in banks or courts. Clarkson also made reference to the number of
gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...
and
lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...
Members of Parliament (MPs) in the
New Zealand Labour Party The New Zealand Labour Party, also known simply as Labour (), is a Centre-left politics, centre-left political party in New Zealand. The party's platform programme describes its founding principle as democratic socialism, while observers descri ...
and was quoted as saying "We've got a problem there they are employing more of those than average people." The
National Party National Party or Nationalist Party may refer to: Active parties * National Party of Australia, commonly known as ''The Nationals'' * Bangladesh: ** Bangladesh Nationalist Party ** Jatiya Party (Ershad) a.k.a. ''National Party (Ershad)'' * Californ ...
MP caused further controversy after comparing
homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...
to
nose picking Nose picking is the act of extracting mucus with one's finger (rhinotillexis) and may include the subsequent ingestion of the extracted mucus (mucophagy). In Western cultures, this act is generally considered to be socially deviant; parents and ...
, saying that "If you walk up and down the street picking your nose, you're a bit different, aren't you? You're going to offend somebody." Clarkson was also reported as saying he had nothing against gays and lesbians unless they tried to "ram it down" his throat.


Folole Muliaga

Clarkson during a parliamentary debate on an electricity regulation to protect vulnerable customers yelled out "pay your bill" several times while the case of Folole Muliaga was being discussed. Muliaga died after her electricity was cut because she could not afford to pay the overdue bill. When asked to apologise in parliament after offence was taken by another member to the interjection, Clarkson left the House after refusing to apologise. Clarkson said: "Sorry that's his problem." Clarkson was reprimanded for the comments after John Key said the comments were "distasteful."


Stepping down from Parliament

In May 2008 it was announced Clarkson would not stand for re-election. He did not deliver a valedictory speech before he left Parliament on 25 September 2008. In 2011 he announced he was leaving the National Party and joining
ACT New Zealand ACT New Zealand (; ), also known as the ACT Party or simply ACT, is a Right-wing politics, right-wing, Classical liberalism, classical liberal, Right-libertarianism, right-libertarian, and Conservatism, conservative List of political parties i ...
, although he did not stand as a candidate for that party.


Honours and awards

Clarkson was appointed a
Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit () is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ...
, for services to philanthropy, in the
2003 New Year Honours The 2003 New Year's Honours List is one of the annual New Year Honours, a part of the British monarch's honours system, where 1 January is marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of ot ...
.


References


External links


New Zealand National Party website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarkson, Bob 1939 births Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit People educated at Gisborne Boys' High School Living people New Zealand National Party MPs People from Gisborne, New Zealand People from Tauranga ACT New Zealand politicians New Zealand MPs for North Island electorates Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives 21st-century New Zealand politicians