John Gary Blincoe (born 1952) is a former

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

politician. He was an MP from

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

, representing the Labour Party.

Early life and family

Blincoe was born on 14 March 1952 in

Nelson, New Zealand Nelson () is a List of cities in New Zealand, city and Districts of New Zealand, unitary authority on the eastern shores of Tasman Bay at the top of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the oldest city in the South Island and the second-old ...

. His parents were Victor and May Blincoe (according to his eldest daughter). He attended Hampden Street School, Nelson College Preparatory School and

Nelson College Nelson College is the oldest state secondary school in New Zealand, a feat achieved in part thanks to its original inception as a private school. It is an all-boys school in the City of Nelson that teaches from years 9 to 13. In addition, it r ...

, the latter two from 1963 to 1969.''Nelson College Old Boys' Register, 1856–2006'', 6th edition Later, he was educated at

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

, New Zealand where he gained two degrees: one in

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

and the other in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

. Prior to becoming a member of New Zealand's

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, he had been employed by the Wellington City Council as well as by the

Accident Compensation Corporation The Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) () is the New Zealand Crown entity responsible for administering the country's No-fault insurance, no-fault accidental injury compensation scheme, commonly referred to as the ACC scheme. The scheme pro ...

. Blincoe currently lives in Wellington and has two children. Blincoe served as the President of NZUSA during 1976. He rose to prominence when he became convener of the Wellington Clean Water Campaign which opposed the council on the

Moa Point Moa Point is a small suburb in Wellington, New Zealand, situated on the south coast between Lyall Bay to the west and Tarakena Bay to the east. As of 2015 there were 21 households in the suburb. Toponymy The suburb got its name in 1926 when ...

sewerage treatment plan.

Early political career

In 1983 Blincoe unsuccessfully sought the Labour Party nomination for the seat of Tasman following the retirement of

Bill Rowling Sir Wallace Edward Rowling (; 15 November 1927 – 31 October 1995), commonly known as Bill Rowling, was a New Zealand politician who was the 30th prime minister of New Zealand from 1974 to 1975. He held office as the Leader of the New Zealand ...

, but lost to

Ken Shirley Kenneth Lex Shirley (born 12 August 1950) is a former New Zealand politician. He was a member of the ACT New Zealand party, although was previously a member and Cabinet minister of the Labour Party. Early life Shirley was born on 12 August 1950 ...

. Later that same year, he stood unsuccessfully for the

Wellington City Council Wellington City Council is a Territorial authorities of New Zealand, territorial authority in New Zealand, governing the city of Wellington, the country's capital city and List of cities in New Zealand#City councils, third-largest city by popul ...

on a Labour Party ticket. In 1986 he contested the Labour nomination for

Mayor of Wellington The mayor of Wellington is the head of the municipal government of Wellington, the city of Wellington. The mayor presides over the Wellington City Council. The mayor is directly elected using the Single Transferable Vote method of proportional ...

, but lost to local businessman

Jim Belich Sir James Belich (25 July 1927 – 13 September 2015) was a New Zealand local politician. He was the mayor of Wellington from 1986 to 1992. Biography Early life and career Belich was born on 25 July 1927, of Croat descent, in Awanui, North ...

. He was then elected to the City Council in the Brooklyn Ward in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

and then in the Southern Ward in

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

, before resigning from the Council in 1991 when he was elected to Parliament.

Member of Parliament

Blincoe was first elected to Parliament in the 1990 election as MP for Nelson, replacing the outgoing

Philip Woollaston Philip Tosswill Edmond Woollaston (born 17 August 1944) is a former New Zealand Labour Party politician. He was Member of Parliament for Nelson from 1981 to 1990 and Mayor of Nelson from 1992 to 1998. Early life and family Woollaston was born ...

. In November 1990 he was appointed as Labour's spokesperson for Conservation by Labour leader

Mike Moore Michael Moore is an American filmmaker and author. Michael Moore may also refer to: Academia * Michael G. Moore (fl. 1970s–2020s), professor of education * Michael S. Moore (academic) (fl. 1960s–2020s), American law professor * Michael Mo ...

. He was re-elected in the 1993 election, but in the 1996 election, the seat of Nelson was expanded into rural areas formerly part of the Tasman electorate. Blincoe was defeated by the incumbent Tasman MP, Nick Smith of 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 ...

1999 election

In the 1999 election, Blincoe missed out on returning to Parliament as a list candidate under

mixed-member proportional Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP or MMPR) is a type of representation provided by some mixed electoral systems which combine local winner-take-all elections with a compensatory tier with party lists, in a way that produces pr ...

(MMP) representation by a narrow margin once special votes had been counted. Initially it appeared that Blincoe would have a seat in Parliament, as well as a party member directly following him on the Labour list. With the counting of special votes, however, the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

entered Parliament after winning an electorate seat and crossed the minimum 5% threshold of votes. In addition,

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), ...

won the constituency seat of

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 ...

by a narrow margin of sixty-two votes over a

candidate, enabling his

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 to acquire extra list seats in Parliament. Once seats had been proportionally re-allocated with both the Green Party and New Zealand First in mind, fewer list seats were available for other parties, and consequently John Blincoe was not allocated a seat.

Post Parliament

Blincoe worked as an environmental adviser to Prime Minister

Helen Clark Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008 and was the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was ...

during the 2000s and has worked on environmental matters since then. He, along with

Ray Ahipene-Mercer Raymond Ahipene-Mercer (born 20 October 1948) is a former New Zealand politician, who served as a Wellington City Councillor for the Eastern Ward,Wellington City Council"Councillor – Ray Ahipene-Mercer." wellington.govt.nz. Retrieved on 2007-0 ...

, led the Wellington Clean Water Campaign, which successfully sought to have Wellington to treat its sewage, and stop dumping it, raw, in the sea."Councillor's journey from pop to politics." ''The Evening Post'', 5 May 2000, edition 3, page 8.

References