John Gregory Collinge (born 10 May 1939) is a former New Zealand lawyer, politician and diplomat. His former roles include president of the

New Zealand National Party The New Zealand National Party (), often shortened to National () or the Nats, is a Centre-right politics, centre-right List of political parties in New Zealand, political party in New Zealand that is the current senior ruling party. It is one ...

and High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.

Early life

Collinge was born in the

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

suburb of Mahora in 1939. He attended Paeroa District High School from 1952 to 1955 and

Hastings Boys' High School Hastings Boys' High School is a boys' secondary school in Hastings, New Zealand. The school is part of the Super 8. The school was founded in 1904 as Hastings High School. In 1922, it became Hastings Technical School under the leadership of Wi ...

in 1956. He played for the 1st XI

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

and 1st XV

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

teams at both schools. He obtained a

LLB A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

from the

University of Auckland The University of Auckland (; Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. Initially loc ...

in 1962, where he was senior scholar in law. He captained the Auckland Brabin Shield (under 20 years) cricket XI (in 1958) and New Zealand Universities XI (1961–1963). He was awarded a Shell scholarship (1962) which took him to

University College, Oxford University College, formally The Master and Fellows of the College of the Great Hall of the University commonly called University College in the University of Oxford and colloquially referred to as "Univ", is a Colleges of the University of Oxf ...

(1963–1965), where he obtained a master's degree (MLitt) and played cricket for the

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

, appearing in first-class matches against County sides.

Professional career

Collinge lectured law at the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

(1965–1966) and commercial law as senior lecturer at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

(1966–1969). He wrote three legal texts: ''The Law of Competition in New Zealand'' (Butterworths, 1982, 2nd Edition); ''Tutorials in Contract'' (Law Book Company, 1989, 4th Ed); and ''The Law of Marketing in Australia & New Zealand'' (Butterworths, 1990, 2nd Ed). He practised law in Auckland and engaged in local politics. He became chairman of the Auckland Electric Power Board for 12 years (1980–1992) and chairman of the policy and finance committee of the Auckland Regional Authority for three (1991–1994). He was president of the Electrical Development Association of New Zealand (1991–1993) and chairman of the National Civil Defence Energy Planning (1992–1993). He held company chairmanships: New Zealand Pelagic Fisheries Ltd (1975–1981) and United Distillers (NZ) Ltd (1991) as well as many deputy chairmanships and directorships. He was awarded the title Keeper of the Quaich by the Scotch Whisky Association (1994). He was chairman of the

Commerce Commission The Commerce Commission () (sometimes shortened to ComCom) is a New Zealand government agency with responsibility for enforcing legislation that relates to competition in the country's markets, fair trading and consumer credit contracts, and r ...

(from 1984 to 1989), presiding over the introduction of the Commerce Act 1986 and the Fair Trading Act 1986, thereby overseeing business conduct and de-regulation after the Douglas reforms. He was president of the National Party (from 1989 to 1994) during the successful elections of 1990 and 1993. He was then appointed High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Ambassador to Ireland and to Nigeria from 1994 to 1997. He was appointed chairman of the Intergovernmental Committee on the Criteria for Commonwealth Membership, of which New Zealand was independently a member (1996–1997). He represented New Zealand internationally, including as chairman of the South Pacific Electrical Convention (Sydney, 1981); chairman of Session, World Alcohol & Drug Conference (Glagow, 1992); leader of delegation to People's Republic of China for the National Party (1992); New Zealand representative at the Relief of Warsaw Bi-Centenary (Warsaw, 1995); and head of delegation, European Bank for Redevelopment (Sofia, 1996). Some other roles include: chairman of Alcohol Advisory Council of New Zealand (1991–1994); trust member of the Auckland Energy Consumer Trust (2003–2006); president of Auckland Rotary Club (2017–2018); patron of the British New Zealand Business Association (1998–present); author of ''An Identity for New Zealand?'' (Thesaurus Press, 2010); principal, John Collinge, Barrister & Solicitor. He is a self-declared

monarchist Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. C ...

. In 1990, he was awarded the

New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal The New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal was a commemorative medal awarded in New Zealand in 1990 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, and was awarded to 3,632 people. Background The New Zealand 1990 Com ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collinge, John 1939 births Living people People from Hastings, New Zealand People educated at Hastings Boys' High School University of Auckland alumni Alumni of University College, Oxford Oxford University cricketers Academics of the University of Leeds Academic staff of the University of Melbourne New Zealand National Party politicians New Zealand cricketers New Zealand monarchists High commissioners of New Zealand to the United Kingdom High commissioners of New Zealand to Nigeria Ambassadors of New Zealand to Ireland