Patricia Schnauer (born 1942) 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 and lawyer. She was an MP from 1996 to 1999, representing the

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 ...

party. After resigning as MP shortly before the 1999 election, she rejoined 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 ...

in 2000.

Early years

Before entering politics, she was a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

specialising in matrimonial property and

family law Family law (also called matrimonial law or the law of domestic relations) is an area of the law that deals with family matters and domestic relations. Overview Subjects that commonly fall under a nation's body of family law include: * Marriag ...

, and after leaving Parliament, she rejoined her family law practice, Schnauer and Co.

Member of Parliament

She was first elected to

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 ...

in the 1996 election, becoming a

list MP A list MP is a member of parliament (MP) elected from a party list rather than a geographic electoral district. The place in Parliament is due to the number of votes the party won, not to votes received by the MP personally. This occurs only in ...

and serving as her party's spokesperson on justice. At the 1999 election, however, she chose to leave

politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

, and did not stand for re-election.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schnauer, Patricia 1942 births ACT New Zealand MPs Living people New Zealand libertarians Women members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand list MPs 20th-century New Zealand lawyers 20th-century New Zealand women lawyers

Early years

Member of Parliament

Further reading

References