Kerry Burke

Sir Thomas Kerry Burke (born 24 March 1942) is a former New Zealand politician and Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives. He was a Member of Parliament for the Labour Party from 1972 to 1975 and again from 1978 to 1990, and later served twelve years on Canterbury Regional Council (Environment Canterbury) from 1998 to 2010.

Early life and career
Burke was born in Christchurch in 1942. He attended Opawa Primary School and Linwood College. In 1960, he began three years of study at the University of Canterbury, after which he studied for a year at the Christchurch College of Education. He taught at Rangiora High School from 1967 to 1972. From 1969 to 1971 he was chairman of the Rangiora branch of the Post Primary Teachers' Association (PPTA) union.

Third Labour government
Burke was first elected to Parliament as the Labour MP for Rangiora in the 1972 election. From 1973 to 1978 he was a Lincoln College Council member.

In the 1975 election, however, he lost his seat, and remained outside Parliament for three years.

Political interregnum
After his defeat he took consolation that the swing against him in his electorate was lower than the overall swing against the government. He also appreciated that leaving parliament would give him more time to spend with his sons. He decided to return to teaching, though found there to be no teaching vacancies in Canterbury at the time. This prompted him to move to the West Coast to teach at Greymouth High School from 1976 to 1978.

He established himself locally and when the local MP, Paddy Blanchfield, announced his retirement Burke sought the Labour Party candidacy. Despite facing criticisms as an outsider, he won the nomination over eight other candidates.

Opposition
In the 1978 election, Burke was elected as the MP for the West Coast electorate. After reentering Parliament he criticised the closure of several gasworks in his electorate as well as the resulting employee reductions at the Liverpool coal mine after subsidies for them were cut by the Muldoon government.

He was elevated to the shadow cabinet by Labour leader Bill Rowling in 1979 and was Shadow Minister of Labour and State Services from 1979 to 1980, Shadow Minister of Employment and Science & Technology from 1981 to 1982 and Shadow Minister of Employment, Regional Development and Tourism from 1982 to 1983. He supported Rowling when he was challenged for the leadership in 1980 by deputy leader David Lange.

When Lange replaced Rowling in 1983 Burke fell in the rankings and was left only with the regional development portfolio.

Fourth Labour government
When Labour won the 1984 election, Burke became Minister of Immigration and Minister of Employment. He held these roles until the 1987 election, when he was chosen to replace the outgoing Gerry Wall as Speaker. At 45 he was the second youngest Speaker in the history of the Parliament of New Zealand.

He served in this role for three years, losing the Speakership and his seat when Labour lost the 1990 election. In the 1990 New Year Honours, Burke was appointed a Knight Bachelor, and the same year he was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal. He did not contest West Coast in the 1993 election; Damien O'Connor succeeded him as Labour's candidate.

Local government career
After leaving Parliament, Burke returned to Canterbury. He contested and was elected to the Canterbury Regional Council (Environment Canterbury) in 1998, beginning what would be 12 years of service. He first became chairman in 2004 and was reelected to the chair after the 2007 local elections. On 24 September 2009, Burke lost a motion of no confidence and was replaced as chairman by former National MP Alec Neill. The council was removed in 2010 and replaced by Government-appointed commissioners. The reason cited for the sacking was due to poor direction, "woeful" performance and governance and an overall collapse of confidence in the organisation.

In the 2010 local elections, Burke stood for Christchurch City Council in the Spreydon-Heathcote ward but was beaten by the two incumbents (Sue Wells and Barry Corbett).

Personal life
Burke had two sons with his first wife Jenny. He remarried with journalist Helen Paske in October 1984, with whom he had a third son in 1985. Paske died in 1989.

At one time Burke was patron of Cholmondeley Children's Home in Governors Bay. In March 2012 he joined the board of the Draco Foundation (NZ) Charitable Trust, an organisation whose purpose is the protection and promotion of democracy and natural justice in New Zealand. The trust was denied charitable status by the Charities Commission and on appeal by the High Court of New Zealand the Draco organisation was found to have no public benefit and was set up for political purposes.

In January 2016, aged 73, Burke was convicted of drink driving having 517 μg of alcohol per litre of breath. He was fined $400 and disqualified from driving for six months.