About Geoffrey Palmer (New Zealand politician)
Sir Geoffrey Winston Russell Palmer (born 21 April 1942) is a New Zealand lawyer, political scientist and former politician, who served as the 33rd prime minister of New Zealand for a little over a year from August 1989 until September 1990. A member of Parliament from 1979 to 1990, he spent six years as a senior member of the Fourth Labour Government. The second New Zealand prime minister from Nelson, Palmer read political science and law at Victoria University of Wellington Te Herenga Waka. Completing a doctorate at the University of Chicago Law School, he then taught law as a full professor at the University of Iowa College of Law from age 27. Upon returning to New Zealand, Palmer taught law in Wellington and became active in the Labour Party from 1975. He won election to the New Zealand House of Representatives in the 1979 by-election for Christchurch Central. As minister of justice from 1984 to 1989, Palmer was responsible for considerable reforms of the country's legal and constitutional framework, such as the creation of the Constitution Act 1986, New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, Imperial Laws Application Act 1988, and the State Sector Act 1988. Palmer led a major role in organising former government services into state-owned enterprises (SOEs). For this reason he was associated with the transformative economic reforms known as Rogernomics, despite the fact he lacked a particular focus on economics and was not closely associated with the Backbone Club, the Labour ginger group behind them. However, his association with Roger Douglas encouraged him to keep his environment portfolio upon becoming Prime Minister, as his policies were popular with Labour's diminished left-wing base. An early advocate for MMP, Palmer gave up attempts at electoral reform and resigned in 1990 to mitigate Labour's anticipated defeat at that year's election. Palmer is best remembered for his efforts towards constitutional reform as a minister and a scholar rather than for his brief premiership. He served as president of the New Zealand Law Commission from 2005 to 2010. In 2010 he was chosen to lead the UN Inquiry on the fatal Israeli raid on the Mavi Marmara. An advocate for New Zealand adopting a codified constitution, he authored A Constitution for Aotearoa New Zealand in September 2016 with academic Andrew Butler. He remains at Victoria University of Wellington's Faculty of Law as an honorary fellow, and teaches and writes about the intersection public law and constitutional values. In 2025, he made notable submissions against the controversial Treaty Principles Bill, a proposed reinterpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi that had inspired major protests. In a three-way contest, in which all candidates were from Christchurch to reflect geographical proportionality, Palmer trailed on the first ballot to Papanui MP Mike Moore. When, in 1984, the Labour Party won the general elections, Palmer became Deputy Prime Minister of the Fourth Labour Government.
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