Neil Morrison

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Neil Morrison
2nd Leader of the Democratic Party
In office
23 August 1986 – 22 August 1988
DeputyAlasdair Thompson
Preceded byBruce Beetham
Succeeded byGary Knapp
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Pakuranga
In office
14 July 1984 – 15 August 1987
Preceded byPat Hunt
Succeeded byMaurice Williamson
Personal details
Born(1938-01-11)11 January 1938
Tuakau, New Zealand
Died19 September 2007(2007-09-19) (aged 69)
Auckland, New Zealand
Political partySocial Credit
Spouse
Gabrielle Courtis
​
(m. 1959)​
Children2
OccupationMechanic

Neil Joseph Morrison (11 January 1938 – 19 September 2007) was a New Zealand politician of the Social Credit Party.

Early life and career[edit]

Morrison was born in 1938 at Tuakau.[1] He was a fourth-generation New Zealander and grew up in a farming family. He attended Pukekohe High School and did an apprenticeship in engineering. He subsequently qualified as an A-grade diesel engineer. In 1959 he married his wife Gabrielle Anne Courtis, a doctor's daughter, and had two children. He owned his own garage and worked as a mechanical supervisor at the Tasman Pulp and Paper mill. He later relocated to Auckland where his family took over ownership of two superettes. Morrison was later self-employed in the transport and manufacturing industries before becoming a director of a property development company in Ohakune.[2]

Political career[edit]

New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate Party
1984–1985 41st Pakuranga Social Credit
1985–1987 Changed allegiance to: Democrats

Morrison joined the Social Credit Party in the mid-1960s and was its candidate for the seat of Eden in 1972. He then contested the Pakuranga seat at the next three elections before winning it in 1984 election by 172 votes, from two-term MP Pat Hunt (his election night majority was 419).[3] During the 1984 election campaign, Hunt coined the unflattering term "Skoda brigade and Crimplene suit contingent" for Social Credit supporters after losing to Morrison.[4] Gary Knapp retained East Coast Bays, but the party leader Bruce Beetham lost his Rangitikei seat. Soon after being elected he began advocating to change the name of the Social Credit Party to the New Zealand Democratic Party in an effort to rejuvenate following a huge drop in support between the 1981 and 1984 elections.[5]

In 1985 Knapp resigned as deputy leader of the party and Morrison stood to replace him. He was elected over Lower Hutt City Councillor Errol Baird and Thames Borough Councillor Alasdair Thompson for the position.[6] In 1986 Beetham lost the leadership of the party to Morrison. On the night he was elected, the new leader implied in a TV interview that the Social Credit national dividend policy was out of date and would be dropped. This was in response to a question from the interviewer, which he might not have listened to carefully. The next day when Beetham said he was considering resigning because the new leadership was rejecting basic Social Credit philosophy, Morrison publicly retracted his comment and affirmed that the national dividend would remain an important part of Social Credit policy.

In the 1987 election Morrison was defeated by National Party candidate Maurice Williamson, and Knapp was defeated by another National candidate. The next year Morrison resigned as leader and Knapp was elected at the party's 1988 conference as leader.[7] He also ruled out standing in the seat again at the 1990 election.[8]

Morrison later left the Democratic Party in 1989, citing internal disputes within the party between his predecessor and successor as leader as the reason for doing so.[9] Soon after he became a donor to the National Party.[10] By the early 1990s he had joined ACT New Zealand where he found himself together with Hunt who had joined the party too. When appearing together at the inaugural ACT conference in 1994 Morrison acknowledged that many Social Creditors liked crimplene and one of his branch members drove a Skoda.[4]

He was elected as a Manukau City Councillor in 1989. He was the chair of the council's economic development and corporate business committees. Later he focused on disaster planning and was the chair of the Auckland Regional Civil Defence Emergency management group.[1] He was about to run for re-election for a seventh term, when he died from a stroke in 2007.[11] He was survived by his wife and two children.[1]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "One-time leader of Social Credit Party". Stuff. 31 January 2009. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
  2. ^ "Mr Morrison in party for 20 years". The Press. 25 August 1986. p. 8.
  3. ^ "Official Election Results". The New Zealand Herald. 2 August 1984. p. 2.
  4. ^ a b Rapson, Bevan (7 November 1994). "Old rivals agree days of Skoda are over". The New Zealand Herald. p. 2.
  5. ^ "Party Changes Sought By Socred MPs". The New Zealand Herald. 4 August 1984. p. 3.
  6. ^ "Mr Morrison deputy leader of Democrats". The Press. 21 April 1986. p. 1.
  7. ^ Murphy, Tim (22 August 1988). "Democrats Stung From Their Long Slumber". The New Zealand Herald. p. 5.
  8. ^ "Morrison not to contest seat". The Press. 5 August 1988. p. 5.
  9. ^ "Morrison quits over 'bickering'". The Press. 7 March 1989. p. 6.
  10. ^ "Democrat give; to National politician". The Press. 18 April 1989. p. 6.
  11. ^ "Obituary: Neil Morrison". The New Zealand Herald. 22 September 2007. Retrieved 27 February 2024.

References[edit]

  • Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.
New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Pakuranga
1984–1987 		Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by Leader of the Democratic Party
1986–1988 		Succeeded by
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