When Jonathan Hunt entertained the Press Gallery in his parliamentary Speaker’s suite, it was an unwritten rule to bring a bottle of fine wine. We would then be disappointed to be served the less-than-fine wine — the other presumably being kept for another occasion.
Almost everybody of a certain age in politics has a Jonathan Hunt story. He was one of the more colourful characters in the Labour Party whose time in Parliament spanned 38 years and who has died in Auckland, aged 85.
He used to tell new MPs that they had the freedom of travel anywhere in New Zealand to the extent that they could join the Invercargill Library if they wanted.
That was in the era before the Rodney Hide perk-busting days. Hunt himself was “busted” for having the largest taxi bill of any MP — $29,000 in a single year mainly for rides to and from Auckland airport to his home in Karekare 52km away — an unusual place to live for an MP representing an Auckland city seat.
He told the Herald’s Caroll du Chateau in 2005 that he didn’t like driving at night.
Apparently, he and driving were not particularly compatible at all. Brian Rudman, who was editing the Labour Party paper the New Zealand Statesman in the mid-1960s, remembers rattling down Dominion Rd in the back of Jonathan Hunt’s car with Norm Douglas in the back with him, and Norm Kirk in the front with Hunt – on their way to the printers.
“Jonathan had gone through three very doubtful orange lights and Norm Kirk turned around and said: ‘It’s amazing isn’t it — all these lovely lights they string up in Auckland. One of these days someone will learn how to control traffic with them.’ Jonathan packed a sad for the rest of the trip.”
Hunt has been remembered for his long service and from the beginning, he was a link to history. He was selected to contest New Lynn in 1966, replacing the retiring Rex Mason, who had been a founding member of the Labour Party in 1916 and served as Attorney-General and Justice Minister in Michael Joseph Savage’s Government.
When Hunt was first elected in 1966, he shared a bench in Parliament with Mabel Howard, who had been the first woman Cabinet minister in New Zealand in the first Labour Government.
He didn’t make it to Norm Kirk’s Cabinet in 1972, but in the Fourth Labour Government served as Minister of Broadcasting and Housing and Postmaster General. He was made a member of the Privy Council in 1989, became Speaker in 1999, and was appointed to the Order of New Zealand in 2005 (for which ordinary membership is limited to 20 living New Zealanders) before leaving Parliament after 38 years to become High Commissioner to London for three years.
He loved Parliament and knew its rules and procedures inside out and backwards.
He didn’t make his mark politically. But he was nonetheless a legendary figure simply for being Jonathan Hunt. At his best, he was the king of conviviality.
By the time he returned as New Zealand’s High Commissioner to London, he was aged 70 and had sold his Karekare home. He returned to live in his high-rise apartment on Grey’s Avenue, in inner-city Auckland, with a fine collection of art, pottery and classical music.
But his decline worried friends. He drank heavily and for some time was a frequent gambler at the Sky City Casino.
In happier times, Hunt had been an ebullient host, full of stories and pronouncements about people and was fondly called the Minister of Wine and Cheese.
Helen Clark shared one of her memories with RNZ about the times Hunt had a flat in Parliament. “He used to have people around for drinks in his office, but he never liked people staying too long at night and his party trick was to go and get his pyjamas on.”
She said Hunt had taken generations of young Labour people under his wing and encouraged them.
One of them was Clark herself and another was present Labour leader Chris Hipkins.
“Jonathan was legendary for his warmth and hospitality and had a deep love of cricket. He was always generous with his time to young people with an interest in politics and was very supportive of new MPs, even after he left Parliament,” Hipkins said.
Hunt was especially loyal to Clark. When she was polling poorly as Leader of the Opposition in 1996 she was forewarned there would be a delegation of front-benchers (Phil Goff, Koro Wetere, Jim Sutton, Annette King and Michael Cullen) calling on her to stand down.
She assembled a crew of her own to back her up when they arrived. Hunt was among those who stared them down — along with Trevor Mallard, Lianne Dalziel and Larry Sutherland.
Hunt was the MP for New Lynn for 30 years until David Cunliffe, a future leader, stood for Labour, and Hunt became a list MP for nine years.
One Labour stalwart said Hunt’s selection in the New Lynn seat at the age of 27 had been a surprise at the time.
A leading member of the waterside workers union had been favoured to inherit the safe seat from Rex Mason, who retired after 40 years. But the selection panel was so unimpressed with the unionist’s speech that they had to give it to Hunt.
At the time, Hunt was a history teacher at Kelston Boys High.
Having studied history at the University of Auckland, he had also been president of the famous Princes St branch of the Labour Party, with which other Labour luminaries such as Helen Clark, Phil Goff and Richard Prebble have been associated.
Prebble remembers Hunt as having been a “live-wire” in his younger days. He ended up flatting with Hunt in Island Bay with a group of MPs and remembers him listening to cricket test on the radio into the night.
“He would listen to the cricket and the New Zealand team would be playing someone in England and every time they took a wicket he would bang on the wall to share the knowledge with the rest of us who weren’t that keen to know.”
Prebble also said that Hunt had also campaigned for Sir Richard Hadlee to be knighted – which was announced in the 1990 Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Former Cabinet colleague and historian Michael Bassett recounts in his book, “Working with David: Inside the Lange Cabinet” (published by Hatchette), taking Hunt to lunch in 1982 to persuade him it was time for Lange to replace Bill Rowling. Hunt had always skited that he had been on the winning side of leadership issues – something that had caused derision among his colleagues and led to his nickname as a “20-stone straw in the wind.”
“We gently talked to Jonathan that day and formed the opinion that he would be aboard David’s ship when he knew it was safely over the bar and about to enter harbour,” Bassett wrote.
“In retrospect, Jonathan shared some of the characteristics of Lange: he liked to be liked, had no driving ideology and preferred to go with the crowd, wherever it was travelling.”
Hunt certainly had a large number of friends and had worked with a huge number of people in Parliament over 38 years. In his valedictory, in March 2005, Hunt named at least 130 of them.
He also spoke with pride about getting the Adult Adoption Information Bill passed in 1985, allowing birth mothers and adult adoptees to try to find each other. He had previously tried about eight or nine times and with Rob Muldoon having once told him “You’ll never get a vote while I’m Prime Minister”.
Hunt himself was not adopted but he said thousands of people from across the country had written to him to thank him.
He later told the Herald that Sir Bob Harvey, who had found his birth mother through the law, had brought him a huge bouquet of flowers to congratulate him.
“I said, ‘I’ve done that for you, now you’ve got to stand for mayor of Waitākere’.”
In his valedictory speech, he proclaimed himself an unashamed “Westie” and said one of his regrets was being unable to get a bill passed protecting the Waitākere Ranges and foothills.
Hunt’s later years were spent in a retirement home with a view of the Waitākere Ranges.
There will be a memorial service for him on March 22 at the War Memorial Hall on Dominion Rd at 2.30pm.
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