The Honourable Sir Douglas Kidd KNZM |
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25th Speaker of the House of Representatives | |
In office 1996–1999 |
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Prime Minister | Jim Bolger, Jenny Shipley |
Preceded by | Sir Peter Tapsell |
Succeeded by | Jonathan Hunt |
Constituency | Marlborough |
Personal details | |
Born |
Levin, New Zealand |
12 September 1941
Political party | National |
Sir Douglas Lorimer Kidd, KNZM (born 12 September 1941) is a former New Zealand politician. He was an MP from 1978 to 2002, representing the National Party. He served for three years as Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Kidd was born in Levin. From 1960 to 1964, he served in the New Zealand Army Territorial Force as a bombardier gunlayer. He later obtained a LLB from Victoria University of Wellington, and worked as a lawyer. He also had business interests in aquaculture, forestry, and wine making.
Kidd was first elected to Parliament in the 1978 election, becoming MP for Marlborough. In the government of Jim Bolger, Kidd held a number of minor ministerial portfolios, including Fisheries, Energy and Labour. He held his Marlborough electorate until the 1996 election, when the electorate was abolished and most of its area incorporated into the new and larger Kaikoura electorate. Kidd came first in Kaikoura in 1996 and held the electorate until the 1999 election, when he opted to become a list MP. He was succeeded in Kaikoura by Lynda Scott.
In 1983 Kidd's pro-life Status of the Unborn Child Bill (a private members bill) was drawn from the lot. The bill was prompted by Wall v Livingston [1982], which clarified that embryos and fetuses had no legal status in New Zealand and that third parties could not appeal to the courts on their behalf. The bill was supported by groups such as Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (now Voice for Life and Right to Life New Zealand) but defeated by pro-choice groups led by Marilyn Waring.