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Catherine Tizard
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Dame Catherine Anne Tizard, ONZ, GCMG, GCVO, DBE, QSO (née MacLean) (born April 4, 1931) was Mayor of Auckland and the sixteenth Governor-General of New Zealand, the first woman to hold either office.
Catherine was born to Scottish immigrants Neil and Helen Maclean, and grew up in Waharoa, near Matamata, in the Waikato region.
Dame Catherine was previously married to Deputy Prime Minister Bob Tizard and is the mother of government minister Judith Tizard.
Catherine was elected to the Auckland City Council in 1971, the Auckland Regional Authority in 1980.
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Encyclopedia
Dame Catherine Anne Tizard, ONZ, GCMG, GCVO, DBE, QSO (née MacLean) (born April 4, 1931) was Mayor of Auckland and the sixteenth Governor-General of New Zealand, the first woman to hold either office.
Early life and family
Dame Catherine was born to Scottish immigrants Neil and Helen Maclean, and grew up in Waharoa, near Matamata, in the Waikato region.
Dame Catherine was previously married to Deputy Prime Minister Bob Tizard and is the mother of government minister Judith Tizard.
Mayor of Auckland
Dame Catherine was elected to the Auckland City Council in 1971, the Auckland Regional Authority in 1980. She opposed the 1981 Springbok tour. During her term as Mayor, the Aotea Centre next to Aotea Square was developed.
Dame Catherine was elected Mayor of Auckland in 1983 before being appointed Governor-General in 1990. She was the first female to serve as Mayor of Auckland, and the third female Governor-General in the Commonwealth (after Jeanne Sauvé in Canada and Dame Minita Gordon of Belize).
From 1976 to 1985, Tizard starred on the popular TVNZ chat show Beauty and the Beast, along with Selwyn Toogood and Shona McFarlane.
Governor-General
On 13 December 1990, Tizard was appointed by Queen Elizabeth II as the first female Governor-General of New Zealand on the advice of Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer. Deputy Prime Minister Helen Clark and Labour Party President Margaret Wilson pushed for a female Governor-General, as the 100th anniversary of Women's suffrage in New Zealand would occur during the Governor-Generals' term in 1993. Tizard had been informed of her impending appointment by her former husband Bob Tizard, who was a member of Cabinet at the time. During her tenure in office, Dame Catherine ended the practice of bowing to the Governor-General, declaring, "No New Zealander should have to bow to another".
Recent changes have meant the she is granted the title The Honourable for life, as a consequence of being Governor-General.
Controversies
Prior to the second referendum on Electoral reform in New Zealand in June 1993, Dame Catherine caused outrage by making an unscripted suggestion in a lecture on the role of the Governor-General that under MMP, the Governor-General would have to use their reserve powers more often, which would create instability. Ironically, the New Zealand general election, 1993 - the last under First Past the Post - nearly resulted in a hung parliament, with the election night result having the two major parties tied. Dame Catherine asked Sir David Beattie to form a committee, along with three retired appeal court judges, to decide who to appoint as Prime Minister. However, National won one more seat and was returned to power when Labour's Sir Peter Tapsell agreed to become Speaker of the House of Representatives.
In an interview with North & South in 1996, Dame Catherine said she could not believe "...some of the idiocies of the health system", causing great consternation from the Minister of Health.
Retirement
On her retirement from office, Sir Geoffrey Palmer, who had nominated Dame Catherine for the office, stated, "She has been a powerful, yes a presidential public presence. She has been a part of New Zealand's growing up."
In 2004, Dame Catherine stated that she supported a New Zealand republic "in principle" and when she was Governor-General, had discussed the issue of republicanism with the Queen: "She is quite sanguine about these things. She has always said it is a decision for New Zealand to make, and 'whatever decision New Zealand makes, of course we would accept it'."
In December 2004, Dame Catherine became a member of the NZ Flag.com Trust, supporting a referendum on whether the New Zealand flag should be changed. Dame Catherine said, "Our present flag served a young post-colonial country well, but the time has come to consider a change which more appropriately recognises our changed identity and confidence in ourselves. Let's find out what the country thinks of the idea of a change."
In 2007, Dame Catherine supported former Mayor of Auckland, Dick Hubbard's campaign for re-election as mayor at the local body elections. On 9 October 2007 she was appointed Honorary Colonel of the 3rd Auckland (Countess of Ranfurly's Own) and Northland Regiment, a largely ceremonial role.
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