Herbert John Walker, CMG

Order of St Michael and St George

The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....

 (2 June 1919 – 4 January 2008) was a New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 politician of the National Party

New Zealand National Party

The New Zealand National Party is the largest party in the New Zealand House of Representatives and in November 2008 formed a minority government with support from three minor parties.-Policies:...

.

He represented the Christchurch

Christchurch

Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...

 electorates of St Albans

St Albans (New Zealand electorate)

St Albans was a parliamentary electorate in Christchurch, New Zealand from 1881 to 1890, then from 1946 to 1996.-Population centres:The electorate was centred on the Christchurch suburb of St Albans.-History:...

 in Parliament from 1960 to 1969, and then Papanui

Papanui (New Zealand electorate)

Papanui is a former New Zealand Parliamentary electorate.The electorate is in the northern suburbs of the city of Christchurch, South Island.-History:The electorate was created in 1969, and was replaced in 1984 by the Christchurch North electorate....

 from 1969 to 1978, when he was defeated by Mike Moore.

In 1961 he was one of ten National MPs to vote with the Opposition and remove capital punishment

Capital punishment in New Zealand

Capital punishment in New Zealand first appeared in a codified form when New Zealand became a British territory in 1840, and was first employed in 1842. It was last used in 1957, abolished for murder in 1961, and abolished altogether, including for treason, in 1989. During the period that it was in...

 for murder from the Crimes Bill that the Second National Government

Second National Government of New Zealand

The Second National Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand from 1960 to 1972. It was a conservative government which sought mainly to preserve the economic prosperity and general stability of the early 1960s...

 had introduced. In 1969-72 he was a cabinet minister in the Second Holyoake

Keith Holyoake

Sir Keith Jacka Holyoake, KG, GCMG, CH, QSO, KStJ was a New Zealand politician. The only person to have been both Prime Minister and Governor-General of New Zealand, Holyoake was National Party Prime Minister from 20 September 1957 to 12 December 1957, then again from 12 December 1960 to 7...

 Ministry: Minister for Broadcasting and Tourism, and Postmaster-General in 1972. In 1973 when the Labour government of Norman Kirk

Norman Kirk

Norman Eric Kirk was the 29th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1972 until his sudden death in 1974. He led the Parliamentary wing of the New Zealand Labour Party from 1965 to 1974. He was the fourth Labour Prime Minister of New Zealand, but the first to be born in New Zealand...

 introduced the Domestic Purposes Benefit

Domestic Purposes Benefit

The Domestic Purposes Benefit was first introduced in New Zealand in 1974. The Destitute Persons Act 1910 and the Domestic Proceedings Act 1968 created a statutory means by which a woman could seek a maintenance order against the father of her children...

 (DPB) he said that many lone (solo) mothers on the DPB were "bludgers". In 1975-78 he was Minister of Social Welfare in the Third National Government

Third National Government of New Zealand

The Third National Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand from 1975 to 1984. It was an economically and socially conservative government, which aimed to preserve the Keynesian economic system established by the First Labour government while also being socially conservative...

, and threatened to take legal action against (DPB) beneficiaries in de facto relationships.

He was born and died in Rangiora. In World War II he served in the Pacific as a NCO in the No. 9 Squadron

No. 9 Squadron RNZAF

No. 9 Squadron RNZAF was a New Zealand bomber reconnaissance squadron in the Pacific Theatre of World War II.-History:The squadron formed as No. 9 General Reconnaissance Squadron on Lockheed Hudson aircraft in New Caledonia, during July 1942, remaining on the island until March 1943, when it moved...

 of the RNZAF from 1942 to 1945, and then qualified as an accountant. He was awarded a C.M.G. in 1983. Bert Walker was a President of Victoria League Canterbury.