John Gerald O’Brien, known as Gerald O'Brien, was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party.
Biography
Early life
O'Brien was born in Wellington in 1924. He joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force in 1942 when he was 17 and trained as a radar operator in Harewood and Wigram. He did not see overseas' service as the Americans "had enough manpower in area". He owned and operated his own business Enzart Import Ltd. which exported locally manufactured products overseas. He was also a member of the Brooklyn Progressive Association and Brooklyn Community Association.
Political career
He joined the Labour Party and in 1946 he became the electorate secretary, the seat represented by Prime MinisterPeter Fraser, and later became chairman. In 1963 he became the secretary of the Wellington Labour Representation Committee. In 1950 he suggested to Frank Kitts that he should stand on behalf of Labour for the mayor and council; Kitts was the highest-polling councillor, although he did not win the mayoralty until 1956. O'Brien stood as a Labour candidate for the council himself in both 1959 and 1962 but was unsuccessful. In 1962 and again in 1965 he stood unsuccessfully for the Wellington Harbour Board on the Labour Party ticket. In 1965 he was elected as a member of the Wellington City Council and re-elected in 1968. On the council he was deputy chair of the city's works department. During this period O'Brien was approached to stand for Labour in the 1967 Petone by-election. He declined the invitation however, citing the demands of running his business would be incompatible with a parliamentary candidature at that time. He represented the Island Bay electorate from to 1978. Following his election to Parliament O'Brien did not stand for re-election to the city council and his brother Brian replaced him on the Labour ticket. Brian O'Brien was elected in 1971 and served as a councillor until 1980 when he retired. O'Brien was particularly opposed to the Vietnam war and was honoured by the Vietnamese in appreciation. He went as far as to use his importing business to bring goods from Vietnam into New Zealand, directly defying the policy of the Holyoake government. In 1974 O'Brien was elected as Vice-President of the Labour Party. As vice-president was on the panel to choose the successor to Norman Kirk in the Sydenham electorate. Initially the three electorate representatives wanted John Kirk and the three head office nominees wanted the party secretaryJohn Wybrow. O'Brien switched his vote to John Kirk, who got the nod. He was also on the committee that chose David Lange at the 1977 Mangere by-election. He was charged over an incident in 1976 in Christchurch, where he allegedly asked two boys back to his motel room for a drink. The charges were thrown out, and O'Brien maintained that it was nothing but an attempt by political enemies to "get rid of me". He also stated that he got more sympathy from members of the National Party than from his own party. He was subsequently deselected by Labour for the Island Bay electorate. In 1978, he was defeated as an Independent Labour candidate. He ran against the official Labour candidate, Frank O'Flynn, and received some 3,700 votes at O'Flynn's expense, almost costing O'Flynn what had always been a Labour bastion. In the 1981 election, the Social Credit Party invited him to stand for his old Island Bay electorate, but he declined.
Later life
O'Brien died in Wellington on 13 December 2017. He was survived by his wife of 61 years.
