Bruce Craig Beetham (1936-1997) was an academic and politician from New Zealand, whose career spanned the 1970s and early 1980s. Jump to: navigation, search 1936 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1997 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search The 1970s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1970 and 1979. ... Jump to: navigation, search // Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 1960s and 1970s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ...

A lecturer at Hamilton's Waikato University and at the Hamilton Teacher's Training College, he was elected leader of the Social Credit Party (which he had joined in 1969) in 1972, at a time when the party was in disarray and many were questioning its chances of survival. A brilliant organizer and an electrifying speaker, Beetham succeeded in rebuilding the party, and by the late 1970s it was challenging the stranglehold on the two-party system of the long-dominant National and Labour parties. Waikato River passing through Hamilton // Introduction Hamilton is New Zealands 4th-largest metropolitan area. ... The University of Waikato is located in Hamilton and Tauranga, New Zealand, and was established in 1964. ... One of the several logos used during the history of the Social Credit Party The New Zealand Social Credit Party (sometimes called Socred) was a political party which served as the countrys third party from the 1950s through into the 1980s. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1969 was a common year starting on Wednesday For other uses, see Number 1969. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ... Jump to: navigation, search The 1970s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1970 and 1979. ... A two-party system is a type of party system where only two political parties have a realistic chance of winning an election. ... Current National Party logo The New Zealand National Party currently forms the second-largest (in terms of seats) political party in the New Zealand Parliament, and thus functions as the core of the Opposition. ... The New Zealand Labour Party is a New Zealand political party. ...

Mayor of Hamilton

In 1976, Beetham was elected Mayor of Hamilton in a byelection to replace Mike Minogue, who had resigned to take up a seat in Parliament. One of his early ideas as Mayor was to finance municipal projects with interest-free "rates vouchers", but the council, dominated by his opponents, passed a 20 percent rates increase instead. His frustrations caused by political gridlock, as well as the difficulty of simultaneously leading a national political party while serving as a Mayor (a post generally expected to be apolitical in New Zealand), were factors in his decision not to seek a second term as Mayor in 1977. Ross Jansen succeeded him. Jump to: navigation, search 1976 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... A mayor (from the Latin maīor, meaning larger,greater) is the politician who serves as chief executive official of some types of municipalities. ... Waikato River passing through Hamilton // Introduction Hamilton is New Zealands 4th-largest metropolitan area. ... A by-election or bye-election is a special election held to fill a political office when the incumbent has died or resigned. ... The New Zealand Parliament is the legislative body of the New Zealand government. ... Rates are a form of taxation system in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, such as New Zealand, historically used to fund local government. ... Gridlock is a term describing an inability to move on a transport network. ... 1977 was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1977 calendar). ...

Member of Parliament

On February 18, 1978, Beetham won election to Parliament in a byelection for the Rangitikei electorate, to fill a vacancy caused by the death of its long-time member, the Parliamentary Speaker, Sir Roy Jack. He retained the seat in the general election later that year, and the Social Credit Party polled 16 percent of the vote nationwide, its best result to date. In the 1981 election, the party polled just over 20 percent - the best showing for a third party since the 1920s, but fell short of its goal of holding the balance of power; its support was too evenly spread to translate into more than a couple of seats under the First-past-the-post electoral system in use at that time. The party, and Beetham himself, strongly promoted a form of proportional representation, but this was not adopted till many years later. February 18 is the 49th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1978 was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ... The New Zealand Parliament is the legislative body of the New Zealand government. ... The word speaker has a number of uses: In politics the Speaker is the presiding officer in many legislative bodies. ... The 1978 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to elect the 39th New Zealand Parliament. ... 1981 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The 1981 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament. ... Jump to: navigation, search Sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or primarily in North America as the Roaring Twenties . In Europe it is sometimes refered to as the Golden Twenties. ... The first-past-the-post electoral system is a voting system for single-member districts, variously called first-past-the-post (FPTP or FPP), winner-take-all, plurality voting, or relative majority. ... Jump to: navigation, search Proportional representation (PR) is any election system which ensures a proportionally representative result of a democratic election, x% of votes should be represented by x% in the democratic institutions, parliament or congress. ...

In line with his party's policies, Beetham attempted to organize a barter trade deal with Fiji. Prime Minister Robert Muldoon vetoed the deal, preferring to borrow money and pay interest to international banks. Barter is a form of trade where goods or services are exchanged for a certain amount of other goods or services, i. ... The Prime Minister of New Zealand is most senior officer in the Government of New Zealand. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Right Honourable Sir Robert David (Rob) Muldoon KCMG CH (25 September 1921–5 August 1992) served as Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1975 to 1984. ...

Political twilight

A number of factors resulted in a sharp drop in support for the Social Credit Party in the general election of 1984. One of these factors was Beetham's ill health. A major heart attack in 1983 curtailed his activities for much of that year and early 1984, and his disappearance from the public view made it possible for a new political party, the New Zealand Party (founded by millionaire businessman Bob Jones) to fill the vacuum. This party succeeded in attracting much of the protest vote that Social Credit had previously enjoyed. The 1984 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1984 is a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1983 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1984 is a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Party logo The New Zealand Party was, as its name suggests, a political party operating in New Zealand. ... A Protest vote is a vote cast in an election to demonstrate the casters unhappiness with the choice of candidates or the current political system. ...

Beetham lost his Rangitikei seat, mainly because of electoral boundary changes; suspicions have lingered since that the redistribution may have been politically motivated. (See: Gerrymander). Redrawing electoral districts in this example creates a guaranteed 3-to-1 advantage for Party 1. ...

In 1986, Beetham lost the leadership of the party to Neil Morrison. The new leader, on the night he was elected, implied in a TV interview that the Social Credit national dividend policy was out of date and would be dropped. This was in response to a question from the interviewer, which he might not have listened to carefully. The next day Mr Beetham said he was considering resigning because the new leadership was rejecting basic Social Credit philosophy. This promoted Morrison to publicly retract his comments, and affirm that of course the national dividend would be retained as an important part of Social Credit policy. Jump to: navigation, search 1986 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Beetham remained active in politics despite losing the leadership. He contested his old seat under the party's new name (New Zealand Democratic Party) in 1987; in 1990 he assumed leadership of a new party, under the old Social Credit banner; in 1992, he attempted to put together a coalition of centrist parties, the New Zealand Coalition, but was overtaken by the course of events as numerous new parties were formed around that time and crowded out the political spectrum. Current Democratic Party logo This article is about the modern party based around the social credit theory. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1987 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1990 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1992 was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ...

His last electoral campaign was in 1996 as an independent candidate for his old Rangitikei electorate. Although not elected, he received almost four thousand votes - one of the best-ever showings for an independent candidate. Jump to: navigation, search 1996 is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ...

Personal factors

Bruce Beetham was known as a liberal on human rights, a conservative on moral and social issues, and a pragmatist on economic matters. He disliked confrontation, preferring to work for consensus in decision-making. He was married twice, and had four children. He died of heart failure in 1997 at the age of 61. 1997 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• John C. Turmel, B. Eng - his somewhat rambling Social Credit page
• A History of the UBI Debate in New Zealand, by Alison Marshall, 1996