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Not a bad woman but its probably time to go.
{{Infobox_Officeholder
|name=The Rt. Hon. Helen Clark
|image=Helen Clark 2.jpg
|caption=The Rt. Hon. Helen Clark in 2004
|order=37th ]
|term_start=] ]
|term_end=
|predecessor=]
|successor=
|deputy=] (1999 - 2002)<br>] (2002 - Present)
|order2=27th ]
|term_start2=] ]
|term_end2=] ]
|predecessor2=]
|successor2=Jenny Shipley
|order3=11th ]
|term_start3=] ]
|term_end3=] ]
|primeminister3=](1989 - 1990)<br>] (1990)
|predecessor3=Geoffrey Palmer
|successor3=]
|birth_date={{euro birth date and age|1950|2|26}}
|religion=]
|birth_place=], {{NZL}}
|spouse=] (Married 1981)
|profession=Lecturer
|party=]
|constituency=], since 1981
}}
{{otherpeople|Helen Clark}}

'''Helen Elizabeth Clark'''<!-- SSI<ref>Star of the Solomon Islands, awarded in 2005. See ].</ref>--> (born ], ]) became ] in December 1999 and entered her third successive term in that office in 2005. ], she is ranked by '']'' magazine as the 20th most powerful woman in the world.<ref name=Forbes>{{cite web|url=http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/11/06women_The-100-Most-Powerful-Women_Rank.html|title=The 100 Most Powerful Women|accessdate=2006-11-11}}</ref>

== Early life==
]]]

Clark grew up as the eldest of four daughters of a ] farming family. Her mother, Margaret, worked as a primary-school teacher and her father, George, was a farmer who supported the ] at the 1981 election. Clark studied at Te Pahu Primary School, at ] in ] and at the ], where she majored in politics and graduated with a MA (Honours) in 1974. Her thesis research focused on rural political behaviour and representation.<ref name=thesis>{{cite web|url=http://www.executive.govt.nz/minister/clark/|title="Helen Clark"|accessdate=2006-06-30}}</ref>

Helen Clark worked as a junior lecturer in Political Studies at the University of Auckland from 1973 to 1975, studied abroad on a University Grants Committee post-graduate scholarship in 1976, and then lectured in political studies at Auckland while undertaking her ] (which she never completed) from 1977 until her ].

She married ] ], her partner of five years at that time, shortly before that election (under pressure from some members of the ] to ] despite her own feelings about marriage - her biography reports that she cried throughout the ceremony, although she attributes that to a headache).<ref name="marriage">{{cite book|last=Edwards|first=Brian|year=2001|title=Helen, Portrait of a Prime Minister|id=ISBN 0-908988-20-6|chapter=Campaign '81|pages=144-150}}</ref> Dr Davis ] works as a professor in medical sociology and heads the Sociology Department at the ].

As a teenager Clark was politically active, and protested against the ] and campaigned against foreign military bases in New Zealand. She has declared herself<ref></ref> ].

{{Rquote|left|"Our prime minister has been rather unique in being a great lover of the out of doors and she's always off climbing something, doing something exciting and I think that New Zealanders admire that. That is sort of the way of life that they have come to accept in our little old island in the south seas. But Helen as been particularly strong in this respect. So long may she reign." - Sir ]<ref>http://www.stuff.co.nz/3935328a11.html</ref>}}

== Involvement in the Labour Party ==
Clark has worked actively in the ] for most of her life. She served as a member of the party's New Zealand executive from 1978 until September 1988 and again from April 1989. She was chair of the University of Auckland Princes Street branch of the Party during her studies, she held the positions of president of the Labour Youth Council, executive member of the Party's Auckland Regional Council, secretary of the Labour Women's Council and member of the Policy Council.

She represented the New Zealand Labour Party at the congresses of the ] and of the Socialist International Women in 1976, 1978, 1983 and 1986, at an Asia-Pacific Socialist Organisation Conference held in Sydney in 1981, and at the Socialist International Party Leaders' Meeting in Sydney in 1991.

== Member of Parliament==
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Helen Clark first gained election to the ] in the ] as one of four women who entered Parliament on that occasion. In winning the Mount Albert electorate in ], she became only the second woman elected to represent an Auckland electorate, and the seventeenth woman elected to the New Zealand Parliament. At the ] Clark won 66% of the electorate votes, or 20,918 votes with a 14,749 majority.<ref>Elections NZ 2005: Official Count Results - Mt Albert </ref>

During her first term (1981 - 1984), she became a member of the Statutes Revision Committee. In her second term (1984 - 1987), she chaired the ] on Foreign Affairs and the Select Committee on Disarmament and Arms Control, both of which combined with the Defence Select Committee in 1985 to form a single committee.

===Cabinet Minister===
In 1987, Clark became a Cabinet Minister in the ], led by ] (1984 - 1989), ] (1989 - 1990) and ] (1990), first as Minister of Housing and as Minister of Conservation, then as Minister of Health and later as ].

Clark served as Minister of Conservation from August 1987 until January 1989 and as Minister of Housing from August 1987 until August 1989. She became Minister of Health in January 1989 and Minister of Labour and Deputy Prime Minister in August 1989. She chaired the Cabinet Social Equity Committee and became a member of the Cabinet Policy Committee, of the Cabinet Committee on Chief Executives, of the Cabinet Economic Development and Employment Committee, of the Cabinet Expenditure Review Committee, of the Cabinet State Agencies Committee, of the Cabinet Honours Appointments and Travel Committee and of the Cabinet Domestic and External Security Committee.

===Leader of the Opposition===
From October 1990 until December 1993, Clark held the posts of Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Opposition spokesperson for Health and Labour and member of the Social Services Select Committee and of the Labour Select Committee. Clark challenged ] for the leadership of the Labour Party and won, becoming ] on ] ]. She led the Opposition during the ]s of ] (1990 - 1997) and ] (1997 - 1999).

== Prime Minister==
{{infobox polstyles|
image=]|
name=Helen Clark,<br>New Zealand Prime Minister|
prestyle=] (Rt. Hon.)|
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}}
{{mainarticle|Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand}}
] (centre), with former Governor-General Dame ] (left) and Prime Minister Helen Clark (right), 3 March 2005, on the occasion of Wilson's confirmation in office as Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament.]]

When the ] came into office as part of a coalition following the ], Clark became the second female Prime Minister of New Zealand and the first to have won office at an election. (The previous Prime Minister, ] took office as the result of a mid-term party leadership challenge.) During her term in office, a number of prominent offices have been held by females - such as the ], ], ] and ].

Clark has held the positions of Prime Minister and of Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage from 1999 until the present. She also has ministerial responsibility for the ] and for Ministerial Services. Her particular areas of interest include social policy and international affairs.

As Leader of the Labour Party, Clark negotiated the formation of successive minority coalition governments. The first such coalition (1999 - 2002) linked the Labour Party with the ] party (1999). The coalition with the Alliance Party collapsed in 2002, with the ultimate result that Clark called an early election and then went into coalition with ]'s ], a spin-off of the Alliance Party (2002, with parliamentary supply and confidence coming from ] and a "good-faith" agreement with the ]). In 2005, following the election of that year, the Labour Party and the Progressive Party renewed their coalition, gaining supply-and-confidence support from both ] and United Future in exchange for giving the leaders of those parties ministerial positions outside Cabinet.

{{Rquote|left| "I think it's inevitable that New Zealand will become a republic and that would reflect the reality that New Zealand is a totally sovereign-independent 21st century nation 12,000 miles from the United Kingdom"| Prime Minister Helen Clark|<ref name="clarkrepublic">] 23 February 2002</ref>}}

Clark supports ]. Support for a republic also exists elsewhere within the Labour Party. Clark's term in office has seen a number of alleged moves towards a republic, such as the abolition of appeals to the ] and the setting up of the ], the abolition of titular honours in Knighthoods and Damehoods, and the abolition of the title "Queen's Counsel" (replaced by "Senior Counsel"). Some critics of Clark's government have derided her support for a republic, arguing that the Prime Minister has no mandate for such moves,<ref name="mlqcquote">] 18 March 2006</ref> which people who see such things see as "republicanism by stealth". However, Clark is not the only Prime Minister of New Zealand to discuss the issue favourably in public; her predecessor, National Prime Minister ] also indicated his support for a republic in 1994, during his tenure as Prime Minister.

On 10 January 2007, Clark passed Sir ] to become New Zealand's seventh longest serving Prime Minister. On 24 July 2008 she will pass Sir ] to be sixth longest-serving Prime Minister.<ref name="jamesarticle">{{cite web|url=http://www.colinjames.co.nz/herald/Herald_2007/Herald_column_07Jan09.htm | title= Colin James: Clark heading for fifth place but is that her limit? | accessdate=2007-01-10}}</ref> Should Clark's government be re-elected at the ] Clark could serve until November 2011, passing Sir ] to become New Zealand's third-longest serving Prime Minister. Clark would need to stay in office until ], ] (slightly over thirteen years) to be the longest-serving Prime Minister in New Zealand's history. (See ].)

== Achievements ==
], ] 2006]]
=== Social policy===
Clark's government has brought in significant changes to the welfare system, such as ]s in the '']'' package. Her government has also changed ] and raised the ] six times in as many years. Changes have also occurred in tertiary-education financing, with the abolition of interest on student-loans — firstly for those currently studying, then extended to all borrowers living in New Zealand. Other changes introduced during Clark's term in office include legal provision for ], the introduction of 14 weeks' paid parental leave, and the Property (Relationships) Act, which treats property division after the breakup of ''de facto'' relationships the same as after the breakup of legal marriages.<ref name="achievements">{{cite web|url=http://www.labour.org.nz/achievements/index.html | title= Labour Party of New Zealand -Achievements | accessdate=2006-05-11}}</ref> Some of these measures, though initiated by other members of parliament or political parties, nevertheless gained Administration support.

===Economic growth===
Some commentators have praised Helen Clark (along with the Minister of Finance ]) for overseeing a period of sustained and stable economic growth, with an increase in employment that has seen a gradual lowering of the unemployment rate to 3.6%. Although her critics acknowledge these factors, many such critics maintain that the growth has come about as the result of wider economic factors, and that increases in the sickness benefit have caused (at least in part) the decrease in unemployment. On the other hand, total beneficiary numbers (a measurement that includes both unemployment- and sickness- beneficiaries) have shrunk under Helen Clark's ]. Other economic concerns for Clark's government include a persistently high ] and an unofficial poverty-rate of about twenty percent.

===Stable government===
Even though some commentators saw stable government within the ] ] as unlikely, Clark's supporters credit her with maintaining two terms of stable MMP government, as well as being able to form the current government given the close ]. In 2005, ] ranked Clark as number 24 of "The 100 Most Powerful Women" in the world,<ref name="100 women">{{cite web|url=http://www.forbes.com/lists/2005/11/EXX3.html | title= Helen Clark, The Most Powerful Women | accessdate=2006-05-11}}</ref> and then at number 20 in 2006.
Clark has actively promoted New Zealand arts, and this has partially been responsible for the growth in New Zealand music being played on radio.

===Crime rate===
Police statistics report a drop in the rate of recorded offences by population over the period of Clark's leadership, which continued the trend shown in years prior to her leadership.<ref name="police">{{cite web | url=http://www.police.govt.nz/service/statistics/2005/calendar/ | title= Crime Statistics for calendar year ending 31 December 2005| accessdate=2006-11-25}}</ref> This corresponds with a ], which reported very little change in the number of victims of crime between 1995 and 2000, despite a slight increase in population.<ref name="victimisation">{{cite web|url=http://www.justice.govt.nz/pubs/reports/2003/victims-survey/summary.html|title=New Zealand National Survey of Crime Victims 2001 - Summary|accessdate=2006-11-25}}</ref> Crime figures for 2005/2006 showed an increase in a recorded crime over the previous financial year, but rates remain lower than in 1999.<ref name="police2">{{cite web|url=http://www.police.govt.nz/service/statistics/2006/fiscal/ | title= Crime Statistics for fiscal year ending 30 June 2006 |accessdate=2006-10-02}}</ref>

===Foreign policy===
{{main|Foreign relations of New Zealand}}
] at the ].]]
New Zealand has, during Clark's terms of office, pursued what she and her supporters call an "independent" foreign policy. New Zealand retains a ] status, a stance also taken by the opposition National party, (possibly at the cost of a ] agreement with the USA), and refused to participate in the ] without ].

In March 2003, regarding the U.S. led coalition actions in the ], Clark told the newspaper '']'' that, "I don't think that ] under a ] presidency would have had this consequence for ]." She later sent a letter to Washington apologising for any offence that her comment may have caused.<ref name="Iraq apology">{{cite web|url=http://uncorrectedtranscripts.clerk.govt.nz/Documents/20030409.htm | title= Questions for Oral Answer, Wednesday, 9 April 2003 | accessdate=2006-05-11}}</ref>

Helen Clark has always enjoyed very good relations with ]. In a report in the "People's Daily", Chinese President ] indeed referred to her as an "old friend". He hoped to "establish bilateral long-term and stable overall cooperative relations with a healthy development geared to the 21st century", and "broad prospects for bilateral economic cooperation". Clark had strongly supported China's entry into the ].<ref name="Jiang Zemin">{{cite web|url=http://english.people.com.cn/200104/21/eng20010421_68231.html | title= President Jiang Meets New Zealand PM | accessdate=2006-05-11}}</ref>

==Controversies==
<!---There should not be a picture of Prebble, or any other critics here--->
In 2000, Labour MP ] investigated the background of one of Clark's Cabinet colleagues, Māori Affairs Minister ]. During the investigation, Clark referred to ] as a murderer. However, Yelash had been convicted of manslaughter. Yelash sued Clark for defamation, resulting in an out-of-court settlement.

Clark signed a painting for a charity auction that someone else had painted. A political controversy arose about it, and after it emerged that she had not painted it, the matter was referred by Opposition politicians to the Police. The Police found evidence for a '']'' case of forgery, but decided that it was not in the public interest to prosecute.<ref name="Painting">{{cite web|url=http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rn/2002-03/03rn09.htm| title= Research Note no.9 2002-03| accessdate=2006-05-11}}</ref> A staff member bought the painting back and destroyed it.

In 2000, the then Police Commissioner, Peter Doone, resigned after the ] alleged he had prevented the ] of his partner Robyn, who was driving the car they were in, by telling the officer "that won't be necessary". Both Doone and the officer involved denied this happened. Doone sued the Sunday Star-Times for ] in 2005 but the paper revealed they had checked the story with Clark. She confirmed that this was the case, but denied that she was trying to get Doone to resign and defended being the source as "by definition I cannot leak". Helen Clark also responded by saying that ] friends were funding Mr Doone's defamation suit.<ref name="Peter Doone">{{cite web|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=289&ObjectID=10124904 | title= PM confirmed story, says editor| accessdate=2006-05-11}} </ref> Opinion on the significance of this was varied.<ref name="Peter Doone opinion">{{cite web|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10125421 | title= The PM'S slow leak| accessdate=2006-05-11}} </ref>

In 2005, a motorcade involving Police, Diplomatic Protection Squad, and Ministerial Services staff reached speeds of up to 172 km/h when taking Clark and Cabinet Minister ] from ] to ] so she could attend a ] match in ]. The drivers involved were subsequently convicted on driving offences, but these convictions were quashed on appeal in December 2005 and August 2006.<ref name="Quashed convictions">{{cite web|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10399036| title= Motorcade police officers' convictions quashed| accessdate=2006-08-31}}</ref> Clark said that she was busy working in the back seat and had no influence or role in the decision to speed and did not realise the speed of the vehicle.<ref name="Motorcade">{{cite web|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10339446| title= PM 'enjoyed' convoy ride| accessdate=2006-05-11}}</ref>

Clark was criticised for some of Labour's election campaign spending during the ]. The Labour Party, like all parties represented in Parliament, was entitled to spend some public money, but the Auditor-General found Labour, and all but one other party, had spent more than they were entitled to. In Labour's case, $768,000 was the sum nominated as not properly authorised. Despite disagreeing with the Auditor-General's conclusion, Clark announced Labour would refund the public purse. See ].

==Honours==
Helen Clark was awarded the Star of the Solomon Islands in 2005 in recognition of New Zealand's role in restoring law and order in the Solomon Islands.<ref>Website of the NZ government: . Retrieved on 2006-09-24</ref> This award allows her to use the post nominal letters SSI.<ref>. Retrieved on 2006-09-24</ref>

==Biography==
* ]: ''Helen: Portrait of A Prime Minister'': Auckland: Exisle Publishing: 2001: ISBN 0-908988-20-6

==References==
<div class="references-small">
<references/>
</div>

==See also==
* ]
* ]

==External links==
{{Commons|Helen Clark}}
*
*
* {{imdb|id=0960721|name=Helen Clark}}

==Political offices==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Helen}}

{{Persondata
|NAME=Clark, Helen Elizabeth
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
|SHORT DESCRIPTION=], politician, academic
|DATE OF BIRTH=], ]
|PLACE OF BIRTH=], ]
|DATE OF DEATH=
|PLACE OF DEATH=
}}

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Revision as of 06:28, 18 May 2007

Not a bad woman but its probably time to go.