Bob Harvey (mayor)
Encyclopedia
Robert "Bob" Harvey QSO
(born 24 November 1942) is the mayor of Waitakere City
, one of the four cities which make up the Auckland
urban area in New Zealand. He received the New Zealand Medal for Community Service in 1990 and was awarded honorary citizenship of Waitakere Sister City Ningbo
, People's Republic of China in 2005.
between 1969 and 1984. He is credited by many for the physical and political transformation of former New Zealand prime ministers Norman Kirk
and David Lange
. He also worked as election strategist to Auckland mayors Sir Dove-Myer Robinson
, Dame Catherine Tizard
, and Colin Kay
. Harvey was also involved in the environmental campaign objecting to the building of a hydro-electric power station at Lake Manapouri
in the from 1968 to 1972, the Save Manapouri Campaign
. He also produced The Adventure World of Sir Edmund Hilary, Keep on the Sunny Side, Seasons in Nasby with Warwick Brock and Start Again with Roger Donaldson
for television. His agency won many international awards for creativity including the first Cannes television award for a New Zealand television commercial (directed by Roger Donaldson). His advertising career spanned some of the most creative years in New Zealand advertising and Harvey attracted and worked with some leading edge talent including Dick Frizzel, John Hanlon, Warwick Brock, Grant Marshall, and Rodney Chartes (DOP 24). Harvey was an inaugural inductee of the New Zealand Advertising Hall of Fame in 2007.
Prior to becoming mayor, Harvey served as Deputy Chairman of the New Zealand Film Commission
from 1986 to 1992. From 1988 to 1990 he was chairman of the 1990 Commonwealth Games
Arts Festival. A life member of the New Zealand Labour Party, Harvey served as President from 1999 to 2000, stepping in after the death of Michael Hirschfeld
. While president, Labour apologised to a West Auckland family after Harvey lowered his shorts and yelled an obscenity during an argument in public with a long-time adversary in 1999.
Harvey is currently the chair of the Board of Directors for Waterfront Auckland. Harvey was chairman of the Health Sponsorship Council in 1993–94, and was a board member of the Tourist Hotel Corporation from 1995 to 1998. He is currently a board member of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
, a position he has held since 2006, and the Aotea Board of Governance (since 1992). He is a member of the USA Eisenhower Fellowship Nomination Committee and President of the New Zealand Peace Foundation. Harvey is a published author and historian, with several books to his name, starting with Hey Dad in 1983. He was also a regular contributor to Metro magazine from 1980 to 1992.
on 1 November 2010, led by Len Brown
. Harvey served six consecutive terms with Waitakere City Council which was the first time this feat has been achieved in over a century. He was elected on an environmental platform to manage growth in the Waitakere Ranges and to make Waitakere City the first eco city in New Zealand. In 1998 Harvey was awarded Prix Unesco Villes pour la piax in Stockholm for services to peace. Harvey introduced the First Call for Children as the other main platform for the city's vision. Waitakere has gained international recognition and acclaim for its environmental stance and initiatives. Under Harvey's leadership the city has built four major libraries, the Waitakere Trusts Stadium and the environmentally friendly headquarters of the city, Waitakere Central, acclaimed for its sustainability features such as the green roof and recycling systems. Waitakere's Project Twin Streams was awarded the LivCom international award for environmental strategy in 2006. The city also won a LivCom award for being the most "livable" city in the world. LivCom is a United Nations backed initiative. Harvey won the personal lifetime achievement LivCom award in 2008. In 2009 Harvey was invited by the global organisation, Mayors for Peace, to be a member of its executive committee. He is one of only a few mayors around the globe to be honoured as a global Mayor for Peace and the Environment.
Harvey has always been dedicated to peace and non-violence and in 1997 led a local government delegation to Tahiti against French nuclear testing in the Pacific. In 1998 he joined the working party of the Mayor's Ascia Pacific Environment Summit and the following year was an executive member of that summit. Havey was a keynote speaker at Pathways to Growth at the invitation of British Prime Minister John Major in Manchester in 1993, at ICLEI(Local Governments for Sustainability) HABITAT 11 conference in Istanbal in 1995, at the Silicon Valley Environmental Conference in 2000 and at the American Water Works Association Conference in Hawaii in 2001. In 2002 Harvey was the Local Government representative at the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development (Rio+10) in Johannesburg. In 2007 he became a member of the Australasian Mayors for Climate Change and in 2008 was the keynote speaker at the Eco City Summit in Washington.
in 1990, and a Queen's Service Order
for Services to the Community in 1991.
A keen swimmer, Harvey swam the Dardanelles in 1979 and was the first to attempt the notorious mouth of the Manukau Harbour
, the Manukau Heads in 1987. Also a keen and committed surf life-saver (and winner of a bronze medal
at the New Zealand national championships in 1972 and the 1995 world championships), Harvey, a lifelong member of the Karekare Beach Surf Lifesaving Patrol, was associated with the establishment of the Westpac Rescue Helicopter service, which was a world pioneer in civilian helicopter rescue services. He is also a life member of the New Zealand Lifesaving Association and the Auckland Lifesaving Association (Northern). Harvey was an instigator of the great walking trail of New Zealand, Te Araroa, in 1994 with journalist and keen walker Geoff Chappell. He served as chair and deputy chair. Harvey was also chair of the Park and Wilderness Trust (ARC 1986) to save Auckland's endangered Hamlin's Hill from motorway encroachment and other environmental at risks areas.
Queen's Service Order
The Queen's Service Order was established by Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, awarded by the government of New Zealand "for valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to the Crown or similar services within the public sector, whether in elected or...
(born 24 November 1942) is the mayor of Waitakere City
Waitakere
Waitakere City was the name of a city which existed from 1989 until 2010 in the Auckland region. It was New Zealand's fifth largest city, with an annual growth of about 2%...
, one of the four cities which make up the Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
urban area in New Zealand. He received the New Zealand Medal for Community Service in 1990 and was awarded honorary citizenship of Waitakere Sister City Ningbo
Ningbo
Ningbo is a seaport city of northeastern Zhejiang province, Eastern China. Holding sub-provincial administrative status, the municipality has a population of 7,605,700 inhabitants at the 2010 census whom 3,089,180 in the built up area made of 6 urban districts. It lies south of the Hangzhou Bay,...
, People's Republic of China in 2005.
Career
Harvey was a founder of one of the country's larger advertising agencies, MacHarman Ayer (formerly MacHarman Advertising), for whom he worked from 1962 to 1992. During this time he was heavily involved in election campaigns for the New Zealand Labour PartyNew Zealand Labour Party
The New Zealand Labour Party is a New Zealand political party. It describes itself as centre-left and socially progressive and has been one of the two primary parties of New Zealand politics since 1935....
between 1969 and 1984. He is credited by many for the physical and political transformation of former New Zealand prime ministers 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...
and David Lange
David Lange
David Russell Lange, ONZ, CH , served as the 32nd Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1984 to 1989. He headed New Zealand's fourth Labour Government, one of the most reforming administrations in his country's history, but one which did not always conform to traditional expectations of a...
. He also worked as election strategist to Auckland mayors Sir Dove-Myer Robinson
Dove-Myer Robinson
Sir Dove-Myer Robinson was Mayor of Auckland City from 1959 to 1965 and from 1968 to 1980, the longest tenure of any holder of the office....
, Dame Catherine Tizard
Catherine Tizard
Dame Catherine Anne Tizard, was Mayor of Auckland City and the 16th Governor-General of New Zealand, the first woman to hold either office.-Early life:...
, and Colin Kay
Colin Kay
Colin Kay CBE was a New Zealand sportsman and politician. He was the 34th Mayor of Auckland City, elected for one term serving from 1980 to 1983, and chairman of the Auckland Regional Council from 1986 to 1992...
. Harvey was also involved in the environmental campaign objecting to the building of a hydro-electric power station at Lake Manapouri
Lake Manapouri
Lake Manapouri is a lake in the South Island of New Zealand. Its name is Maori for "sorrowful heart", though this name is misapplied due to an early cartographical error...
in the from 1968 to 1972, the Save Manapouri Campaign
Save Manapouri Campaign
The Save Manapouri Campaign was an environmental campaign waged between 1959 and 1972 in New Zealand to prevent the raising of the levels of lakes Manapouri and Te Anau as part of the construction of the Manapouri Power Project....
. He also produced The Adventure World of Sir Edmund Hilary, Keep on the Sunny Side, Seasons in Nasby with Warwick Brock and Start Again with Roger Donaldson
Roger Donaldson
Roger Donaldson is an Australian-born New Zealand film producer, director and writer who has made numerous successful movies. He was a co-founder of the New Zealand Film Commission.-Life and career:...
for television. His agency won many international awards for creativity including the first Cannes television award for a New Zealand television commercial (directed by Roger Donaldson). His advertising career spanned some of the most creative years in New Zealand advertising and Harvey attracted and worked with some leading edge talent including Dick Frizzel, John Hanlon, Warwick Brock, Grant Marshall, and Rodney Chartes (DOP 24). Harvey was an inaugural inductee of the New Zealand Advertising Hall of Fame in 2007.
Prior to becoming mayor, Harvey served as Deputy Chairman of the New Zealand Film Commission
New Zealand Film Commission
The New Zealand Film Commission is a New Zealand government agency formed to assist with creating and promoting New Zealand films...
from 1986 to 1992. From 1988 to 1990 he was chairman of the 1990 Commonwealth Games
1990 Commonwealth Games
The 1990 Commonwealth Games were held in Auckland, New Zealand from 24 January-3 February 1990. It was the 14th Commonwealth Games, and part of New Zealand's 1990 sesquicentennial celebrations. Participants competed in ten sports: athletics, aquatics, badminton, boxing, cycling, gymnastics, judo,...
Arts Festival. A life member of the New Zealand Labour Party, Harvey served as President from 1999 to 2000, stepping in after the death of Michael Hirschfeld
Michael Hirschfeld
Michael Avigdor Hirschfeld was a Wellington, New Zealand multi-millionaire businessman, and was President of the New Zealand Labour Party from 1995 to 1999....
. While president, Labour apologised to a West Auckland family after Harvey lowered his shorts and yelled an obscenity during an argument in public with a long-time adversary in 1999.
Harvey is currently the chair of the Board of Directors for Waterfront Auckland. Harvey was chairman of the Health Sponsorship Council in 1993–94, and was a board member of the Tourist Hotel Corporation from 1995 to 1998. He is currently a board member of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is the national museum and art gallery of New Zealand, located in Wellington. It is branded and commonly known as Te Papa and Our Place; "Te Papa Tongarewa" is broadly translatable as "the place of treasures of this land".The museum's principles...
, a position he has held since 2006, and the Aotea Board of Governance (since 1992). He is a member of the USA Eisenhower Fellowship Nomination Committee and President of the New Zealand Peace Foundation. Harvey is a published author and historian, with several books to his name, starting with Hey Dad in 1983. He was also a regular contributor to Metro magazine from 1980 to 1992.
Mayor of Waitakere
Harvey became mayor of Waitakere City upon election in October 1992 and served until 2010 when the council reforms led to seven territorial authority councils (of which Waitakere City Council was one) being replaced by the Auckland Regional CouncilAuckland Regional Council
The Auckland Regional Council was the regional council of the Auckland Region. Its predecessor the Auckland Regional Authority was formed in 1963 and became the ARC in 1989...
on 1 November 2010, led by Len Brown
Len Brown
Len Brown is the Mayor of Auckland in New Zealand and the head of the Auckland Council. He won the 2010 Auckland mayoral election on 9 October 2010 and was sworn in as Mayor of Auckland on 1 November 2010, being the first to hold that title for the amalgamated Auckland 'Super City'...
. Harvey served six consecutive terms with Waitakere City Council which was the first time this feat has been achieved in over a century. He was elected on an environmental platform to manage growth in the Waitakere Ranges and to make Waitakere City the first eco city in New Zealand. In 1998 Harvey was awarded Prix Unesco Villes pour la piax in Stockholm for services to peace. Harvey introduced the First Call for Children as the other main platform for the city's vision. Waitakere has gained international recognition and acclaim for its environmental stance and initiatives. Under Harvey's leadership the city has built four major libraries, the Waitakere Trusts Stadium and the environmentally friendly headquarters of the city, Waitakere Central, acclaimed for its sustainability features such as the green roof and recycling systems. Waitakere's Project Twin Streams was awarded the LivCom international award for environmental strategy in 2006. The city also won a LivCom award for being the most "livable" city in the world. LivCom is a United Nations backed initiative. Harvey won the personal lifetime achievement LivCom award in 2008. In 2009 Harvey was invited by the global organisation, Mayors for Peace, to be a member of its executive committee. He is one of only a few mayors around the globe to be honoured as a global Mayor for Peace and the Environment.
Harvey has always been dedicated to peace and non-violence and in 1997 led a local government delegation to Tahiti against French nuclear testing in the Pacific. In 1998 he joined the working party of the Mayor's Ascia Pacific Environment Summit and the following year was an executive member of that summit. Havey was a keynote speaker at Pathways to Growth at the invitation of British Prime Minister John Major in Manchester in 1993, at ICLEI(Local Governments for Sustainability) HABITAT 11 conference in Istanbal in 1995, at the Silicon Valley Environmental Conference in 2000 and at the American Water Works Association Conference in Hawaii in 2001. In 2002 Harvey was the Local Government representative at the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development (Rio+10) in Johannesburg. In 2007 he became a member of the Australasian Mayors for Climate Change and in 2008 was the keynote speaker at the Eco City Summit in Washington.
Personal life
Bob Harvey and his wife Barbara, a practicing midwife, have five adult children: Celia, Tessa, Claris, Rupert and Fraser. Harvey was awarded the United Nations Mayors for Peace Award in 1998, the New Zealand Medal for Community ServiceCommunity service
Community service is donated service or activity that is performed by someone or a group of people for the benefit of the public or its institutions....
in 1990, and a Queen's Service Order
Queen's Service Order
The Queen's Service Order was established by Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, awarded by the government of New Zealand "for valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to the Crown or similar services within the public sector, whether in elected or...
for Services to the Community in 1991.
A keen swimmer, Harvey swam the Dardanelles in 1979 and was the first to attempt the notorious mouth of the Manukau Harbour
Manukau Harbour
Manukau Harbour is the second largest natural harbour in New Zealand by area. It is located to the southwest of the Auckland isthmus, and is an arm of the Tasman Sea.-Geography:...
, the Manukau Heads in 1987. Also a keen and committed surf life-saver (and winner of a bronze medal
Bronze medal
A bronze medal is a medal awarded to the third place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The practice of awarding bronze third place medals began at the 1904 Olympic Games in St...
at the New Zealand national championships in 1972 and the 1995 world championships), Harvey, a lifelong member of the Karekare Beach Surf Lifesaving Patrol, was associated with the establishment of the Westpac Rescue Helicopter service, which was a world pioneer in civilian helicopter rescue services. He is also a life member of the New Zealand Lifesaving Association and the Auckland Lifesaving Association (Northern). Harvey was an instigator of the great walking trail of New Zealand, Te Araroa, in 1994 with journalist and keen walker Geoff Chappell. He served as chair and deputy chair. Harvey was also chair of the Park and Wilderness Trust (ARC 1986) to save Auckland's endangered Hamlin's Hill from motorway encroachment and other environmental at risks areas.
External links
- Waitakere City Council Resume – Mayor Bob Harvey
- Bob Harvey interview with David Slack for the Cultural Icons project. Audio and video.