Judy Turner

President

UnitedFuture Party President Judy Turner was a Member of Parliament from 2002 until 2008, has been UnitedFuture's deputy leader since 2005 and was the Party Whip in 2007/08.

As an MP her major portfolios include Social Services, Education, Health & Disabilities. Judy also sat on the Social Services select committee.

Judy lives in Ohope Beach near Whakatäne. She is married to Graham and they have three adult children.

Prior to becoming an MP Judy taught as a specialist Arts teacher at Whakatäne Intermediate, and also as a new entrants teacher at a bi-lingual primary school at Kutarere School and has always spent a considerable amount of time doing work in the community. For the last 26 years she has also hosted a weekly radio programme on a local Bay of Plenty station.

Judy's interest in politics stem from a real concern for helping parents and strengthening the family context in which New Zealanders live. She believes that as a nation we are the poorer for having successive government policies that are short-term, three-year election driven rather than policies that are the result of long-term planning for our nation.

Judy has a particular interest helping improve areas such as Child, Youth and Family (CYF), a better Family Court system, support for those with disabilities, supporting community organisations and NGOs like Plunket, and has consistently pushed for more help and recognition for issues where males are disadvantaged, like education and health.

Working on the development stages of the Families Commission, proposing the 'dual-intake' model that has been adopted by CYF, as well as suggesting and working on an independent complaints authority for CYF, are among the highlights for Judy's parliamentary career.

Her interests reflect her grass-roots, community based interests and experience. Judy enjoys reading, theatre, music, socialising and public speaking.