John Banks (New Zealand Politician)
John Archibald Banks, CNZM QSO (born 2 December 1946) is a New Zealand politician. He served as Mayor of Auckland City for two terms, from 2001 to 2004, and from 2007 to 2010. He was a member of Parliament for the National Party from 1981 to 1999 and was a Cabinet Minister from 1990 to 1996.
In 2010, Banks lost the mayoralty race for the newly formed Auckland Council to Len Brown, the serving mayor of Manukau City.
In May 2011, he joined ACT New Zealand and was elected as the sole MP for the party in the Epsom electorate in the November 2011 election. In February 2012, the ACT Board of Trustees unanimously voted him party leader.
Read more about John Banks (New Zealand Politician): Before Politics, Private Life, Member of Parliament, The Teapot Tapes, Campaign Donation Controversy, Biographies
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“There is nothing more agreeable in life than to make peace with the Establishment—and nothing more corrupting.”
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“Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing the things historians usually record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry and even whittle statues. The story of civilization is the story of what happened on the banks. Historians are pessimists because they ignore the banks for the river.”
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