Member of Parliament
| Parliament of New Zealand | ||||
| Years | Term | Electorate | List | Party |
| 1996–1999 | 45th | Christchurch Central | none | Labour |
| 1999–2002 | 46th | Christchurch Central | none | Labour |
| 2002–2005 | 47th | Christchurch Central | none | Labour |
| 2005–2008 | 48th | Christchurch Central | none | Labour |
He was elected to Parliament as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Christchurch Central in 1996. He has been active in many community-based organisations in New Zealand, including the lesbian, gay and transgender (LGBT) section of the Labour Party, (Rainbow Labour) which he helped to found in 1997, and is a supporter of UniQ, the Queer Students Association at New Zealand universities. He was the Parliamentary promoter of the Prostitution Law Reform Bill, a Bill in his name, which became law in 2003 and thus made New Zealand the first country in the world to decriminalise prostitution, and an outspoken supporter of the Civil Union Bill, which became law in 2004 and made New Zealand the first country outside Europe to legislate for equal relationship status for lesbian and gay couples. He was appointed Senior Government Whip after the 2005 election. He was known to be very active in his local electorate chairing a Youth Advisory Committee as well as being a regular contributor to the St Albans Neighbourhood News.
At the 2005 general election, Barnett was re-elected with 52.35% of the vote and a majority of 6,694. He retired at the 2008 General Election.
Read more about this topic: Tim Barnett (politician)
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