Dove-Myer Robinson

Early life and career

Born Mayer Dove Robinson in Sheffield, England, he was the sixth of seven children of Ida Brown and Moss Robinson. While his father described himself as a master jeweller, he actually sold trinkets and second-hand furniture, and the family was poor and often on the move. Robinson's mother influenced his upbringing by transmitting the strict values her rabbi father had taught her. His Jewish heritage ensured that he was often targeted by anti-semitic violence in the schools he attended. The family moved to New Zealand in 1914, where his father worked as a pawnbroker. Dove-Myer, as he later called himself (ignoring his Robinson family name), found New Zealand agreeable and lacking in the intermittent persecutions he had previously faced.^[3]

Political activism

Robinson entered politics in the late 1940s when he led the opposition to a sewage dumping scheme that would have discharged untreated effluent into the Hauraki Gulf. When elected in a 1952 by-election as a councillor, he proposed and eventually realised a scheme to break down the sewage in oxidation ponds ('Robbie's ponds') near the Manukau Harbour. His success in the scheme later on helped him gain the popularity to be elected Mayor of Auckland City.^[1]

Mayor of Auckland City

In 1959, campaigning on a populist platform as "Robbie" he defeated the incumbent Citizens & Ratepayers mayor Keith Buttle which caused much resentment. A hallmark of Robinson's first two terms as mayor was the perpetual animosity between himself and the Citizens & Ratepayers councillors, who despised Robinson’s popularity, working-class origins and social conduct.^[3] Robinson's main drive in his first period as mayor was a proposed merging of the 32 separate city, borough and county councils in greater Auckland into a regional authority that could collectively decide on issues of regional importance. He won over smaller councils (who mostly opposed the reforms) and exploited Parliamentary recommendations for compulsory council amalgamations to forge the issue ahead successfully on condition that the existing councils were left intact. In 1963 The Auckland Regional Authority (ARA) was established and Robinson was chosen as its founding chairman.^[4]

After being re-elected in 1962, Robinson lost the 1965 mayoral election by 1134 votes to Citizens & Ratepayers candidate Roy McElroy, but in the next election in 1968 he in turn defeated McElroy by 6000 votes becoming the first Mayor of Auckland to serve non-consecutive terms. Also in 1968 he was appointed to the transit committee of the ARA where he advocated for rapid rail system for Auckland. The scheme was heavily criticized for its cost and the ARA chairman Tom Pearce and most members opposed the scheme. The Third Labour Government reneged on an election pledge to pay for the scheme and the rapid rail proposal disappeared. Retrospectively, Robinson's idea to implement rapid rail was seen as a possible long-term solution to Auckland's subsequent transportation difficulties. The phrase; "If we'd only listened to Robbie..." has become common speech in Auckland whenever the city's transport system is debated.^[5]

During his career, Robinson also became involved in the incipient movement of Green politics, particularly the anti-nuclear movement, and supported the Third Labour Government's opposition to French nuclear testing in the Pacific.^[3]

Later life and death

Robinson died in Auckland on 14 August 1989.^[3]