Richard John Northey (born 28 April 1945) is a New Zealand politician. He was an MP from 1984 to 1990, and again from 1993 to 1996. He served on the Auckland Council between 2010 and 2013, and is a member of the Labour Party. Biography Early life and career Northey was born in Hamilton in 1945 and was educated at Auckland Grammar School. He then attended the University of Auckland where he obtained a Bachelor of Science in chemistry and physics and a first class Master of Arts in political science. He then found employment as a youth and recreation officer, arts advisor and employment officer. He became president of the New Zealand Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and served on the committee of the New Zealand Consultative Committee on Disarmament. He was also an executive member of the Auckland District Council of Social Service and Citizens' Advocacy and the president of the Citizens Association for Racial Equality (CARE). He joined the Labour Party and became chairman of Princes Street Labour as well as the Eden Central and Orakei branches. Later he was chair of the Tamaki and Eden electorate committees. Northey also was the vice-president, and later president, of the Auckland Labour Regional Council and was a member of Labour's national executive as a youth representative. Local body politics Northey first stood as a Labour Party candidate for the Auckland City Council at the 1968 local elections. He stood for the council unsuccessfully four times before finally winning a seat at a by-election in February 1979. He lost his seat at the next election in 1980. After exiting the council Northey stood unsuccessfully for Parliament against the then Prime Minister, Robert Muldoon, in the Tamaki electorate in the 1981 election. In the 1983 local elections Northey regained a seat on the city council before deciding not to stand for re-election in 1986. Member of Parliament He was first elected to Parliament in the 1984 election as MP for Eden, replacing National's Aussie Malcolm. He was re-elected in the 1987 election, but was defeated in the National Party's landslide victory in the 1990 election. During this time he was chair of the Auckland Labour MPs Lobby. In 1985 Northey led the New Zealand government's youth delegation to China, attended the inter-parliamentary union conference in Bangkok in 1987 and was a delegate at the first parliamentary conference on the global environment in