Fred Hackett

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New Zealand politician

title: "Fred Hackett" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1901-births", "1963-deaths", "new-zealand-labour-party-mps", "members-of-the-cabinet-of-new-zealand", "members-of-the-new-zealand-house-of-representatives", "new-zealand-mps-for-auckland-electorates", "military-personnel-from-southampton", "english-emigrants-to-new-zealand", "burials-at-purewa-cemetery", "royal-navy-personnel-of-world-war-i", "20th-century-new-zealand-politicians", "royal-navy-sailors", "20th-century-new-zealand-trade-unionists"] description: "New Zealand politician" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Hackett" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary New Zealand politician ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
honorific-prefix	The Honourable
name	Fred Hackett
image	Fred Hacket, 1958.jpg
order	6th Deputy Leader of the Labour Party
term_start	7 June 1962
term_end	19 March 1963
leader	Walter Nash
predecessor	Jerry Skinner
successor	Hugh Watt
order1	20th Minister of Labour
term_start1	12 December 1957
term_end1	12 December 1960
primeminister1	Walter Nash
predecessor1	John McAlpine
successor1	Tom Shand
order2	33rd Minister of Immigration
term_start2	12 December 1957
term_end2	12 December 1960
primeminister2	Walter Nash
predecessor2	Ralph Hanan
successor2	Tom Shand
order3	6th Minister of Transport
term_start3	18 October 1947
term_end3	13 December 1949
primeminister3	Peter Fraser
predecessor3	James O'Brien
successor3	Stan Goosman
order4	33rd Postmaster-General
term_start4	19 December 1946
term_end4	13 December 1949
primeminister4	Peter Fraser
predecessor4	Paddy Webb
successor4	Walter Broadfoot
constituency_MP5	Grey Lynn
parliament5	New Zealand
term_start5	25 September 1943
term_end5	19 March 1963
predecessor5	John A. Lee
successor5	Reginald Keeling
birth_date	11 November 1901
birth_place	Southampton, England
death_date
death_place	Auckland, New Zealand
spouse
children	4
party	Labour
::

Frederick Hackett (11 November 1901 – 19 March 1963) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. He was a minister in both the First and Second Labour Governments of New Zealand and later the deputy leader of the opposition.

Early life

Hackett was born in Southampton in 1901. He was educated locally and played association football in his youth. He found employment in the British Merchant Navy transporting refugees. He became a gunner in the Royal Navy during World War I. In 1921 he moved to New Zealand and he married Ivy Lily Bradford in Dunedin in 1923; together they had four children (three sons and one daughter). He became an active unionist and in 1922 Hackett gained employment at the Auckland Tramways Board. He was a prominent member of the Auckland Tramways Union for the next twenty years.

Political career

Member of Parliament

Contemporary politician Martyn Finlay said Hackett was an extremely effective representative for his electorate due to his ability to use the life experiences he acquired to relate personally with constituents; "Hackett learnt his trade in the best university of all - that of practical experience on the job."

Hackett was described by contemporaries as a party hack, though he was well-liked by caucus members and the wider Labour Party.

In 1953, Hackett was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal.

Cabinet Minister

He was a cabinet minister in the Fraser Ministry of the First Labour Government: Postmaster-General and Minister of Telegraphs (1946–1949), Minister of Transport (1947–1949), Minister of Marine (1947–1949), Minister in charge of the Public Trust Office (1946–1947), State Fire Insurance (1946–1947), and Government Life Insurance Department (1946–1947). In 1948, as Minister of Transport, he increased the speed limit on the open road in New Zealand from 40 to 50 miles per hour (which it had been prior to the passing of emergency wartime regulations).

Hackett was opposed to New Zealand joining the International Monetary Fund, arguing that the state should have sole right to govern the country's finances.

Towards the end of the First Labour Government Hackett made a speech in New Plymouth where he stated that "The first duty of any government is to stay in office." It was said in rebuke to sentiments that when people were suffering in economic hardship they turned to Labour, but after prosperity had been restored Labour was deemed expendable. The remark was seen as 'cynical but true'.

In the Second Labour Government, he was Minister of Labour, Minister of Mines, and Minister of Immigration from 1957 to 1960. Prior to the announcement of the ministry Bill Fox, former vice-president of the Federation of Labour, was widely tipped to become Minister of Labour, but incoming Prime Minister Walter Nash confounded expectations by appointing Hackett (a former unionist) to the portfolio instead. As Minister of Labour he represented New Zealand at the 1959 International Labour Organisation conference in Geneva. There, he was unanimously elected as chairman of the government group at the conference. His largest challenge as Minister of Immigration was the decline of immigrants to New Zealand following the economic upturn in Europe during the late 1950s. As Minister for Mines he approved for Shell, BP and Todd Oil Services to explore for oil offshore in the Kapuni oil field in 1959, this decision later led to the beginning of a large industry in the Taranaki region.

Deputy Leader of the Opposition

Following Labour's defeat in 1960, Hackett served on the opposition frontbench and in June 1962 Hackett was elected as the deputy leader of the Labour Party, in preference to Arnold Nordmeyer and Hugh Watt, upon the unexpected death of Jerry Skinner. He beat Nordmeyer on the second ballot after Watt (a fellow Aucklander) had been eliminated in the first ballot for the position, as a compromise candidate as was regarded by many within the Party as a middle roader. Hackett also likely received sympathy votes as he was known to have been ill.

On 25 July 1962 he was admitted to Auckland Hospital for an operation on his brain, which saved his life. Following the operation he recovered steadily and was discharged in early September. During his absence Nordmeyer acted as deputy leader until Hackett returned to Parliament on 27 November 1962.

Following Skinner's death Walter Nash favoured Hackett to replace him when he retired prior the 1963 election, but with the death of Hackett, Nash was eventually left to be replaced by Arnold Nordmeyer. Before he died, Hackett informed the caucus that he would also resign the deputy-leadership when Nash retired. He was replaced by Hugh Watt. He did, however, intend to stay in parliament and had already been re-selected to contest Grey Lynn at the upcoming general election.

Death

On 19 March 1963 Hackett collapsed and died at his New Lynn home. He was buried at Purewa Cemetery. He was survived by his wife, three sons and daughter.

Notes

References

Biography at Trade Union website

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References

(2000). "Frederick (Fred) Hackett".
(20 March 1963). "Mr F. Hackett Dies After Illness". [[The New Zealand Herald]].
(1994). "Honoured by the Queen – New Zealand". New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa.
(27 December 1997). "A Royal baby, and the George Cross". [[The Press]].
Edwards, Brent. (13 October 1994). "Pugnacious 'little devil' fought for his beliefs". [[The Evening Post (New Zealand).
(31 January 2009). "Fifty years ago". [[Taranaki Daily News]].
(7 June 1962). "Labour Party Elects Deputy Leader". [[The Evening Post (New Zealand).

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