Sir Peter Elworthy's death a shock

The sudden death of Sir Peter Elworthy was a total shock, Agriculture Minister Jim Sutton said today.

Mr Sutton said Sir Peter, a constituent in Mr Sutton’s Aoraki electorate, was always completely fair-minded.

“We had got to know each other in Federated Farmers. When I ran for Parliament against his brother Jonathan in 1981 and again in 1984, it didn’t make any difference to our friendship. With Peter, it was always the policies and priniciples that were important, not the colour of the party rosettes.

“As Dominion President of Federated Farmers during the period when farm subsidies were being removed – which, contrary to some revised accounts, was not wildly popular in the rural community – Peter was able to preserve a constructive working relationship between the rural industry and the Government throughout.

“It was certainly not the line of least resistance. In fact, it was a demonstration of courage under fire, and it was very much in the interests of New Zealand.”

Mr Sutton said Sir Peter’s untimely death was a great shock.

“I guess we had all assumed his wise counsel would remain available to us for many more years. He will be greatly missed.”