2004: Speedgate

April 27, 2021

By AHNZ

As with most of Canterbury, Waimate started out as a sheep run. On 18 July 1854 Michael Studholme arrived to set up his estate and constructed his family cottage ‘The Cuddy’. Impressively, it still stands today in the hands of the same family. 150 Years later, Waimate was celebrating its sesquicentennial. The local Labour MP, Jim Sutton, was there and so was the Prime Minister Helen Clark. The politicians couldn’t leave quickly enough, at least not quickly enough legally…

This proved not to be a concern on the day (14 July, 2004) and the MPs were put into hyperdrive for the 205km trip to Christchurch. This involved an average speed of 128kph. Though making a successful connection to the airport to get back to the urgent business¹ in the capital, the excessive speeding broke the law.

“This time Helen Clark has been caught like a rat in a trap. That is what has happened to her, just like it did to David Benson-Pope and Lianne Dalziel. This is the only woman who is so enthralled by Jim Sutton that, sitting in the back seat of a limousine, she could not tell they were travelling at 150 kilometres per hour.”- Judith Collins, Hansard (2006)

Clark and Sutton claimed not to have noticed hitting speeds of 150kph or even 170kph and left their limousine driver and police escort out in the cold to be charged and convicted. This event came to be known as ‘Speedgate’.

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1 Appearing at a rugby game- NZ vs Australia

image ref. The Cuddy, Waimate.org.nz

image ref. Helen Clark, www.telegraph.co.uk

Note: Waimate became a borough on 8 September, 1879. Ref. 1979: Country Courthouse Culling, AHNZ

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