From the moment he drew breath, Keith Locke was destined for a life in politics.
He was born into what former National prime minister Robert Muldoon once called "the most notorious communist family in New Zealand", one of four children of life-long activists Jack and Elsie Locke in 1944, and was attending protest meetings and political rallies in the pram.
Even if Mr Locke did not know that through family lore, he had it confirmed later if life when in 2008 he succeeded, after a long struggle, in forcing the Security Intelligence Service to release to him its by that stage voluminous file on him, which dated back to the 1950s.
Mr Locke was involved in the first anti-nuclear and anti-apartheid marches of the 1960s.
After obtaining a BSc in psychology from the University of Canterbury, Mr Locke travelled to Canada to study for a master’s in sociology.
After returning to to New Zealand, Mr Locke edited a fortnightly newspaper for the Socialist Action League, a union he had joined as a meatworker then railway workshop employee.
Mr Locke joined the Socialist Action League in 1970 and within two years was its national secretary.
A staunch pacifist, he was central in the peace movement through the 1970s and early 1980s, in solidarity movements aligned with rebel leftist factions the world over, vigorously opposing apartheid and espousing many other causes.
In a slight move towards the mainstream, Mr Locke joined Jim Anderton’s New Labour party in 1989 and stuck with it when it became part of the Alliance party.
However, when the Alliance fragmented in 1997, Mr Locke opted to join the Greens, and entered Parliament at seventh on the party’s list in the 1999 election.
Mr Locke was to serve four terms as a Green MP and was the party’s foreign affairs spokesman throughout his time in Parliament.
It was a subject Mr Locke was passionate about and it led him to espouse any number of humans rights causes, often latching on to issues which few in New Zealand and even fewer in the House were especially interested in.
But there was no mistaking Mr Locke’s determination and passion for politics and he often succeeded in making people pay attention to his issues, regardless of their inclination.
Mr Locke was often subject to scornful remarks by political opponents — more than once he was called "Pol Pot" or "the Honourable member for Cambodia".
However, most MPs came to recognise that Mr Locke was essentially an honest and decent man who would not give up on the things he believed in and he grew to become a respected and liked figure in Parliament.
Even the typically jaundiced press gallery could not help but eventually admire Mr Locke’s doggedness and effectiveness as an advocate: political staff of two different newspapers would award Mr Locke the unofficial title of backbench MP of the year at various times.
At the 2005 election, Mr Locke opted to contest the Epsom electorate against his political polar opposite, Act New Zealand leader Rodney Hide.
During the campaign Mr Locke made a statement which would come back to haunt him, that if Mr Hide won the seat he would run through the streets of Epsom naked.
Mr Hide duly did win and Mr Locke, a man of his word, duly "ran" down Epsom’s main street . . . although it was more of a brisk stroll, and body paint meant that the Green representative did not make as much of a spectacle of himself as he might have.
Mr Locke was a notable critic of New Zealand’s involvement in the war in Afghanistan and the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002, and long advocated for New Zealand to become a republic — he had a member’s Bill in the ballot for years which would have led to a referendum on the matter.
Mr Locke was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to human rights advocacy in 2021, received New Zealand Amnesty International’s Human Rights Defender Award in 2012 and the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand’s Harmony Award in 2013.
Although he retired as an MP, Mr Locke was incapable of retiring from political causes.
He was on the board of the Auckland Refugee Council and the New Zealand Peace and Conflict Studies Centre Trust and wrote opinion pieces for a range of New Zealand and international publications.
Mr Locke died on June 21, aged 80.
Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chloe Swarbrick said Mr Locke was a dear friend and leading figure in the party’s history, who never wavered in holding government and those in positions of authority to account.
"As a colleague and friend, Keith will be keenly missed by the Greens. He has been a shining light for the rights of people and planet. Keith Locke leaves a legacy that his family and all who knew him can be proud of." — Mike Houlahan, RNZ
