January 8, 2026 • 6 mins
Sir Tim Shadbolt went to great lengths to help others.
He was a great New Zealand character and one of our longest-serving mayors, with terms in Waitakere and Invercargill.
He died yesterday, aged 78.
He's being remembered as making people proud to be from Invercargill.
MP Penny Simmonds told Andrew Dickens he was a compassionate man, and recalls when a Chinese student died in a car accident.
She says he jumped straight on a plane to Dunedin to meet her to support the overseas family and was always there for others.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to a podcast from news Talk zed be
follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
From the Auckland Islands. He was an activist. He was Alerican,
He was a leegend. He was a mayor. He died
yesterday at the age of seventy eight. Sir Tim Schabbolt
was one of the longest running mayors in the country,
served ten terms in total. Known as a champion for
the underdog, a lifelong political activist, recorder player, he could
(00:37):
also play the guitar. His friend Penny Simmons is the
vocational education minister and the MP in the Cargo, so
she knew Sir Tim very very well and joins us
now hadlo Penny, good morning. What are some of your
best memories of the boy?
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Oh look, there's just so many, just so many times
we were falling about, laughing things that we were doing together.
But there were just so many dimensions to Sir Tim.
He was, of course the comedian and wonderful public speak,
but he was also a very very caring and compassionate man.
(01:13):
Things that he did that never ever surfaced for the public.
I remember when I was chief executive of SIT we
lost a Chinese international student in a car accident on
Boxing Day and so Tim was straight away there to
support me, came up to the need and to meet
(01:36):
their family as they flew in from christ from China.
Just you know, a man that was prepared to do
things to help others at any time, and that was
that sort of amazing side of So Tim often didn't
come through the public didn't know about.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
It, and you can tell that from the public message
that came out yesterday from his family that he was
a much loved father and he was so kind and
good for them as well. So let's not forget Esher
and Dicklin as well. What do you think is going
to be his legas see.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Oh look, probably the st zero fees scheme. But there's
so many things that he has done. The Auckland Island
pigs was actually a really amazing thing that he did.
Certainly a stadium and valodrome, airport, so many things, innovative things.
(02:30):
He was an enormous innovator and fearless, able to risk,
take risks and do things that other people would be
too scared that it might tarnish their reputation if it
went wrong. And lots of things did go wrong for him,
but he bounced back and had another gost. And I
think that innovation and that fearlessness will be a great legacy.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yeah, and it was his humor that allowed him to
get away with blue murder. To be honest, when I
was growing up, my father hated Tim Shambolt. He's a
trouble maker. He was just causing havoc. He was protesting
against the Vietnam War. Of course, he would say things
about Robert Muldoon that my dad did not agree with
in any way, shape or form. But even if you
(03:15):
didn't agree with him, you'd listen to him saying it
with their voice of his that love and you actually
go okay, I get what you're saying. And quite funny,
so he could say the stuff that many of us
can't say.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Absolutely, he did things with such good humor. I don't
think he had a malicious bone in his body. I
never heard him say really nasty, unpleasant things about people,
So he kind of had that way of putting across
a message without being nasty and personal about it. He
(03:50):
really used humor in the best possible way to get
a message across without being nasty and cynical with it.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
And I think the problem is that many young people
didn't get to see the Tim at his full peak,
you know, because in his later days as the mayor,
he did get a little and he didn't make some
mistakes and all that sort of stuff, you know, but
they didn't get to see him, and so youngsters who
didn't see him before think, well, he's just an old
dottery guy and all that sort of thing. They didn't
see all that, but they just didn't get him. And
(04:20):
one of the funny a funny quote I remember him saying,
he said, if twenty five years of smoking dope is
out of my brain, I must have been an intellectual
giants in my youth, you know.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Well he had some great one liners, he did, but
he was a very intellectual person. He was a very
deep person, and he read widely. He was a historian.
He loved finding out about things, but he also loved
people and he loved thinking about why people did things.
(04:52):
And one of the stories that I have recounted of
when he went to visits and skinheads who were being
quite racist to our international students, he went and explained
to them why international students were so important to inc
he was able to sit down with anyone and talk
to them and get a message cross because he didn't
(05:15):
come and judging or angry. He just came in with
his good humor and his compassion. So he just spanned
across so many generations because of that.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Do you think would ever have another political figure like him?
Speaker 3 (05:32):
No? Never, never. I think the media and social media
would crucify him now. No, he wouldn't get away with
the things that he did that now people would crucify
him for you know, he did make mistakes, and he
was the first to admit that, but he was always
doing things with the right intent. He always wanted to help.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
People that was in the right place. Got any final words,
We've got to move. But got anything you really want
to say?
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Look, he was just such a wonderful icon and advocate
for in the cargo and will dearly.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Penny Simon Simmons and I thank you so much for
your time today.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
For more from News Talks at b listen live on
air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to a podcast from news Talk zed be
follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
From the Auckland Islands. He was an activist. He was Alerican,
He was a leegend. He was a mayor. He died
yesterday at the age of seventy eight. Sir Tim Schabbolt
was one of the longest running mayors in the country,
served ten terms in total. Known as a champion for
the underdog, a lifelong political activist, recorder player, he could
(00:37):
also play the guitar. His friend Penny Simmons is the
vocational education minister and the MP in the Cargo, so
she knew Sir Tim very very well and joins us
now hadlo Penny, good morning. What are some of your
best memories of the boy?
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Oh look, there's just so many, just so many times
we were falling about, laughing things that we were doing together.
But there were just so many dimensions to Sir Tim.
He was, of course the comedian and wonderful public speak,
but he was also a very very caring and compassionate man.
(01:13):
Things that he did that never ever surfaced for the public.
I remember when I was chief executive of SIT we
lost a Chinese international student in a car accident on
Boxing Day and so Tim was straight away there to
support me, came up to the need and to meet
(01:36):
their family as they flew in from christ from China.
Just you know, a man that was prepared to do
things to help others at any time, and that was
that sort of amazing side of So Tim often didn't
come through the public didn't know about.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
It, and you can tell that from the public message
that came out yesterday from his family that he was
a much loved father and he was so kind and
good for them as well. So let's not forget Esher
and Dicklin as well. What do you think is going
to be his legas see.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Oh look, probably the st zero fees scheme. But there's
so many things that he has done. The Auckland Island
pigs was actually a really amazing thing that he did.
Certainly a stadium and valodrome, airport, so many things, innovative things.
(02:30):
He was an enormous innovator and fearless, able to risk,
take risks and do things that other people would be
too scared that it might tarnish their reputation if it
went wrong. And lots of things did go wrong for him,
but he bounced back and had another gost. And I
think that innovation and that fearlessness will be a great legacy.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yeah, and it was his humor that allowed him to
get away with blue murder. To be honest, when I
was growing up, my father hated Tim Shambolt. He's a
trouble maker. He was just causing havoc. He was protesting
against the Vietnam War. Of course, he would say things
about Robert Muldoon that my dad did not agree with
in any way, shape or form. But even if you
(03:15):
didn't agree with him, you'd listen to him saying it
with their voice of his that love and you actually
go okay, I get what you're saying. And quite funny,
so he could say the stuff that many of us
can't say.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Absolutely, he did things with such good humor. I don't
think he had a malicious bone in his body. I
never heard him say really nasty, unpleasant things about people,
So he kind of had that way of putting across
a message without being nasty and personal about it. He
(03:50):
really used humor in the best possible way to get
a message across without being nasty and cynical with it.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
And I think the problem is that many young people
didn't get to see the Tim at his full peak,
you know, because in his later days as the mayor,
he did get a little and he didn't make some
mistakes and all that sort of stuff, you know, but
they didn't get to see him, and so youngsters who
didn't see him before think, well, he's just an old
dottery guy and all that sort of thing. They didn't
see all that, but they just didn't get him. And
(04:20):
one of the funny a funny quote I remember him saying,
he said, if twenty five years of smoking dope is
out of my brain, I must have been an intellectual
giants in my youth, you know.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Well he had some great one liners, he did, but
he was a very intellectual person. He was a very
deep person, and he read widely. He was a historian.
He loved finding out about things, but he also loved
people and he loved thinking about why people did things.
(04:52):
And one of the stories that I have recounted of
when he went to visits and skinheads who were being
quite racist to our international students, he went and explained
to them why international students were so important to inc
he was able to sit down with anyone and talk
to them and get a message cross because he didn't
(05:15):
come and judging or angry. He just came in with
his good humor and his compassion. So he just spanned
across so many generations because of that.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Do you think would ever have another political figure like him?
Speaker 3 (05:32):
No? Never, never. I think the media and social media
would crucify him now. No, he wouldn't get away with
the things that he did that now people would crucify
him for you know, he did make mistakes, and he
was the first to admit that, but he was always
doing things with the right intent. He always wanted to help.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
People that was in the right place. Got any final words,
We've got to move. But got anything you really want
to say?
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Look, he was just such a wonderful icon and advocate
for in the cargo and will dearly.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Penny Simon Simmons and I thank you so much for
your time today.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
For more from News Talks at b listen live on
air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio.
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