Aubrey Begg

Aubrey Wilbert Begg (9 April 1929 – 7 November 1988) was a New Zealand Member of Parliament, for Awarua in Southland.

Biography Early life and career Begg was born in Balclutha, educated at Southland Boys' High School, and was a farmer near Invercargill. In 1954 he married Joy Rose Wright with whom he had three sons and one daughter. Through his involvement in farming, Begg became an executive member of Federated Farmers and later was its junior vice-president of the meat and wool section.

He was described as a "true son of Southland" who never gave up his independence. Parliamentary colleague Colin Moyle stated Begg paid a price for his individualism and his lack of teamwork cost him the advancement that he could have had.

Political career

Begg first stood for the New Zealand House of Representatives in in the "true blue" electorate of against cabinet minister Brian Talboys. Despite losing he was well remembered in the electorate, particularly for winning a majority at the pooling booth in Drummond which was normally a National Party stronghold. He quickly earned a reputation for speaking forthrightly on farming issues particularly in favour of meat producers. Notably he was a strong opponent of a scheme to acquire compulsorily the wool clip despite the scheme being supported by the Third Labour Government. Begg became a member of Labour's party executive and chairman of Labour's Agricultural Advisory Committee.

In the , he was the Labour candidate for Invercargill losing by the narrow margin of 256 votes to Norman Jones. At the , he stood unsuccessfully once again in Wallace, this time as an Independent candidate attracting over 2,000 votes, far more than usual for an independent.

Later life and death After exiting parliament Begg became President of the Southland branch of Federated Farmers.

In August 1988 was taken ill and underwent exploratory surgery for what was found to be cancer. He died on 7 November 1988 in Invercargill, aged 59.