---
alias:
- Ian John Shearer
category: Political Figure
created: 2026-09-23
died: 2021-06-01
location: Hamilton, New Zealand
relations:
- end: 1984-07-26
  fn: 1
  role: Minister for the Environment and Minister of Science and Technology
  start: 1981-02-12
  type: member_of
  with: '[[Executive Council of New Zealand]]'
summary: New Zealand National Party minister of science and technology, environment
  and broadcasting from 1981 to 1984, who opened the Chemical Technology Limited whey-to-alcohol
  plant at Temuka in April 1982.
tags:
- Person
- NewZealand
- Politician
- Science
- RCHorsch
updated: 2026-09-23
---

Ian John Shearer (died June 1, 2021) was a [New Zealand](/places/new-zealand/) National Party politician who represented Hamilton East from 1975 to 1984. He was appointed Minister for the Environment and Minister of Science and Technology on February 12, 1981, taking the science portfolio from [Bill Birch](/people/bill-birch/), and Minister of Broadcasting on December 11, 1981. He resigned all three offices on July 26, 1984, after National's election defeat.[^1][^2][^3] The House of Representatives recorded his death on June 3, 2021.[^4]

### The Temuka Plant

In April 1982, on the same visit to Canterbury on which he opened the Dairy Science and Technology Conference in Christchurch, Shearer opened "the whey-to-alcohol factory of Chemical Technology, Ltd, at Temuka," the plant of [Chemical Technology Limited](/organizations/chemical-technology-limited/), and said it would turn what twenty years earlier had been "poured down the throat of a pig" into alcohol and proteins.[^5] The company's American director, Dr Stanley Stokowski, was the fugitive [R.C. Horsch](/people/rc-horsch/), who had entered the country in 1980 under a stolen identity.

[^1]: *New Zealand Gazette,* February 12, 1981, Extraordinary, No. 14, p. 323 ("Dr the Honourable Ian John Shearer to be Minister for the Environment and Minister of Science and Technology"). https://gazette.howison.co.nz/nzg/1981/issue/14/page/323
[^2]: *New Zealand Gazette,* December 11, 1981 (gazetted December 14, 1981), Supplement, No. 149, p. 3780 ("Doctor the Honourable Ian John Shearer, to be Minister of Broadcasting"). https://gazette.howison.co.nz/nzg/1981/issue/149/page/3780
[^3]: *New Zealand Gazette,* July 26-27, 1984, Supplement, No. 130, p. 2912 ("Doctor the Honourable Ian John Shearer, of the Offices of Minister for the Environment, Minister of Science and Technology and Minister of Broadcasting"). https://gazette.howison.co.nz/nzg/1984/issue/130/page/2912
[^4]: New Zealand Parliament, Hansard, "Obituary: Dr Ian Shearer," June 3, 2021 ("Members, I regret to inform the House of the death on 1 June 2021 of Dr the Hon Ian John Shearer, who represented the Hamilton East electorate between 1975 and 1984"). https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/combined/HansDeb_20210603_20210603_08
[^5]: "Dr Shearer wants extra effort in biotechnology," *The Press* (Christchurch), April 23, 1982. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19820423.2.96.9