| Rex Austin | |
| Constituency Mp: | Awarua |
| Parliament: | New Zealand |
| Predecessor: | Aubrey Begg |
| Successor: | Jeff Grant |
| Term Start: | 1975 |
| Term End: | 1987 |
| Birth Name: | William Rex Austin |
| Birth Date: | 23 May 1931 |
| Birth Place: | Riverton, New Zealand |
| Death Place: | Invercargill, New Zealand |
| Party: | National |
| Relations: | Butler Te Koeti (great-uncle) |
| Children: | 4 |
| Alma Mater: | Lincoln College |
William Rex Austin (23 May 1931 – 23 June 2022) was a New Zealand politician of the National Party.
Austin was born in Riverton, Southland, in 1931.[1] Of Māori descent, he affiliated to Ngāi Tahu, Waitaha and Kāti Māmoe.[2] He received his education at Southland Technical College and Lincoln College;[3] at the latter institution, he obtained a diploma in agriculture.[4] In 1958, he married Miriam Helen Brumpton, with whom he had four sons.
Austin farmed at Colac Bay in Southland and lived in Riverton. From 1971, he was a member of the Southland Hospital Board.
In the 1975 election he was elected to Parliament as the National Party MP for Awarua, which he represented until 1987.[5]
Austin and Ben Couch were the second and third Māori (after Sir James Carroll) to win a general electorate, as opposed to one of the Māori electorates.
Austin died in Invercargill on 23 June 2022, at the age of 91.[6]
In 1977, Austin was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal, and in 1990 the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal.[7] In the 1994 New Year Honours, he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for services to the community.