Before entering politics, Jennings was a farmer, purchasing a family farm in Karamea in 1964. Jennings was active in New Zealand Federated Farmers, becoming its National President in 1990. He served three years. Prior to this he was National Dairy Section Chairman. He was a director of the Karamea Dairy Company, Atas Marketing Meat Ltd and Combined Rural Traders Ltd. He also helped start the Queen Elizabeth II National Trust and was a director for nine years. Jennings was active in the Pacific Basin Economic Council and attended a number of trade talks on behalf of farmers.[1]
Jennings' political career began in local government. In 1991 he was elected to the Tasman District Council and was chairperson of the council's environmental and planning committee.[1]
Jennings was a candidate to become the second Leader of ACT after Roger Douglas stepped down, but he lost the race to Douglas' preferred successor, Richard Prebble at the party's 1996 annual general meeting.[2]
Jennings was first elected to Parliament in the 1996 election, becoming a list MP, having stood in the West Coast-Tasman electorate.[1] After entering parliament he was ACT spokesperson for agriculture, local government, transport, business development and rural affairs.[3] During his first term as an MP, he stood in the Taranaki-King Country by-election where he finished a close second to National Party candidate Shane Ardern by 984 votes.[4]
Jennings was re-elected on the ACT Party list in 1999; however, he was ranked at 12th on the party list in 2002 and was not returned to parliament. During his time as a parliamentarian, Jennings was widely regarded as being on the rural-centric right wing of ACT.[5]
Clayton, Christopher; Askwith, John E. (eds.) (1991), Agricultural innovation, how to make a difference now: a conference to identify opportunities for New Zealand agriculture, Friday and Saturday 5 & 6 April 1991, MAF Flock House, Bulls: conference proceedings, Wellington, [N.Z.]: Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, ISBN0-477-08152-5{{citation}}: |first2= has generic name (help)
Jennings' contribution is a co-authored paper (with Rodger Slater) entitled: "Innovation on-farm."
ACT Members of Parliament. (2001), Closing the gaps: policy papers, Wellington, [N.Z.]: ACT New Zealand Parliamentary Office, ISBN0-9582178-1-5
Jennings' contribution is a paper entitled: "Local government."
Old values, new ideas, Wellington, [N.Z.]: ACT New Zealand Parliamentary Office, 2002
Jennings' contribution is a paper entitled: "Our rural future."
Question of privilege referred 21 July 1998 concerning Buchanan v Jennings : report of the Privileges Committee, Wellington, [N.Z.]: Published under the authority of the House of Representatives, 2005
