Dover Spencer Peneha Samuels (born 9 July 1939) is a former

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Member of Parliament in New Zealand from 1996 to 2008 inclusive.

Biography

Political career

Samuels joined the Labour Party and became its Māori Senior Vice President. In 1994 he challenged

Maryan Street Maryan Street (born 5 April 1955) is a New Zealand unionist and former member of the New Zealand House of Representatives, having been elected to parliament in the 2005 general election as a member of the New Zealand Labour Party. She served ...

for the Labour Party presidency, but lost by a wide margin, 303 votes to Street and 75 for Samuels. He was awarded the

New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal The New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal was a commemorative medal awarded in New Zealand in 1990 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, and was awarded to approximately 3,000 people. Background The New Zea ...

for services to New Zealand. He first entered Parliament as a

list MP A list MP is a member of parliament (MP) elected from a party list rather than from by a geographical constituency. The place in Parliament is due to the number of votes that the party won, not to votes received by the MP personally. This occurs ...

in the 1996 election, and was the MP for

Te Tai Tokerau Te Tai Tokerau () is a New Zealand parliamentary Māori electorate that was created out of the Northern Maori electorate ahead of the first Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) election in 1996. It was held first by Tau Henare representing New Zea ...

since the 1999 election. When the Labour Party formed a government following its victory in 1999, Samuels became the

Minister of Māori Affairs Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

, but resigned this role in June 2000 pending an investigation into alleged

sex crime Sex and the law deals with the regulation by law of human sexual activity. Sex laws vary from one place or jurisdiction to another, and have varied over time. Unlawful sexual acts are called sex crimes. Some laws regarding sexual activity are ...

s committed before he entered politics. The police later cleared Samuels of all charges, and Samuels alleged that the accusations had political motivations. He was reinstated as a Minister of State in 2002, but in 2005 was involved in further controversy following a late-night incident in which he publicly

urinate Urination, also known as micturition, is the release of urine from the urinary bladder through the urethra to the outside of the body. It is the urinary system's form of excretion. It is also known medically as micturition, voiding, uresis, ...

d in a hallway within

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

's Heritage hotel. Samuels lost his Māori electorate of

in 2005 to the

Māori Party Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

candidate

Hone Harawira Hone Pani Tamati Waka Nene Harawira is a New Zealand Māori activist and former parliamentarian. He was elected to parliament as the member for the Māori electorate of Te Tai Tokerau in 2005 as the Māori Party candidate. In 2011, following ...

. However, he was returned to parliament due to his high position on the Labour Party list. He was made the Associate Minister for Economic Development, Housing, Tourism and Industry and Regional Development. On 31 October 2007, during the Cabinet reshuffle, Samuels lost his position as a Minister outside Cabinet and was replaced by

Darren Hughes Darren Colyn Hughes (born 3 April 1978) is a New Zealand former Member of Parliament between 2002 and 2011, first elected at the age of 24. He represented the New Zealand Labour Party, Labour Party and was a Minister outside Cabinet in the Fift ...

. He returned to the backbench. Samuels did not contest the 2008 election.

Personal life

He is an active member of the

Rātana Church The Rātana movement ( mi, Te Haahi Rātana) is a church and pan-''iwi'' political movement founded by Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana in early 20th-century New Zealand. The Rātana Church has its headquarters at the settlement of Rātana Pā near ...

of New Zealand.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Samuels, Dover 1939 births Living people New Zealand Rātanas New Zealand Labour Party MPs Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand New Zealand list MPs New Zealand MPs for Māori electorates Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives 21st-century New Zealand politicians