Tuariki John Edward Delamere (born 9 December 1951) is a former New Zealand politician. He served as a member of the
New Zealand Parliament
The New Zealand Parliament ( mi, Pāremata Aotearoa) is the unicameral legislature of New Zealand, consisting of the King of New Zealand (King-in-Parliament) and the New Zealand House of Representatives. The King is usually represented by hi ...
from 1996 to 1999, and was a member of
Cabinet for the duration of his term.
Early life
Delamere was born in 1951 at a military hospital in
Papakura, and was educated in
Tauranga
Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...
, attending
Tauranga Boys' College
, motto_translation = I take up the work and I carry it through
, coordinates =
, type = State Secondary school
, established = 1958
, MOE = 121
, principal = Andrew Turner
, decile = 6N
, years = 9 – 13
, upp ...
. In 1967 and 1969, he was recognised as the top
Māori student in New Zealand. He then attended
Washington State University
Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant uni ...
on an athletic scholarship. Delamere obtained a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
in 1974.
He later obtained a
Master of Business Administration
A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accoun ...
from
Long Island University.
Delamere served in the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
from 1974 to 1978. He was accountant stationed at
Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri
Fort Leonard Wood is a U.S. Army training installation located in the Missouri Ozarks. The main gate is located on the southern boundary of The City of St. Robert. The post was created in December 1940 and named in honor of General Leonard W ...
and later joined the staff at the
United States Military Academy
The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...
at West Point, New York. After leaving the United States, Delamere worked as chief financial officer for
Polynesian Airlines
Samoa Airways, formerly Polynesian Airlines, is the state-owned flag carrier airline of Samoa.
The airline was founded in 1959 as "Polynesian Airlines", providing domestic and international flights throughout the South Pacific. International ope ...
. He also held a number of
bureaucratic
The term bureaucracy () refers to a body of non-elected governing officials as well as to an administrative policy-making group. Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected offi ...
roles.
Delamere has also been successful in sporting events; setting records in
long jump
The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a ...
and
triple jump
The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...
,
and representing New Zealand in those events in the
1974 Commonwealth Games at Christchurch. At Washington State, he pioneered the technique of a full somersault in long jump competitions.
Political career
New Zealand First
Delamere entered politics in the
1996 elections, when he successfully stood as a candidate for the
New Zealand First party in the
Te Tai Rawhiti electorate, defeating Sir
Peter Tapsell and becoming one of the group known as the ''
Tight Five
The Tight Five was a nickname given to the five Māori MPs elected to the New Zealand Parliament in 1996 from the centrist/populist New Zealand First party.
Formation
New Zealand First had been founded in 1993 by Winston Peters, a former N ...
''. Immediately after being elected, he was appointed to
Cabinet as part of New Zealand First's coalition deal with the
National Party. Among the roles he held during his ministerial career were those of Minister of Immigration, Minister of Pacific Island Affairs, Associate
Minister of Finance
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...
, and Associate
Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services.
Some governments have separate ministers for mental health.
Coun ...
.
In 1998, the coalition between New Zealand First and the National Party began to break apart, and significant tensions emerged in New Zealand First itself. On 11 August, it was claimed by
ACT MP
Rodney Hide
Rodney Philip Hide (born 16 December 1956) is a former New Zealand politician of the ACT New Zealand party. Hide was a Member of Parliament for ACT from 1996 until 2011, was ACT's leader between 2004 and 2011, and represented the constituency f ...
that Delamere was planning a coup against New Zealand First leader
Winston Peters
Winston Raymond Peters (born 11 April 1945) is a New Zealand politician serving as the leader of New Zealand First since its foundation in 1993. Peters served as the 13th deputy prime minister of New Zealand from 1996 to 1998 and 2017 to 2020, ...
, an allegation which Delamere denied. Two days later, Delamere acknowledged that he had been exploring the possibility of a new political party based around the so-called "tight five", New Zealand First's group of Māori MPs (not counting Peters himself). When Peters was sacked from Cabinet, Delamere openly supported the move, and pledged his support to the National Party government regardless of his party's stance. Delamere formally resigned from New Zealand First on 18 August 1998, saying that the party would be better known as "Winston First".
Independent and Te Tawharau
As an independent, Delamere continued to support the National government, and retained his ministerial portfolios.
On 22 December 1998, Delamere announced gay and lesbian couples applying for
permanent residency
Permanent residency is a person's legal resident status in a country or territory of which such person is not a citizen but where they have the right to reside on a permanent basis. This is usually for a permanent period; a person with suc ...
would have the same rights as straight de facto couples: a change
Max Bradford
Maxwell Robert Bradford (born 19 January 1942) is a former New Zealand politician and cabinet minister. He was an MP for the National Party from 1990 to 2002. He is best known for introducing the " Bright Future" economic initiative in 1999, a ...
, when Minister of Immigration, stated was too difficult.
In late 1999, however, he lost his role as Minister of Immigration after a scandal regarding the application of immigration rules. Specifically, it emerged that Delamere had approved
permanent residency
Permanent residency is a person's legal resident status in a country or territory of which such person is not a citizen but where they have the right to reside on a permanent basis. This is usually for a permanent period; a person with suc ...
for a group of
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
businessmen provided they invested generously in various Māori development schemes. Delamere was widely criticised for using his authority to ensure that money was given to certain groups. Delamere himself claimed that his actions were a perfectly reasonable method of addressing Māori development needs. Although he lost the immigration portfolio, he retained his other roles.
Shortly before the
1999 elections, Delamere joined the small Māori
Te Tawharau
Te Tawharau (roughly translated as "the shelter") was a Māori political party in New Zealand.
Te Tawharau briefly had representation in Parliament when Tuariki Delamere, a former New Zealand First MP, transferred his loyalty to it. In the 199 ...
party, giving it its first representation in Parliament. He had previously declined to join the
Mauri Pacific
Mauri Pacific () was a short-lived political party in New Zealand. It was formed in 1998 by five former members of the New Zealand First party. It has often been described as a Māori party. Officially, Mauri Pacific was a multiculturalist par ...
party, established by five other former New Zealand First MPs (including three of his "tight five" colleagues). Shortly prior to the election, Delamere announced that his party would support only a Labour Party government on confidence and supply if it won seats in the new Parliament. This was at odds with Delamere's unwavering support of the legislative programme of the Shipley Administration. In the elections, Delamere contested the new
Waiariki electorate — he placed second, with 20.01% of the vote. The winner was
Mita Ririnui
Mita Michael Ririnui is a former New Zealand politician and a member of the Labour Party. He was a member of parliament from 1999 to 2011.
Early years
Ririnui was born in Tauranga. He obtained his education from Tauranga Boys' College, Bay of ...
of the
Labour Party. He was also placed second on the
party list of the
Mana Māori Movement
The Mana Māori Movement was a New Zealand political party. It advocated on behalf of the Māori people. It was founded by Eva Rickard, a Māori activist. Rickard was originally a member of Mana Motuhake, another Māori party, but quit when Mana ...
, which Te Tawharau was affiliated with, but the party did not win any seats.
The Opportunities Party
In July 2020, more than twenty years after Delamere last stood for office, he joined
The Opportunities Party
The Opportunities Party (usually referred to as TOP) is a centrist political party based in New Zealand. It was founded in 2016 by economist and philanthropist Gareth Morgan and is today led by Raf Manji. The party is based upon an idea of "evid ...
(TOP) and served as its immigration spokesperson and candidate for
Auckland Central in the
2020 election. During the 2020 election held on 17 October, Delamere only obtained 320 votes while the TOP party obtained 776 party votes in Auckland Central based on preliminary results.
Private sector
Since leaving Parliament, Delamere has established himself as an immigration consultant, founding the company of Tuariki Delamere & Associates. He also owns a successful cabaret restaurant in Auckland, Finale Restaurant and Cabaret.
In 2000 Delamere rejoined the
New Zealand National Party, the party he had started his political career with. However he ruled out a return to Parliament to concentrate on his business concerns.
In March and November 2005, Delamere appeared in court on charges of fraud. The trial began in the High Court in Auckland on 7 February 2007.
After a 4-week trial, the jury found him not guilty of all charges after less than 2 hours of deliberation on 2 March 2007.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Delamere, Tuariki
1951 births
Living people
New Zealand First MPs
The Opportunities Party politicians
Long Island University alumni
Washington State University alumni
Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand
United States Army officers
New Zealand businesspeople
New Zealand male long jumpers
New Zealand male triple jumpers
Commonwealth Games competitors for New Zealand
Athletes (track and field) at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games
New Zealand MPs for Māori electorates
Te Tawharau MPs
New Zealand sportsperson-politicians
New Zealand National Party politicians
Mana Māori Movement politicians
Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives
Unsuccessful candidates in the 1999 New Zealand general election
People from Papakura
21st-century New Zealand politicians
Unsuccessful candidates in the 2020 New Zealand general election