Sir Douglas Arthur Montrose Graham (born 12 January 1942) is a former

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

politician. He was an MP from 1984 to 1999, representing the National Party.

Early life and family

Graham was born in

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 ...

, and attended

Southwell School Southwell School, is an independent co-educational Anglican boarding and day school set in 32 acres of park like grounds in central Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton, New Zealand. Southwell offers education to children aged 5 to 13 years. A numbe ...

and

Auckland Grammar School Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

. In 1965 he obtained an

LLB Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

from the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

and became a lawyer, establishing his own practice in 1968. From 1973 to 1983, he lectured in legal ethics at the University of Auckland. He was chairman of the board of the Auckland Regional Orchestra from 1982 to 1983. His great-grandfather Robert Graham was a member of the 2nd,

3rd Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

and 4th New Zealand parliaments, from 1855 to 1868. In 2008, his brother

Kennedy Graham Kennedy Gollan Montrose Graham (born 1946) is a New Zealand politician and former Member of Parliament for the Green Party. He has served in the New Zealand Foreign Service for sixteen years, and lectured at the University of Canterbury and Vi ...

was elected to parliament representing the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

. His son, Carrick, is a

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...

consultant.

Member of Parliament

In the lead up to the 1981 election Graham unsuccessfully challenged

Allan Highet David Allan Highet (27 May 1913 – 28 April 1992) was a New Zealand politician. He was an MP from 1966 to 1984, representing the National Party for Remuera, holding the then largest majorities in the House. Early life and family Highet was b ...

for the National nomination for the suburban Auckland electorate of

Remuera Remuera is an affluent inner city suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It is located four kilometres southeast of the city centre. Remuera is characterised by many large houses, often Edwardian or mid 20th century. A prime example of a "leafy" sub ...

. Three years later Highet retired and Graham was elected to Parliament in the 1984 election as his replacement. After entering parliament National leader Sir

Robert Muldoon Sir Robert David Muldoon (; 25 September 19215 August 1992) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 31st Prime Minister of New Zealand, from 1975 to 1984, while leader of the National Party. Serving as a corporal and sergeant in th ...

designated Graham spokesperson for the Arts, Insurance and EQC. When Muldoon was replaced by his deputy

Jim McLay Sir James Kenneth McLay (born 21 February 1945) is a New Zealand diplomat and former politician. He served as the ninth deputy prime minister of New Zealand from 15 March to 26 July 1984. McLay was also Leader of the National Party and Leader ...

Graham was appointed Shadow Minister for Disarmament and was later allocated the Revenue portfolio as well. He initially retained those roles after McLay was ousted by

Jim Bolger James Brendan Bolger ( ; born 31 May 1935) is a New Zealand retired politician of the National Party who was the 35th prime minister of New Zealand, serving from 1990 to 1997. Bolger was born to an Irish immigrant family in Ōpunake, Taran ...

, but substituted the Revenue portfolio for Broadcasting in September 1987 but in a major reshuffle in February 1990 he changed back from Broadcasting to Revenue and was also appointed Shadow Minister for Constitutional Issues.

Cabinet minister

When the National Party won the 1990 election, Graham was appointed to

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

, becoming

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

Minister of Disarmament and Arms Control The Minister of Disarmament and Arms Control is a minister (government), minister in the government of New Zealand. The portfolio was established after the declaration of the New Zealand nuclear-free zone and passing of the New Zealand Nuclea ...

, and Minister of Cultural Affairs. In 1993, he became

Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations The Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, otherwise known as the Treaty Negotiations Minister or the Minister of Treaty Negotiations, is a Government minister, minister in the Government of New Zealand. The minister is tasked with multi ...

, perhaps his most prominent role. He was widely praised by both

Pākehā Pākehā (or Pakeha; ; ) is a Māori term for New Zealanders primarily of European descent. Pākehā is not a legal concept and has no definition under New Zealand law. The term can apply to fair-skinned persons, or to any non-Māori New Ze ...

and

Māori 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 C ...

for his work on numerous Treaty settlements, although opponents of the process have voiced criticisms of his policies. Later, Graham also became

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

and Minister for Courts. In the 1996 election, when the Remuera seat was abolished, Graham became 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 ...

. He was ranked sixth on National's

party list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can ...

, a relatively high placing. On 21 May 1998 Graham was appointed to the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

and became

the Right Honourable ''The Right Honourable'' ( abbreviation: ''Rt Hon.'' or variations) is an honorific style traditionally applied to certain persons and collective bodies in the United Kingdom, the former British Empire and the Commonwealth of Nations. The term is ...

Douglas Graham.

Life after politics

He retired from politics at the 1999 election. In the 1999 New Year Honours, Graham was appointed a

Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...

, for services as a Minister of the Crown and Member of Parliament. On 24 February 2012 he was convicted, along with fellow former Justice Minister

Bill Jeffries William Patrick Jeffries (born 19 September 1945) is a former New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. He was elected as the Member of Parliament for Heretaunga and served as Minister of Transport and Minister of Justice. Biography Early l ...

and two other men, of breaching the Securities Act by making untrue statements to investors in his capacity as a director of Lombard Finance. Justice Robert Dobson wrote, "I am satisfied that the accused genuinely believed in the accuracy and adequacy of the ... documents", but that the offences were ones of

strict liability In criminal and civil law, strict liability is a standard of liability under which a person is legally responsible for the consequences flowing from an activity even in the absence of fault or criminal intent on the part of the defendant. ...

so there was no need for "any form of mental intent to distribute documents that were false or misleading". Graham was sentenced to 300 hours' community service and ordered to pay $100,000 in reparation. The Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal against conviction and increased his sentence to six months' home detention and 200 hours' community work, but the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

restored the original sentence. Retired Court of Appeal judge Sir Edmund Thomas described the convictions as a "grievous miscarriage of justice", saying of the crucial piece of evidence that "you would never ever convict a dog on the basis of the schedule". There have been calls for his knighthood to be revoked, but Prime Minister

John Key Sir John Phillip Key (born 9 August 1961) is a New Zealand retired politician who served as the 38th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 2008 to 2016 and as Leader of the New Zealand National Party from 2006 to 2016. After resigning from bo ...

announced on 1 November 2013 that Graham would keep his knighthood.

Notes

References

* , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Doug 1942 births Attorneys-General of New Zealand Living people Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand 20th-century New Zealand lawyers New Zealand National Party MPs University of Auckland alumni University of Auckland faculty People educated at Auckland Grammar School New Zealand list MPs Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Knights Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit New Zealand MPs for Auckland electorates New Zealand members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom New Zealand politicians convicted of crimes New Zealand politicians awarded knighthoods Justice ministers of New Zealand