Stan Rodger

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The Honourable
Stan Rodger
CMG JP
3rd Minister for State Owned Enterprises
In office
8 November 1988 – 9 February 1990
Prime MinisterDavid Lange
Geoffrey Palmer
Preceded byDavid Lange
Succeeded byRichard Prebble
7th Minister of State Services
In office
26 July 1984 – 9 February 1990
Prime MinisterDavid Lange
Geoffrey Palmer
Preceded byDavid Thomson
Succeeded byClive Matthewson
28th Minister of Labour
In office
26 July 1984 – 8 August 1989
Prime MinisterDavid Lange
Preceded byJim Bolger
Succeeded byHelen Clark
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Dunedin North
In office
25 November 1978 – 27 October 1990
Preceded byRichard Walls
Succeeded byPete Hodgson
Personal details
Born1940
Dunedin, New Zealand
Political partyLabour
ProfessionPublic Servant

Stanley Joseph Rodger CMG JP (born 1940) is a former New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. He was President of the Public Services Association between 1970 and 1973 and Member of Parliament for Dunedin North from 1978 to 1990.

Biography[]

Early life and career[]

Rodger was born in Dunedin in 1940 and was educated at King Edward Technical College. In 1957 he began his career in the public service in Dunedin working at the Ministry of Works and Development, later moving to Wellington to take up another position at the Ministry.[1]

He became involved with the Public Service Association (PSA) and became vice-president from 1967 to 1970. From 1970 to 1973, he was President of the PSA.[2] Between 1970 and 1974 he was the chairman of the Combined State Unions and from 1976 to 1978 he was the assistant secretary of the PSA.[1]

Political career[]

New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate Party
1978–1981 39th Dunedin North Labour
1981–1984 40th Dunedin North Labour
1984–1987 41st Dunedin North Labour
1987–1990 42nd Dunedin North Labour


In 1963 he put himself forward to replace Phil Connolly the retiring MP for Dunedin Central, but lost out to Brian MacDonell. Aged only 22 at the time Rodger was informed by Arnold Nordmeyer that his age was against him, however Connolly would subsequently give Rodger encouragement to pursue politics.[3]

Rodger stood unsuccessfully for the Labour Party in the 1963 election for Waitaki and in the 1966 election for Otago. In 1965, 1968 and 1971, he stood as a Labour candidate for the Wellington Hospital Board without success. In 1968 he also stood for a seat on the Wellington City Council, but was likewise unsuccessful.[4] In 1973, he stood for vice-president of the Labour Party and was seen as the front-runner for the position, however surprisingly finished only third behind the winner Eddie Isbey and Jonathan Hunt.[5]

He represented the electorate of Dunedin North in Parliament from 1978 to 1990, when he retired and was replaced by Pete Hodgson. From 1980 to 1984 he was Labour's junior whip.[6] From 1982 to 1984 he was Shadow Postmaster-General.[7][8]

He was the Minister of Labour, State Services and State Owned Enterprises in the Fourth Labour Government.[9] He represented the government at the annual conferences of the International Labour Organization (ILO) as well as the Asian Region Conference of the ILO in Jakarta in 1985.[10]

His political opponents gave him the tag of "Side-line Stan". As Minister of State Services Rodger was responsible for overseeing the introduction and implementation of the controversial State Sector Act 1988 which reshaped and partially privatized the Public service in New Zealand. The reform was deeply unpopular, so much so that the PSA stripped Rodger of his life membership (however they restored it in 2004).[2] He was never enthusiastic about the public service reform, but publicly went along with them nevertheless. Roderick Deane, the then Chairman of the State Services Commission, said of Rodger's role in the reforms; "The quiet, silent type who held it all together by not intervening when he must have been sorely tempted to do so was Stan Rodger."[11]

In the 1991 New Year Honours, Rodger was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, for public services.[12]

Post-parliamentary career[]

In December 1990, after exiting parliament, he took up a position at University of Otago as the assistant registrar to the Secretary of the School of Dentistry.[13] He was later appointed Director of the Southern Regional Health Authority (RHA) and in 1997 was appointed a member of a board of review into RHAs.[14] He was a vocal critic of Sukhi Turner's performance as Mayor of Dunedin and endorsed former Labour MP Clive Matthewson (and his successor as Minister of State Services) at the 1998 election.[15]

In 2000, Rodger was appointed chair of the review team tasked with conducting a ministerial review of the Education Review Office.[16] In 2004 he was appointed deputy chairman of Transpower New Zealand.[17] In 2006 he was appointed to the Electricity Commission, whence he stepped down from his chairmanship role at Transpower.[18]

Notes[]

  1. ^ a b Who's Who 1987, p. 85.
  2. ^ a b O'Hare, Noel (2 April 2013). "Stan Rodger". Public Service Association. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  3. ^ Jamieson 2009, p. 266.
  4. ^ "Official Result of Poll in Wellington". The Evening Post. 14 October 1968.
  5. ^ "Mr Bennett Elected First Maori Labour President". The Evening Post. 8 May 1973. p. 1.
  6. ^ Wilson 1985, p. 281.
  7. ^ "Heads of Labour Posts Named". The New Zealand Herald. 15 December 1979. p. 12.
  8. ^ "Labour leader allocates responsibilities". The Press. 17 March 1983. p. 3.
  9. ^ Wilson 1985, p. 98.
  10. ^ Who's Who 1987, p. 86.
  11. ^ Russell 1996, p. 111.
  12. ^ "No. 52383". The London Gazette (2nd supplement). 31 December 1990. p. 29.
  13. ^ "University post for Rodger". Otago Daily Times. 7 November 1990. p. 1.
  14. ^ Maling, Nicholas (12 March 1997). "Health revamp board named". The Evening Post. p. 1.
  15. ^ "Matthewson plans to stand for Dunedin mayoralty". The Dominion. 26 February 1998. p. 15.
  16. ^ "Rodger to head ERO review". The Dominion. 31 August 2000. p. 2.
  17. ^ "New chair at Transpower". The Dominion Post. 15 December 2004. p. C3.
  18. ^ "Rodger switches board seats". The Dominion Post. 2 September 2006. p. C2.

References[]

  • Jamieson, Rosemary (2009). In Command: Minesweeper Captain and Labour Parliamentarian (1st ed.). Wellington: Steele Roberts.
  • Russell, Marcia (1996). Revolution: New Zealand from Fortress to Free Market. Hodder Moa Beckett. ISBN 1869584287.
  • Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.
  • Who's Who in the New Zealand Parliament 1987. Wellington: Parliamentary Service. 1987.

Further reading[]

  • Hannan, Debbie (2018). Stan Rodger : a life of public service. Dunedin. OCLC 1037557945.
Political offices
Preceded by Minister for State Owned Enterprises
1988–1990 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of State Services
1984–1990 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of Labour
1984–1989 		Succeeded by
New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Dunedin North
1978–1990 		Succeeded by
Trade union offices
Preceded by
Ray Hannan
 President of the Public Service Association
1970–1973 		Succeeded by
Jack Batt
Retrieved from ""