20 Facts About David Benson-Pope

David Benson-Pope is a former Member of Parliament for Dunedin South and has been a member of the Dunedin City Council since 2013.

David Benson-Pope was re-elected to the city council four more times and resigned in 1999, when he successfully contested the Dunedin South electorate for the Labour Party.

David Benson-Pope was selected to succeed Labour's deputy leader Michael Cullen as the Dunedin South candidate for the 1999 election when Cullen moved to Hawke's Bay.

David Benson-Pope easily defeated National candidate Russel Keast to retain the seat for Labour.

David Benson-Pope entered Cabinet in 2004, becoming Minister of Fisheries, Minister Responsible for the Law Commission, Associate Minister of Justice, Associate Minister for Education and Associate Minister for the Environment.

David Benson-Pope lost those positions in 2007 and served the final year of his parliamentary career on the backbench.

David Benson-Pope was temporarily stood down as a cabinet minister in 2005 after allegations from former students about the use of violence in the classroom.

Claims that he misled Parliament were not referred to the Privileges Committee by the Speaker and after three weeks David Benson-Pope was restored to his portfolios, except for his role as Associate Minister of Education.

David Benson-Pope faced further controversy in 2007, which led to the resignation of his ministerial posts and the end of his Parliamentary career.

In July 2007 it emerged that a political advisor in David Benson-Pope's office made phone calls which led to the sacking of the Ministry for the Environment's newly appointed communications manager.

Clark accepted the resignation, saying, "The way in which certain issues have been handled this week has led to a loss of credibility and on that basis I have accepted Mr David Benson-Pope's offer to stand aside".

David Benson-Pope's resignation triggered a significant reshuffle of the Cabinet.

David Benson-Pope stood as an independent candidate and was elected on 12 October 2013.

David Benson-Pope was a senior member of the DCC under mayors Dave Cull and Aaron Hawkins and chaired the council's planning and regulatory committee from 2013 until 2022.

David Benson-Pope was re-elected to the Dunedin City Council for a fourth term during the 2022 Dunedin local elections.

In mid December 2022, David Benson-Pope voiced opposition to Health New Zealand's proposed budgetary cutbacks to operating theatres and facilities in plans for the rebuilt Dunedin Hospital, Dunedin's primary hospital.

David Benson-Pope campaigned for the Hospital to be rebuilt according to its original specifications.

In late May 2024, David Benson-Pope voted in favour of a DCC motion asking the New Zealand government to establish a special visa category for Palestinian refugees displaced by the Gaza war.

In late September 2024, David Benson-Pope voted in favour of the DCC retaining ownership of utility company Aurora Energy following strong public opposition to the proposed sale.

David Benson-Pope said ""I think, especially for those of you in the room today, that you will already have realised that had that public voice not been so clearly articulated, the decision would have been very, very different.