Frank O'Flynn

Francis Duncan O'Flynn (24 October 1918 – 17 October 2003) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party.

O'Flynn was born in Runanga in 1918.

He was the son of Francis Edward O'Flynn and Margaret Helen Valentine Duncan.

He received his education at Christchurch Normal School and Christchurch Boys' High School.

He received his BA in 1940, and joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force in 1942.

He married Sylvia Elizabeth Hefford in 1942 and they had four children.

He obtained his LLB in 1947 and LLM in 1948.

At the 1947, 1950 and 1953 local-body elections he was stood unsuccessfully for the Wellington City Council on the Labour Party ticket.

He served as a law clerk at O'Regan and Arndt in Wellington until 1954.

He was a barrister and solicitor until 1968, when he was named Queen's Counsel (QC).

He represented the victims of the Wahine ferry disaster in 1968.

Also in 1968 he was elected a member of the Otaki Borough Council.

In 1971 he stood unsuccessfully for the Wellington Hospital Board.

O'Flynn represented Brian Brooks in the 1972, where Brooks successfully sued prime minister Robert Muldoon for defamation for remarks Muldoon made on a 1972 television programme.

O'Flynn's cross-examination of Muldoon generated a lot of interest, and was described in his Law Society obituary as a highlight of his career.

He represented the seat of Kapiti from 1972 to 1975, when he was defeated.

O'Flynn's attempt was not helped by an effort to seek candidates with links to Nelson as there were fears in the area that MPs who had lost their seats in 1975 would become "parachute candidates".

He was the only defeated candidate to try for the nomination.

Soon after losing his seat he went to Nelson to seek the Labour candidacy for the seat in a 1976 by-election, but was unsuccessful.

Following his attempt in Nelson, O'Flynn seriously considered standing for Mayor of Wellington in 1977, but he withdrew in favour of Sir Frank Kitts.

At the same election he stood for the Wellington City Council and was elected.

He was elected narrowly by 650 votes and represented Island Bay from 1978 to 1987, when he retired due to ill health.

Soon after returning to Parliament he was appointed as Shadow Minister of Health by leader Bill Rowling.

Between 1980 and 1981 he was leader of the Labour caucus on the council.

He was re-elected in 1980 but unexpectedly lost his seat on the council in 1983.

He was later shifted from Health to be Shadow Minister of Justice in 1981.

O'Flynn was a backer of David Lange for leader and was rewarded by being promoted to the front bench and given the role of Shadow Attorney-General.

Following Labour's victory at the O'Flynn was naturally expected to in both political and legal circles to become Attorney-General, but Lange had been persuaded by his deputy Geoffrey Palmer (who had been O'Flynn's legal clerk decades earlier) to appoint him to the role instead.

His defeat was in the wake of him hinting that he would rethink his position on the council should he become a cabinet minister after being promoted earlier in 1983.

Following the controversial de-selection of Gerald O'Brien, O'Flynn was selected as his replacement in the Island Bay electorate.

O'Brien ran as an independent candidate and drew away many former Labour voters causing O'Flynn to come close to losing one of Labour's safest seats.

During the Fourth Labour Government he was a cabinet minister and served as Minister of Defence from 1984 to 1987.

He was also Minister of State, Minister in charge of War Pensions, Minister in charge of Rehabilitation, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Associate Minister of Overseas Trade and Marketing.

As Minister of Defence he famously said that "he would defend New Zealand by blowing up bridges and tunnels." He was instrumental in developing Labour's nuclear-free policies, which despite resulting in the breakdown of ANZUS, O'Flynn described as "by far the brightest thing [the Government] had done."

He had a meeting in Malaysia in 1985 with United States Secretary of State George Shultz, where Shultz lambasted New Zealand's stance but O'Flynn defended their position resulting in deadlock.

O'Flynn disliked the Defence portfolio and felt the officials at the Ministry of Defence took him for granted on many issues.

On three occasions (July, August and December 1985) he threatened to resign as minister after Lange failed to back him during a disagreement with officials regarding the posting of a Defence official overseas at great cost to the taxpayer.

O'Flynn thought that it was a waste of public money and that the official was little more than 'a big, dull fat Poo-Bah'.

His bench mate Michael Bassett felt that O'Flynn's dislike of the defence portfolio was more an expression of his disappointment that Lange had broken his promise of giving him the position of Attorney-General.

O'Flynn and Lange became increasingly estranged and their communications were reduced to being conducted through Bassett as an intermediary.