Lianne Dalziel

She was widely regarded as the top favourite and won with a wide margin to become the 46th Mayor of Christchurch.

Lianne Audrey Dalziel (born 7 June 1960) is a New Zealand politician and former Mayor of Christchurch.

Prior to this position, she was a member of the New Zealand Parliament for 23 years, serving as Minister of Immigration, Commerce, Minister of Food Safety and Associate Minister of Justice in the Fifth Labour Government.

Dalziel was born in 1960, raised in Christchurch and attended Canterbury University.

She graduated with a law degree and was admitted to the Bar in 1984.

She served as the legal officer for the Canterbury Hotel and Hospital Workers' Union, and later became the union's Secretary.

She also participated in national groups such as the Federation of Labour and the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions.

Dalziel entered Parliament as a Labour Party MP for Christchurch Central in 1990, replacing outgoing former Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer.

In November 1990 she was appointed as Labour's spokesperson for the Audit Department and Customs by Labour leader Mike Moore.

After Helen Clark replaced Moore as leader in December 1993 Dalziel was promoted and given the Health portfolio.

Time magazine picked her as a future leader in its December 1994 edition.

She held this seat until the 1996 election (being replaced by Tim Barnett), when she became a list MP under the new MMP electoral system.

Tim Barnett, MP for Christchurch Central from 1996 to 2008 credits her training as a lawyer and "having a bigger brain than most of us" for her success.

Williams states that as Minister of Commerce, Dalziel worked closely with National's Simon Power and built "cross-party unity on various issues".

Dalziel's position became difficult after she was accused of giving certain documents to the press to bolster the case for a decision her Associate Minister had made.

The decision, concerning the deportation of a Sri Lankan teenager who was seeking asylum but who had originally lied about the reasons, was controversial, and Dalziel leaked the notes of the teenager's lawyer to TV3, attempting to discredit the teenager's case for asylum.

Dalziel tried to avoid admitting to being the source of the documents, but was forced to admit that the leak had been at her direction.

There was also significant controversy about how Dalziel had obtained the documents in the first place.

Dalziel offered her resignation which Prime Minister Helen Clark accepted.

In August 1997 Dalziel was replaced in the Health portfolio by Annette King due to perceived ineffectiveness against Minister of Health Bill English, media believing Alliance Health spokesperson Phillida Bunkle was performing better.

Instead she was made Shadow Attorney-General and given the portfolios of immigration, youth affairs and statistics.

Dalziel expressed enthusiasm for the chance to utilise her law degree in politics as Shadow Attorney-General.

In the new government formed by Labour, Dalziel became Minister of Immigration, Minister for Senior Citizens, and Minister for Disability Issues.

In the 1999 election, she chose to contest an electorate again, and won the Christchurch East seat.

Mike Williams, President of the Labour Party from 2000 to 2009, states that he was surprised by Clark appointing Dalziel Minister of Commerce and thought of it as an "odd choice".

But she worked herself into the portfolio, paid attention to detail, and within a year had "proved herself".

Williams believes this is due to her high intelligence and her ability to listen.

She held the seat in the 2002, 2005, 2008 and 2011 elections.

When Labour won re-election in the 2002 election, Dalziel also became Minister of Commerce (while ceasing to be Minister for Disability Issues).

In 2003, she ceased to be Minister for Senior Citizens.

As Minister of Immigration, Dalziel was often in the spotlight.

In particular, she often clashed with Winston Peters, leader of the anti-immigration New Zealand First party.

She resigned from Cabinet on 20 February 2004 after apparently lying about a leak of documents to the media, but was reinstated as a Minister following Labour's return to office after the 2005 election.

After the 2005 election, Dalziel was re-elected by her caucus colleagues to Cabinet and was given the portfolios of Commerce, Small Business, and Women's Affairs.

After Labour was defeated in the 2008 general election, Dalziel became the Opposition spokesperson on Justice and Commerce and, from 2011, the spokesperson for the Christchurch Earthquake Recovery, Civil Defence & Emergence Management, Consumer Rights & Standards, and associate spokesperson for Justice.

Rumours of Dalziel standing as Mayor of Christchurch go back to at least 2009.

In 2011 she opted not to go on the Labour list.

Since the February 2011 earthquake, the rumours that Dalziel would contest the 2013 Christchurch mayoralty became more consistent.

She resigned from Parliament effective 11 October 2013 to contest the Christchurch mayoral election.

The incumbent, Bob Parker, decided not to stand again.