Taito Phillip Field

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Taito Phillip Hans Field, a New Zealand politician, is currently the member of parliament (MP) for Mangere, and an independent in the New Zealand Parliament.

1 Early life
2 Member of Parliament
- 2.1 Conflict of interest allegations
3 External links

[edit] Early life

Born in Apia, the capital of Samoa, he gained the name of Taito, the matai (paramount chief) title of the village of Manase on Savai'i, Samoa, in 1975. He has Samoan, Cook Island, German, English, and Jewish ancestry; and had functioned as a pioneering figure for Pacific Islanders while in the Labour Party.

[edit] Member of Parliament

Parl.	Electorate	List Pos.	Party
44th	Otara	n/a	Labour
45th	Mangere	none	Labour
46th	Mangere	14	Labour
47th	Mangere	none	Labour
48th	Mangere	13	Labour/Independent

Field first became a Member of Parliament when elected by the South Auckland seat of Otara in the 1993 elections. From the 1996 elections he has served as MP for Mangere, in succession to David Lange. He held the position of Minister outside Cabinet, with the portfolios of Associate Minister for Pacific Island Affairs, Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment, and Associate Minister for Justice until he was stood down in 2005.

In the 2005 general election, Field won a majority of more than 16,000 over his nearest opponent, Clem Simich of the National Party, this was the greatest majority in any electorate seat in New Zealand.

[edit] Conflict of interest allegations

In 2005, Field was stood down from his ministerial posts following controversies around allegations that he had improperly used his influence as an MP to receive material gain. In particular, it was alleged that he had used his position as a member of parliament to obtain a work permit for a non-resident who had worked as a tiler at reduced hourly rates on his home in Samoa. It was also alleged that Field had used his position to obtain a discounted price for a property deal he had constructed with low-income welfare benificiaries in his electorate. An inquiry cleared him of any conflict of interest, but did criticise his judgement over the events. [1].

Further allegations of improper behaviour were made by the Television New Zealand Sunday program on 27 August 2006, which led to Prime Minister Helen Clark saying that Field should reconsider his future as an MP. [2]. Police launched an investigation the following day into claims that Field had benefited from helping people with immigration applications. Field was put on indefinite paid leave from Parliament by the Labour Party [3]. After he made comments to the media that he may run against the Labour Party in a future election, steps were taken on 13 February 2007 by Labour to expel Field from the Party. On 14 February 2007, Field was formally expelled from the Parliamentary Labour Party which was announced by Speaker of the House of Representatives, Margaret Wilson. To forestall moves to expel him from the Labour Party, Field resigned from the Labour Party on 16 February 2007, returning to Parliament as an independent, but promising to support the Government's legislative programme[4], however, on 21 February he voted against the Labour Party on a members' bill to repeal section 59 of the Crimes Act.