I'm a first generation New Zealander: both my parents came to this country as immigrants. My father’s family sent him here to secondary school from Tahiti so that he could be educated in English. He went on to University, and became one of the first Pacific Islanders to be awarded a New Zealand law degree, and also one of the first to become a partner in a New Zealand law firm, in Gisborne in the late 1950s. My mother was born in Scotland, and came to New Zealand as a child with her family shortly after the end of WWII. My grandfather had been a POW in Germany and wanted to make a new start in New Zealand, finding a job in the freezing works in Gisborne in 1946.

In 1985, I was Dux of Gisborne Boys’ High. I joined the Gisborne Branch of the Labour Party that year, and I have remained a member of the Party for the past 22 years. In 1986 I went to Auckland University. In 1987, I was elected Chair of the Princes Street Branch of the Party, and in 1988, President of Young Labour. In common with other Party members, I was becoming increasingly concerned at the direction of the 4th Labour Government’s economic policy, and many of its Ministers’ indifference to Party and public opinion. As a result of expressing these concerns, I was locked out (along with others of like-mind) by Richard Prebble and his political allies of meetings of the Auckland Central LEC, to which the branch was affiliated.

In late 1988, I was offered a job as the Chief Justice’s law clerk in Wellington. I transferred to Victoria University and completed my Bachelor of Laws degree (with honours) here that year. I was also elected to the New Zealand Council of the Party, as Youth Representative, a role in which I served until 1991. At the end of 1989 I moved back to Auckland, and began working as the Legal Officer for the Northern Hotel Workers’ Union. I taught contract law classes part time at Auckland University, and enrolled for my master’s degree. In 1990, I sat on the Policy Council, and in the 1990 election, I stood against Bill Birch as Labour’s candidate in the Maramarua electorate. I continued to work, with colleagues who had remained with Labour during the great divisions of the 1980s, in favour of the selection of progressive candidates, and toward Helen Clark’s election as Party Leader. That year, I was elected to the Board of the New Zealand AIDS Foundation, serving until 1995, when I chaired the Foundation. My focus at that time was on advocating for healthy public policy. A major success was the inclusion in the Human Rights Act and the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act of ‘disability’ and ‘sexual orientation’ as prohibited grounds of discrimination.

In 1993, I moved back to Wellington. I was awarded the Diploma in Health Economics (with Merit), and in 1994 I completed my master’s thesis, graduating Master of Jurisprudence (with Distinction) from Auckland University. I was appointed to the Board of the Public Health Commission that year. I also became a Crown Counsel in the Crown Law Office, gaining excellent litigation experience in the Privy Council, the Court of Appeal, the Employment Court and the High Court. In 1997 I was awarded the Hague Academy of International Law’s Certificate in Public International Law.

I joined the Wellington Office of Minter Ellison Rudd Watts, where I headed the firm’s public law and employment law teams as a partner from 2000. In 2001, I completed the Diploma in International Labour Standards at the International Training Centre of the ILO. Between 2002 and 2004 I headed the firm’s Sydney operations, and sat on the firm’s board. I served as Deputy Presiding Member of the Lotteries Commission between 2000 and 2004, and as Deputy Chair of Meridian Energy Ltd. During my time at Lotteries, my board colleagues and I presided over a revitalisation of the organisation, including its ability to return profits for good causes to the Lottery Grants Board. At Meridian, I worked with the Board and Chief Executive to set the Company firmly on its present path of commitment to 100% renewable energy generation.

During my time in legal practice, I sat on the Law Society’s Employment Law Committee, and on the editorial boards of Butterworth’s Employment Law Bulletin and Mazengarb’s Employment Law. I co-wrote a book entitled Employment Mediation in New Zealand, and the Public Safety Title for the Laws of New Zealand. I’m Consulting Editor for the Betting and Gaming Title for the Laws series. Between 2000 and 2005, I was listed as a leading New Zealand employment lawyer in most of the major international legal services directories. I also took a number of important public interest cases pro bono through the courts, including representing the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions in an appeal in the Supreme Court concerning the definition of ‘employee’ vs ‘contractor’, and a case before a Full Court of the High Court to restrict the availability of anti-gay hate speech videos that a fundamentalist group was seeking to distribute.

I stood as Labour’s candidate in Ohariu-Belmont in 2005. The 2005 results there - a 3% increase in the party vote, and a 5% increase in the personal vote - represented the greatest improvement over the 2002 results in a non-Labour held seat. I also stood for the List, and went into Parliament on 1 August 2006 on Jim Sutton’s retirement.

During the 5th Labour-led Government, I served as the parliamentary secretary to the Attorney-General. I chaired Parliament's Finance and Expenditure Committee and sat on its Justice and Electoral Committee. At the 2008 general election, I was re-elected to the New Zealand Parliament as a Labour list MP based in the Wellington region.

Over the past 20 years, I have worked hard as a party activist, a union official, a volunteer in the community sector, a lawyer and business owner in Wellington and overseas, a political candidate and now a Labour MP. My experiences have shaped my beliefs, which sit in the mainstream of modern, secular, liberal, social democratic thought.

I'm proud to serve as a Member of Parliament in New Zealand's 49th Parliament, and as a part of the Labour team.