Lianne Dalziel
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Lianne Audrey Dalziel (born 7 June 1960) is a member of the New Zealand Parliament and a former Cabinet minister. She resigned on 20 February 2004 after lying about a leak of documents to the media.
Dalziel was raised in Christchurch, and attended University of Canterbury. She graduated with a law degree and was admitted to the Bar. 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. She held this seat until the 1996 elections, when she became a list MP under the new MMP electoral system. In the 1999 elections, she chose to contest an electorate again, and won the Christchurch East seat.
In the new government formed by Labour, Dalziel became Minister of Immigration, Minister for Senior Citizens, and Minister for Disability Issues. When Labour won re-election in the 2002 elections, Dalziel's 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.
Dalziel's position became difficult after she was accused of giving certain documents to the press to bolster the case for a decision she had made. The decision, which regarded the deportation of a Sri Lankan teenager who was seeking asylum, was controversial, and Dalziel leaked the notes of the teenager's lawyer to the TV3 television station, attempting to discredit the teenager's case for asylum. Dalziel denied being the source of the documents, but was shown to be lying. There was also significant controversy about how Dalziel had obtained the documents in the first place. Eventually, Dalziel offered her resignation. Prime Minister Helen Clark, having asking TV3's reporter whether he stood by his claim about the leak's source, accepted the resignation. Dalziel remains a member of parliament, but there is speculation that she may resign from her seat as well.