The Honourable  Mark Burton  MP
34th Minister of Defence
In office 5 December 1999 – 12 October 2005
Prime Minister	Helen Clark
Preceded by	Max Bradford
Succeeded by	Phil Goff
44th Minister of Justice
In office 19 October 2005 – 31 October 2007
Prime Minister	Helen Clark
Preceded by	Phil Goff
Succeeded by	Annette King
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Taupō
In office 6 November 1993 – 8 November 2008
Preceded by	New constituency
Succeeded by	Louise Upston
Majority	1,285[1]
Born	16 January 1956 (1956-01-16) (age 53)  United Kingdom
Political party	Labour

Richard Mark Burton (known as Mark Burton) (born 16 January 1956) is a New Zealand politician. He is a member of the Labour Party. He served as Minister of Justice; Minister of Local Government; Minister in Charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations; Deputy Leader of the House; and the Minister Responsible for the Law Commission in the Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Member of Parliament 2.1 Cabinet minister 3 References 4 Political offices 5 Further reading

[edit] Early life

Burton was born in Northampton, England, but was brought to New Zealand by his family when ten years old. He attended high school in Wanganui. He has been involved in a wide range of social and community organisations, including the Red Cross, the Department of Social Welfare, the Central Plateau Rural Education Activities Programme, the Council of Social Services, the Taupo Employment Support Trust, and the Taupo Sexual Abuse Counselling Service. He received a medal for his work in 1990.

[edit] Member of Parliament

Parl.	Electorate	List Pos.	Party
44th	Tongariro		Labour
45th	Taupo	10	Labour
46th	Taupo	18	Labour
47th	Taupo	16	Labour
48th	Taupo	16	Labour

In the 1993 elections, Burton stood as the Labour Party's candidate for Tongariro, an electorate in the central North Island, defeating Ian Peters. This later became the seat of Taupo, which Burton retained.

Due to boundary changes to the Taupo seat for the 2008 general election, including the incorporation of the National-leaning area of Cambridge, his seat is now considered the most marginal in the country.

From 1996 to 1999, he served as his party's Senior Whip.

[edit] Cabinet minister

When the Labour Party won power in the 1999 election, Burton became part of the new Cabinet, assuming the roles of Minister of Internal Affairs, Minister of Defence, Minister for State-Owned Enterprises, Minister of Tourism, and Minister of Veterans' Affairs. In 2002, Internal Affairs and Veterans' Affairs were transferred to George Hawkins. In February 2005 he becomes the Minister of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, and dropped the State-Owned Enterprises portfolio.

In late 2004, with Jonathan Hunt set to retire from politics, Burton was regarded by many as the Labour Party's preferred choice to replace him as Speaker of the House of Representatives. In the end, however, Labour decided to nominate Margaret Wilson for the position.

Burton sponsored the introduction of the Electoral Finance Act, which made election funding more transparent and open by making anonymous donations illegal if they exceed the sum of $12,000. The Act capped the highest donation to the sum of $120,000 and increased public funding in elections to allow for more funding to go to a wider range of parties. The Act extended the regulated period classifying an election year to January 1 of the election year.

In November 2007 Burton resigned from his Cabinet positions during Prime Minister Helen Clark's portfolio renewal. When Labour's party list was written prior to the 2008 general election, he was given a low placing of 39.^[2] He then lost his seat in a nation-wide swing to the National Party, and due to his place on the list, was not returned to parliament.^[3]

[edit] References

[edit] Political offices

Assembly seats
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Taupo 1996-2008	Succeeded by Louise Upston
Political offices
Preceded by Max Bradford	Minister of Defence 1999-2005	Succeeded by Phil Goff
Preceded by Phil Goff	Minister of Justice 2005-2007	Succeeded by Annette King

[edit] Further reading

• Briefing paper, Wellington, [N.Z.]: Local Government New Zealand, 1999-2000 

• Greener, Peter (ed.) (2005), Push for peace: commemorating the past, reflecting on the present, resolving conflict in the future, Auckland, [N.Z.]: Auckland University of Technology ; Auckland War Memorial Museum, ISBN 1-877-31445-5 

• Burton's contribution is a paper entitled: " New Zealand defence: playing our part as a responsible world citizen."

• Ruru, Jacinta (ed.) (2008), In good faith: symposium proceedings marking the 20th anniversary of the Lands case, Wellington, [N.Z.] ; Dunedin, [N.Z.]: New Zealand Law Foundation ; Faculty of Law, University of Otago, ISBN 0-473-13043-2 

• Burton's contribution is a paper entitled: "Impact on government: a political perspective."