Trevor de Cleene

Trevor Albert de Cleene

On 12 October 1962, he married Gwenda Doris Taylor and they had one girl (born 1964) and two boys (born 1966 and 1970, respectively). They divorced in 1976 and he remarried in 1982 to Raewyn Watt.^[3]

He played hockey for Canterbury University, then Victoria University and finally Hockey Manawatu. He loved the outdoors and enjoyed hunting, fishing and shooting.

Law seemed an ideal profession for de Cleene. He was a gifted scholar, was good with words and loved public speaking. He was a good debater, was witty and a very quick thinker. Due to his presentation, he quickly became the centre of attention wherever he went.[2] He was admitted to the bar in 1956 and started his professional career working for Innes and Oakley in Palmerston North. His move to start his own practice was summed up by himself as follows: "I crossed the street and put up my own plate." Between 1966 and 1970, he shared the practice with Bob Calkin. For the next two years, he practised on his own again, and beginning in 1973, he was with Loughnan, de Cleene and Co for three years.^[3]

1976 saw him move to Tauranga, where he practised on his own. In the following year, he returned to Palmerston North and continued as a partner with Loughnan, de Cleene & Co until his election to Parliament.^[3]

He specialised in criminal law, commercial law and worker compensation. He especially enjoyed criminal law because of the high-profile that it gave him both within the profession and the public. He was legal advisor to the export company run by Joe Walding. He also provided legal advice pro bono for many sporting organisations.^[2]

Political career

Local politics

De Cleene joined the Labour Party in 1952. His family had a long connection with the party and his earliest memory of his mother was her pouring tea at Labour Party functions, always grateful of having obtained a State house to live in. He became more active in the 1960s.^[2]

De Cleene was first elected to

De Cleene first stood for Parliament in the 1969 general election in the Pahiatua electorate against the Prime Minister, Keith Holyoake. The political novice had no chance to unseat the incumbent in the election, was aware of it and was not interested in entering Parliament at that point anyway: "I was too young and with a wife and kids. But it was good experience for the future."^[2] The electorate was contested by four candidates, and Holyoake and de Cleene obtained 62.3% and 28.3% of the votes, respectively.^[2]

In 1976, de Cleene moved to Tauranga for personal reasons.^[3] One biographer describes his as being restless during that period, trying to break his political links with his home town Palmerston North.^[2] He returned home to contest the 1978 election. His friend Joe Walding, who had previously represented the Palmerston North electorate and whom he had previously supported, was nominated for Palmerston North again. De Cleene won the Labour nomination for the Manawatu electorate. He came second in the general election against Michael Cox of the National Party.^[2]

Member of Parliament

Walding had been successful again in the 1978 election, but had to announce his retirement from politics for health reasons prior to the 1981 election. De Cleene was the most experienced Labour candidate who put his name forward for selection, and despite concerns about his often controversial nature, he was nominated by the party. The candidate put forward by National was his old foe Brian Elwood, with whom he had worked on the Palmerston North City Council for many years, and against whom he lost the mayoralty contest in 1974. Elwood and de Cleene received 8315 and 10425 votes, respectively (representing 35.7% and 48.5%, respectively), with de Cleene thus entering Parliament in 1981.^[2][4] Helen Clark, the later Prime Minister, entered Parliament at the same time and the two became close friends.^[1] In 1983 he was appointed as Labour's spokesperson for Revenue and Friendly Societies by Labour leader David Lange.^[5]

De Cleene won the 1984 election, called early by Robert Muldoon, with an increased majority over National's candidate, Colleen Singleton.^[2] In the 1987 election, de Cleene raised his share of the vote to 56.2%, defeating National's Paul Curry. He did not seek re-election in the 1990 election.^[2]

Government minister

De Cleene was a supporter of Rogernomics, and in 1984 when the Fourth Labour Government was elected he was appointed undersecretary to Minister of Finance Roger Douglas with responsibility for the IRD. He became a minister outside cabinet in 1987, with Customs and Revenue portfolios. He memorably described the bulky Report of the Royal Commission on Social Policy as a useful doorstop.^[6]

He resigned from Cabinet in 1988 when Douglas was sacked by Lange. De Cleene, Douglas and Prebble were known as the Three Musketeers, and sat together in the remotest backbench seats.^[7] When de Cleene retired in 1990, he was replaced by Steve Maharey.^[8]

In 1990, de Cleene was awarded the

After leaving Parliament, de Cleene initially resumed his legal practice. He then moved to Tauranga again. He left the Labour Party and became a founding member of ACT New Zealand in 1993. In 1996, he then joined the National Party so that he could support Katherine O'Regan with the attempted unseating of Winston Peters from the Tauranga electorate.^[2]

Death

De Cleene died in Tauranga of cancer on 22 April 2001.^[3] He was survived by his second wife Raewyn and three adult children from his first marriage: Catherine, David and William.^[1] His death was announced to Parliament by his friend, Helen Clark, two days later.^[11] Clark said that:

Mr de Cleene would be remembered for his commitment to his beliefs along with his wit and irreverence. “Trevor was a marvellous parliamentary orator and held his own with the likes of David Lange and Sir Robert Muldoon. As a person Trevor lived life to the full. He grew up in a state house, went to university, worked as a lawyer, became an MP and a minister. He enjoyed many outside interests ranging from hunting and horse racing, to music and literature.”^[3]

While being political adversaries on opposite sides of the Parliamentary House, Muldoon was fond of him on a personal level.

Notes

References

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• ISBN 978-1-86971-094-1
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Political offices
Preceded by Roger Douglas	Minister of Revenue 1987–1988	Succeeded by David Caygill
Preceded by Margaret Shields	Minister of Customs 1987–1988	Succeeded by Margaret Shields
New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by Joe Walding	Member of Parliament for Palmerston North 1981–1990	Succeeded by Steve Maharey