Phil Goff
Philip Bruce Goff is a New Zealand retired politician and former diplomat. He was a member of the New Zealand Parliament from 1981 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 2016. He served as leader of the Labour Party and leader of the Opposition between 11 November 2008 and 13 December 2011.
During the Fifth Labour Government, in office from 1999 to 2008, Goff was a senior minister in a number of portfolios, including Minister of Justice, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Minister of Defence, and Associate Minister of Finance.
Goff was elected mayor of Auckland in 2016, and served two terms, before retiring in 2022. In 2023 he took up a diplomatic post as High Commissioner of New Zealand to the United Kingdom, which he held until 2025.
Early life
Goff was born and raised in Three Kings, Auckland. His family was very poor, and his father wanted Goff to enter the workforce immediately after finishing high school. Goff, however, wished to attend university, a decision that caused him to leave home when only sixteen years old. By working at Westfield Freezing Works and as a cleaner, Goff was able to fund himself through university, gaining an MA in political studies at the University of Auckland. In 1973, he was Senior Scholar in Political Studies, and also won the Butterworth Prize for law. While completing his MA, he lectured in Political Studies. After his overseas experience in Europe Goff returned to New Zealand where he became an Insurance Workers Union organiser.Member of Parliament
Goff joined the Labour Party in 1969, the same year he left home, and held a number of administrative positions within the party. He was chairman of the Labour Youth Movement and was twice elected a member of the Labour Party's national council. Goff was also campaign chairman for Eddie Isbey in the electorate.In early 1981 Goff put himself forward for the Labour candidacy for the Roskill electorate. He beat 13 contenders to win the nomination on 23 April 1981. The next day he resigned his trade union job to be a candidate full-time. In the 1981 elections, Goff was elected Member of Parliament for the Roskill electorate. In 1983 he was appointed as Labour's spokesperson for housing.
Cabinet minister: 1984–1990
Three years later, when Labour won the 1984 elections, Goff was elevated to Cabinet by Prime Minister David Lange, becoming its youngest member. He served as Minister of Housing and Minister for the Environment. As Minister of Housing Goff provided money to finance loans to households in dire financial situations and purchased state rental units. In the disputes during the Fourth Labour Government between Roger Douglas and other Labour MPs, Goff generally positioned himself on the side of Douglas, supporting deregulation and free trade.After the 1987 elections, Goff dropped the Housing portfolio, but also became Minister of Employment, Minister of Youth Affairs, Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Education. Goff instigated changes to funding of tertiary studies incorporating financial contributions by students rather than the complete government funding that existed at the time. State funding was seen as unsustainable due to large increases in student numbers. The changes included direct fees and streamlined bursaries and student loans. The bursary changes were generally regarded to be fair and were also backed up by a government guarantee to banks willing to fund loans by students. As Minister of Employment Goff oversaw a large increase in unemployment which had risen to 128,000 people by November 1988. There were several protests and marches on Parliament where he faced and spoke to crowds of unemployed people. In response he committed $100 million to reinstate government subsidised training schemes to help the unemployed gain skills for new jobs.
Later, after a significant rearrangement of responsibilities in August 1989 following Lange's resignation, Goff became Minister of Education under new Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer while relinquishing Employment and Youth Affairs. As Minister of Education he was against any further cuts to tertiary education threatening to resign if there were. He also inherited responsibility for the Tomorrow's Schools reform initiative discovering budgeting errors and a staffing shortage that occurred under his predecessor in the portfolio. According to cabinet colleague Michael Bassett Goff, despite his best efforts, was never able to regain the initiative in education as a result of this.
In opposition: 1990–1999
In the 1990 elections, Labour was defeated, and Goff lost his parliamentary seat to the National Party's Gilbert Myles. While many commentators blamed Douglas's controversial reforms for Labour's loss, Goff said that the main problem had been in communication, not policy. Goff was appointed to a position at the Auckland Institute of Technology, and later accepted a scholarship to study for six months at Oxford University. Returning to New Zealand, he eventually decided to stand for parliament again.In the 1993 elections, Goff was re-elected as MP for Roskill. Helen Clark, Labour's new leader, made him the party's spokesperson for justice. In 1996, Goff was part of the group which asked Clark to step down as leader. Clark survived the challenge, and was advised by her allies to demote Goff, but chose not to do so.
Goff retained his seat in the 1996 elections, having elected not to be placed on Labour's party list. In Opposition from 1996 to 1999, Goff was Labour's spokesperson on justice, courts, and corrections. After Mike Moore left Parliament to become Director-General of the World Trade Organization Goff also became the party's spokesperson for foreign affairs.
Cabinet minister: 1999–2008
In the 1999 elections, which Labour won, Goff accepted seventh place on the party list, but also retained his electorate seat. In the Clark-led Fifth Labour Government, he became Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Minister of Justice. He retained this position after the 2002 elections. Following the 2005 elections and government formation negotiations, New Zealand First party leader Winston Peters was made Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Goff was made Minister of Defence, Minister of Trade, Minister of Disarmament and Arms Control, and Minister of Pacific Island Affairs. He was also named an Associate Minister of Finance, in a move that was seen to balance his loss of the foreign affairs portfolio.In 2001 he was centred in the decision to take in 131 refugees from the MV Tampa. The ship had previously been denied entry to Australia by the government of John Howard, dubbed by media as the "Tampa affair". In 2019, Goff stated he thought that New Zealand's decision to take refugees from the Tampa was one of the best decisions made by the Fifth Labour Government. In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks Goff offered New Zealand support to the United States and worked to locate New Zealanders in the area. In 2021 he stated that he felt a personal responsibility when he learned that two New Zealand nationals died in the attack. In October 2001 New Zealand joined the war in Afghanistan against the perpetrators of the attacks. Goff defended the use of air strikes as part of the invasion which the government stressed were targeted at terrorists and were justified under the United Nations Charter stating that they were "regrettably necessary".
In 2003 the Labour government was critical of the American lead Invasion of Iraq which lacked an explicit United Nations mandate, and the New Zealand government withheld military action in the Iraq War. Despite not sending combat troops, the government sent some medical and engineering units to Iraq. In 2003 convicted rapist Stewart Murray Wilson doctored and distributed a letter from Justice Minister Goff, in an apparent attempt to get his case reviewed. In 2005, as justice minister, Goff passed legislation that dramatically strengthened laws condemning child pornography and child sex.
As Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister, Goff favoured free trade deals as a means of diplomacy and strengthening New Zealand's links with Asian neighbours. Goff had a strong public profile and became one of the better-known members of the Labour Party; he was placed number three on the Labour Party list during the 2008 general election. Clark and Goff differed substantially in their economic policies, but they were able to work relatively well together, and this was shown during Goff's signing of the New Zealand–China Free Trade Agreement. The free trade agreement with China took over three years to negotiate with the first round of negotiations being held in December 2004 before the FTA was signed after fifteen negotiation rounds took place. Goff signed the agreement on behalf of the New Zealand government together with the Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on 7 April 2008. Under the agreement, 37 per cent of Chinese exports to New Zealand and 35 percent of New Zealand exports to China would become tariff free by October 2008, all tariffs for Chinese exports to New Zealand were to be eliminated by 2016, and 96 percent of New Zealand exports to China would be tariff free by 2019.
Leader of the Opposition: 2008–2011
At the 2008 election Labour was defeated, and Clark resigned as leader. Goff was widely tipped as her successor. Goff became leader after a special caucus meeting on 11 November 2008 with former senior minister Annette King was elected as deputy leader.After initial strong popularity, Goff and Labour began to struggle in public opinion polls. A July 2011 poll showed support for the Labour Party at a 10-year low, at just 27%. This followed a leaked policy proposal for a capital gains tax, which the party's critics suggested was unpopular with the electorate. Polls in 2011 also showed an increase in support for the Green Party.
In an October 2010 speech, Goff emphasised the "Kiwi Dream" of high-wage jobs, home ownership and social protection. He criticised the National Government for free-market economic policies that Goff argued were accentuating inequality; he attributed social inequality to societal problems such as drug abuse and obesity.
Both Goff and Prime Minister John Key said that they would not vote in the 2009 corporal punishment referendum. Goff said that the question "Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?" was "absolutely" the wrong question, and that "the question implies that if you vote 'yes' that you're in favour of criminal sanctions being taken against reasonable parents – actually nobody believes that."
In John Key's Statement to Parliament in February 2010, the government announced its consideration of raising Goods and Services Tax from 12.5% to 15%. Goff opposed the raise, saying that "GST increase will hurt families that are already struggling to make ends meet", and the Labour caucus set out on an 'Axe the Tax' nationwide road trip. In May 2010 Goff suggested exempting fresh fruit and vegetables from GST. Key called the exemption of such items "very bureaucratic" and Goff's announcement "desperate".
In February 2010 a discussion document was released, proposing that 7,058 ha of land in national parks be opened up for mining. Outside Parliament Goff told protesters that he and Labour would oppose the proposals "at every stage", and pledged to re-protect any land released from Schedule 4, should his party return to power.