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Dan Rosewarne
Rosewarne in 2023
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Labour party list
In office
25 July 2022 – 14 October 2023
Preceded byKris Faafoi
Personal details
Born1981 (age 42–43)
Political partyLabour
SpouseSheree
Children2
Military service
AllegianceNew Zealand
Branch/serviceNew Zealand Army
Years of service1999–2022
RankCaptain

Daniel Peter Rosewarne (born 1981) is a New Zealand politician and former military officer. He was a Member of Parliament in the New Zealand House of Representatives for the New Zealand Labour Party from July 2022 until October 2023.

Early life[edit]

Rosewarne grew up in Wellington. He has Samoan ancestry.[1] He trained as a mechanic at Wellington Polytechnic, before enlisting in the army.[1][2] In his maiden speech to parliament, he said he was accepted into basic training despite failing both the mathematics test and the literacy test.[2]

Military career[edit]

In 1999 at the age of 18 Rosewarne joined the New Zealand Army and trained as an automotive mechanic. He would later serve as a workshop manager before commissioning as an officer in the Royal New Zealand Army Logistic Regiment in 2017.[3]

During his army career, Rosewarne made three overseas deployments. In 2005 and 2012, he was sent to Afghanistan as part of New Zealand's contribution to the War in Afghanistan. In-between his two Afghanistan deployments, he served overseas in 2008 in the Solomon Islands as part of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands.[1][2]

As a staff sergeant in 2016 he contributed to the New Zealand Defence Force response to the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake, driving one of 27 trucks carrying over 44 tonnes of vital supplies into the region.[4] He retired from the Army in July 2022 at the rank of Captain just days before his swearing into Parliament.[5]

Political career[edit]

Rosewarne succeeded Clayton Cosgrove as Labour's candidate in Waimakariri at the 2017 general election.[6][7][8] He was defeated by Matt Doocey by 10,766 votes, and his list ranking of 52 was not high enough to see him enter Parliament.[9] He was reselected three years later to contest Waimakariri again in the 2020 general election.[10] He lost to Doocey again, but picked up a large swing, cutting Doocey's majority to 1,507 votes.[11]

New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate List Party
2022–2023 53rd List 56 Labour

Despite the loss, Rosewarne became a Member of Parliament in July 2022, following the resignation of Kris Faafoi.[12][13] His maiden speech, given on 27 July, recounted how he found his way to politics and the Labour Party after receiving state-funded treatment for otherwise-terminal cancer in 2014.[14]

Rosewarne was initially appointed as a Labour member on the transport and infrastructure committee. In 2023, he sat on the foreign affairs, defence and trade committee, the education and workforce committee, and the finance and expenditure committee.[15] He put himself forward for the Labour nomination in the seat of Christchurch East for the 2023 general election to replace the retiring Poto Williams, but was unsuccessful.[16]

Rosewarne ran for a third time in Waimakariri in 2023, but lost to Doocey again. His position of 32 on the Labour Party list was not high enough to see him reelected.[17][18] Following Labour's election defeat, he expressed regrets at the loss of perks that came with his job as a Member of Parliament including his Air New Zealand Koru Club privileges.[19]

Personal life[edit]

He lives in Waimakariri with his wife and their two children.[10] In 2014, Rosewarne was diagnosed with leukaemia and took immunotherapy drugs in order to beat the condition which would have otherwise been terminal.[20]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Moir, Jo (12 April 2023). "From military combat to Parliament – meet Labour's 'working class' MP". Newsroom. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
  2. ^ a b c "Maiden Statement — Dan Rosewarne - New Zealand Parliament". www.parliament.nz. 27 July 2022. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
  3. ^ "Dan Rosewarne". LinkedIn. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
  4. ^ Broughton, Cate (23 November 2016). "Assessment of Inland Rd complete following 5.7 quake, now open to Defence Force". Auckland Now. Retrieved 22 January 2017 – via Stuff.co.nz.
  5. ^ Smith, Phil (28 July 2023). "Meet a new MP: Dan Rosewarne". Radio New Zealand. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
  6. ^ "Labour's Clayton Cosgrove to leave politics". RNZ News. 10 April 2016. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  7. ^ Law, Tina; Small, Vernon (11 April 2016). "Cosgrove calls quits on politics". The Press. p. A2. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  8. ^ "Revised Labour Party List for the 2017 Election". Scoop.co.nz. 15 August 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  9. ^ "Official Count Results – Waimakariri (2017)". Electoral Commission. 7 October 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  10. ^ a b "Former Army officer to stand for Labour in Waimakariri". Radio NZ. 8 March 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
  11. ^ "Official Count Results – Waimakariri (2020)". Electoral Commission. 6 November 2020. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  12. ^ Moir, Jo (13 June 2022). "Labour reshuffle prompted by departure of Faafoi, Mallard". Newsroom. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  13. ^ "Daily progress for Tuesday, 26 July 2022". Parliamentary Debates. 26 July 2022. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  14. ^ Coughlan, Thomas (3 August 2022). "Thomas Coughlan: New MP's first speech bereft of personality, full of sophistry". NZ Herald. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
  15. ^ "Rosewarne, Dan - New Zealand Parliament". www.parliament.nz. 17 October 2023. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
  16. ^ Law, Tina (12 March 2023). "Labour stalwart wins selection to contest Christchurch East". Stuff. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  17. ^ "Party Lists of Successful Registered Parties". New Zealand Electoral Commission. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
  18. ^ Mathias, Shanti (17 October 2023). "Which Labour MPs have been washed away by the outgoing red tide?". The Spinoff. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
  19. ^ Hewett, William (17 October 2023). "Election 2023: AM hosts slam bizarre reactions from ousted Labour MPs Jan Tinetti, Dan Rosewarne". Newshub. Archived from the original on 17 October 2023. Retrieved 25 December 2023.
  20. ^ "Why I got into politics: Dan Rosewarne's story". New Zealand Labour Party. Retrieved 30 January 2017.

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