Tuariki John Edward Delamere (born 9 December 1951) is a former New Zealand politician and athlete. He was elected to the New Zealand House of Representatives in the Te Tai Rawhiti electorate, representing the New Zealand First party, in the 1996 New Zealand general election. He was later a member of the Te Tawharau party, before losing his seat in 1999.
Delamere served in the Fourth National Government, including as Minister of Customs, Minister for Pacific Island Affairs, and Minister of Immigration.
Early life
John Edward Delamere was born in 1951 at a military hospital in Papakura, and was educated in Tauranga, attending Tauranga Boys' College. Of Māori descent through his soldier father, his iwi affiliations include Whakatohea, Te Arawa and Te Whanau-a-Apanui. Delamere adopted the name Tuariki, his father's name, in 1997 after he was appointed as a Cabinet minister. Tuariki means "chief of high standing".
In 1967 and 1969, he was recognised as the top Māori student in New Zealand. He then attended Washington State University on an athletic scholarship. Delamere obtained a Bachelor of Arts in 1974. He later obtained a Master of Business Administration from Long Island University.
Delamere served in the United States Army from 1974 to 1978. He was an accountant stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and later joined the staff at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. After leaving the United States, Delamere worked as chief financial officer for Polynesian Airlines. In the early 1990s, he held a number of bureaucratic roles in New Zealand, including for the Department of Justice and Te Puni Kōkiri. At Washington State, he pioneered the technique of a full somersault in long jump competitions, which was later banned.
Delamere oversaw the restructuring of the Valuation Department into a Crown-owned company, Quotable Value New Zealand Limited, and the transfer of employees to that company and, in the case of the Valuer-General, to Land Information New Zealand. The restructure was intended to create "improved efficiencies" and cost-savings. As Associate Minister of Health, Delamere held responsibility for Māori health, health regulation and protection, environmental health (including the Smokefree Environments Act) and Pharmac. An anti-smoking campaigner, Delamere declared himself "out to destroy" cigarette companies. He announced a new requirement for health warnings on cigarette packets to be in larger text in August 1998. He sought to ban smoking from all restaurants, schools, and public buildings and to ban displays of cigarettes in stores. Several New Zealand First ministers, including leader Winston Peters, walked out of a Cabinet meeting after disagreeing with the Government's policy to sell shares in Wellington Airport. Peters was ultimately sacked from the Cabinet by the prime minister, Jenny Shipley. Despite reports that Delamere was intending a leadership challenge against Peters, Delamere resigned from New Zealand First on 18 August, opting to stay as an independent MP supporting the government. Describing his split from Peters, he said, "I have been lucky and privileged to be here and that's all thanks to Winston, I acknowledge that, but at the end of the day, he doesn't own my soul." On 22 December 1998, Delamere announced gay and lesbian couples applying for permanent residency would have the same rights as straight de facto couples: a change the former immigration minister Max Bradford stated was too difficult.
Delamere was fired from the immigration portfolio in late 1999 after a scandal regarding the application of immigration rules. Specifically, it emerged that Delamere had approved permanent residency for a group of Chinese businessmen provided they invested generously in various Māori development schemes. Delamere was widely criticised for using his authority to ensure that money was given to certain groups. Delamere himself claimed that his actions were a perfectly reasonable method of addressing Māori development needs. Although he lost the immigration portfolio, he retained his other roles.
Through 1998 and 1999, Delamere publicly considered introducing legislation to support the establishment of Māori constituencies for Bay of Plenty Regional Council. This was reported to be a source of tension between him and Peters before the coalition government collapsed. The legislation was later introduced by Labour MP Mita Ririnui and passed in 2001.
Te Tawharau
Shortly before the 1999 election, Delamere joined the small Māori Te Tawharau party, giving it its first representation in Parliament. He had previously declined to join the Mauri Pacific party, established by five other former New Zealand First MPs, including three of the Tight Five. Shortly prior to the election, Delamere announced that Te Tawharau would support only a Labour Party government on confidence and supply if it won seats in the new Parliament. This was at odds with Delamere's unwavering support of the legislative programme of the Shipley Administration. In the elections, Delamere contested the new Waiariki electorate — he placed second, with 20.01% of the vote. The winner was Mita Ririnui of the Labour Party. He was also placed second on the party list of the Mana Māori Movement, which Te Tawharau was affiliated with, but the party did not win any seats.
Later career
Private sector career
Since leaving Parliament, Delamere has established himself as an immigration consultant, founding the company of Tuariki Delamere & Associates.
In 2000 Delamere rejoined the New Zealand National Party, the party he had started his political career with. However he ruled out a return to Parliament to concentrate on his business concerns.
In March and November 2005, Delamere appeared in court on charges of fraud. The trial began in the High Court in Auckland on 7 February 2007. After a 4-week trial, the jury found him not guilty of all charges after less than 2 hours of deliberation on 2 March 2007.
In late May 2023, Delamere represented a Chinese overstayer known as "Chen" (or "Feng"). Chen alleged that he had been mishandled by Immigration New Zealand compliance officers during a dawn raid in 2022, resulting in a broken left wrist. Immigration NZ disputed Chen's account, claiming that he sustained his injuries while attempting to flee compliance officers and resisted arrest. Delamere complained about Chen's treatment to the Police, Independent Police Conduct Authority and MBIE. In addition to overstaying his visa, Chen was also charged with being linked to an organised fraud group that was involved in organising travel plans and visa applications. Chen disputed the charges and has applied for refugee status with the Immigration Protection Tribunal, claiming that he risked arrest if deported to China. In response to Chen's case, Delamere described Chen's case as a "crock of lies" on the part of the immigration department. During the 2020 election held on 17 October, Delamere only obtained 320 votes while the TOP party obtained 776 party votes in Auckland Central based on preliminary results.
Revocation of immigration licence
Tuariki Delamere became a high-profile immigration adviser. In 2012, he arranged a deal with Chinese businessman Yingheng Liu, who invested $500,000 in TDA Botany—a company linked to Delamere—as part of a business visa application. Despite Liu's application being declined, most of the funds were never returned. Court rulings revealed that Delamere and his son, without Liu's knowledge, had access to the term deposit account holding the $500,000. Contrary to the agreement, Delamere instructed the bank to move the funds into a current account used for the company's operating expenses. Liu later discovered that the money had been spent and only a fraction—under $95,000—was returned. Delamere's immigration licence was reportedly revoked in 2025 due to court proceedings.