Ngāti Rānana Patron: His Excellency Hon Phil Goff
New Zealand High Commissioner to the United Kingdom

Phil Goff was born and brought up in Auckland. He graduated from the University of Auckland with a Master’s Degree (1st Class Honours) in Political Studies and then taught at the University for four years.

In 1981 he ran for Parliament as a Labour candidate and won the Auckland seat of Roskill. He was elected to Cabinet in 1984 in the Lange Government and at age 31 became the youngest ever Cabinet Minister in New Zealand. Over those first six years in Cabinet, his portfolios included Housing, Employment, Environment, Tourism, Youth Affairs and Education.

Losing his seat in 1990, Phil taught for three years as a Senior Lecturer in Politics for the Bachelor of Communications course at the Auckland University of Technology, and attended Nuffield College at Oxford on an FCO scholarship.

Re-elected in 1993 in his former seat of Roskill, Phil served as an MP through to 2016 with nine further years as a Cabinet Minister in the Clark Government. His portfolios included Foreign Affairs, Justice, Trade, Defence, Disarmament, Corrections and Associate Finance.

In 2008 to 2011, he served as Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition. In 2016 and 2019 he was elected and then re-elected as Mayor of Auckland, retiring from this position in 2022. He was awarded Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for public service and Order of Merit from Timor Leste.

Phil and his wife Mary have three adult children and three young grand-children.