Dail Jones

Dail Jones QSO
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Waitemata
In office 1975 – 1978
Preceded by	Michael Bassett
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Helensville
In office 1978 – 1984
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for New Zealand First list
In office 2002 – 2008
Party president of New Zealand First
In office 2005 – 2006
Preceded by	Doug Woolerton
Succeeded by	George Groombridge
Personal details
Born	July 7, 1944 (1944-07-07) (age 67) Karachi, Pakistan
Political party	National(1975-1984) New Zealand First(2002-2008)

Dail Michael John Jones QSO (born 7 July 1944) is a New Zealand politician. He is a member of the New Zealand First party, and was formerly in the National Party.

Early life

Jones was born in Karachi, Pakistan, and attended Karachi Grammar School.^[1] He arrived in New Zealand at the age of 16 in 1959,^{[citation needed]} and after completing his education at the University of Auckland, (earning a LLB), began practice as a lawyer.

Member of Parliament

Parliament of New Zealand
Years	Term	Electorate	List	Party
1975–1978	National
1978–1981	39th	Helensville		National
1981–1984	40th	Helensville		National
2002–2005	47th	List	10	NZ First
2008–2008	48th	List	10	NZ First

In the 1975 elections, Jones was elected MP for Waitemata, standing as a National Party candidate. In the following election, the Waitemata seat was abolished, and Jones was elected as the MP for Helensville. He retained this seat until the 1984 elections, when Helensville electorate was abolished. Jones contested the new West Auckland seat, but was defeated by the Labour Party candidate, Jack Elder.

Jones is known as one of the few New Zealand MPs to have been injured in a political attack - in 1980, while serving as a National Party MP, he was stabbed in the chest by an elderly constituent in his electorate office.

New Zealand First

Considerably later, in the 2002 elections, Jones returned to Parliament as a list MP for the New Zealand First party, which had been established during Jones' time outside Parliament. He was ranked in tenth place on the New Zealand First list. He was New Zealand First spokesperson on foreign affairs, trade, customs, the courts, and the attorney-general's role. He lost his seat in the 2005 elections, when he was again tenth on the party list (the lowest list MP elected in 2005 was Pita Paraone, No. 7). He was elected President of the New Zealand First party when Doug Woolerton resigned.

More recently, there have been frictions between Jones, Doug Woolerton and New Zealand First social liberal Brian Donnelly over repeal of Section 59 of the Crimes Act 1961, legislation that allowed the use of parental corporal punishment against children (or spanking).^[2]

Dail Jones stated that "Custard is more dangerous than second-hand smoke. ...[and] milk …is worse than second-hand smoke" ^[3]

He also attracted criticism in February 2008 from Winston Peters for suggesting that New Zealand First had received large anonymous donations.

On 15 February 2008, Jones was returned to Parliament as a list MP once more, replacing Brian Donnelly, who had been appointed as New Zealand's High Commissioner to the Cook Islands.^[4] He was tenth on the New Zealand First party list in 2005. Two people ahead of him on the party list, Susan Baragwanath and Jim Peters, declined the position, and he resigned as party President after becoming a MP.

In March 2008, he was critical ^[5] of fellow NZ First MP Peter Brown's views on Asian immigration.

In the 2008 general election Jones was 14th on the New Zealand First party list, but the party lost all its parliamentary seats, winning no electorates and polling below the 5% threshold.

Parliament of New Zealand
Preceded by Michael Bassett	Member of Parliament for Waitemata 1975-1978	Constituency abolished
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Helensville 1978-1984	Vacant constituency recreated in 2002 Title next held by John Key
Party political offices
Preceded by Doug Woolerton	President of New Zealand First 2005-2006	Succeeded by George Groombridge

References

1. ^ "Leader's Letter", November 2002. New Zealand First.
2. ^ [1] (broken link to Stuff)
3. ^ MPs misuse research on smoking - Study, 2007 Media Release, University of Otago, New Zealand
4. ^ "New List MP For New Zealand First Party". Scoop.co.nz. 2008-02-15. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0802/S00182.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-15. 
5. ^ Eden, Sue (4 April 2008). "No plot to play race card says NZ First". The New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10501907. Retrieved 26 September 2011. 

• The First 50 Years: A History of the New Zealand National Party by Barry Gustafson (1986, Reed Methuen, Auckland; in biographical appendix of National MPs, page 323) ISBN 0474001776

External links

• Dail Jones, New Zealand Parliament website

Persondata
Name	Jones, Dail
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	7 July 1944
Place of birth	Karachi, Pakistan
Date of death
Place of death