David Benson-Pope

David Henry Benson-Pope (born 23 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician. He is a former Member of Parliament for Dunedin South from 1999 to 2008 and was Minister of Social Development and Minister for the Environment in the Fifth Labour Government from 2005 to 2007.

Benson-Pope previously served as a Dunedin city councillor from 1986 to 1999 and returned to local government for a second period from 2013 to 2025.

Born in the Dunedin suburb of St Kilda on 23 February 1950, and educated at King's High School, Benson-Pope received his tertiary education at the University of Otago and Christchurch Teachers' College. While studying education he was president of the Students' Association at the college, and national president of the Student Teachers' Association of New Zealand.

Working as a teacher at Bayfield High School, where he taught German and outdoor education for 24 years, Benson-Pope became involved in the teachers' unions and was first elected to the Dunedin City Council on a Labour Party ticket in October 1986. He was re-elected to the city council four more times and resigned in 1999, after winning election to Parliament.

Benson-Pope was selected to succeed Labour's deputy leader Michael Cullen as the Dunedin South candidate for the 1999 election when Cullen moved to Hawke's Bay. He easily defeated National candidate Russel Keast to retain the seat for Labour. During his first term, Benson-Pope was a member of the Local Government and Environment Committee, Regulations Review Committee and Education and Science Committee.

In 2002, Benson-Pope became his party's Senior Whip. He entered Cabinet in 2004, becoming Minister of Fisheries, Minister Responsible for the Law Commission, Associate Minister of Justice, Associate Minister for Education (Schools) and Associate Minister for the Environment. He oversaw the drafting of the legislation for civil unions in New Zealand and gained a reputation as a political "Mr Fixit" and "master of the dark art of politics," but was also known as "difficult to deal with."

Despite briefly losing his ministerial positions leading up to the 2005 general election due to allegations of misconduct during his teaching career, Benson-Pope was appointed Minister of Social Development and Employment and Minister for the Environment when that election returned the Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand for a third term. He lost those positions in 2007 and served the final year of his parliamentary career on the backbench. His committee assignments in 2007 and 2008 were as a member of the Law and Order Committee and Local Government and Environment Committee.

Benson-Pope was temporarily stood down as a cabinet minister in 2005 after allegations from former students about the use of violence in the classroom. The allegations included stuffing a tennis ball in 14-year-old's mouth, throwing tennis balls at students to keep them quiet, striking a pupil with the back of his hand making the pupil's nose bleed at a school camp, and caning a student hard enough to draw blood. Benson-Pope denied the allegations. Claims that he misled Parliament were not referred to the Privileges Committee by the Speaker and after three weeks Benson-Pope was restored to his portfolios, except for his role as Associate Minister of Education.