Lifetime‘politicalanimal’madelong-lastingchanges

Published date18 June 2022
Generations of local Labour MPs and aspiring candidates made their way to his door and benefitted from the wisdom and experience of a wily politician who was a pivotal figure in the Fourth Labour Government

Mr Rodger, who died on May 29, also dispensed advice from afar, ringing and emailing an astonishing variety of contacts with suggestions or reflections gained from a lifetime in politics.

Stan Rodger was born in Dunedin on February 13, 1940, the son of Scottish child migrant James Rodger and his Dunedin-born wife Edith Rodger.

His parents, like many of their generation, became loyal Labour supporters due to having lived through the Great Depression: Mr Rodger said he was born a Labour man and through his childhood he hardly knew a National voter.

After receiving a solid grounding at Kaikorai Primary, Mr Rodger attended King Edward Technical from 1954-57, before becoming a clerical cadet at the Ministry of Works.

From his teens Mr Rodger aspired to be a member of Parliament, and in 1957 he took the first step of that journey when he joined the Wakari branch of the Labour Party and set out to help the campaign in the staunch National seat of Otago Central.

Despite his obvious ambition — from his 20s Mr Rodger’s aim was to become a Cabinet minister and from his 30s his life’s goal was to become minister of labour — and wholehearted commitment to the Labour cause, Mr Rodger was to serve a long apprenticeship before finally being named as a candidate in a winnable seat.

The brash 23-year-old’s age counted against him when he sought the Dunedin Central nomination for the 1963 election, but Labour was happy for Mr Rodger to cut his teeth as the sacrificial lamb back in unwinnable Otago Central.

His commendable performance in securing a 15% swing and cutting the National majority to 2675 helped get Mr Rodger another crack elsewhere in 1966, but Waitaki was equally as unlikely to be fertile territory for a Labour candidate: Mr Rodger again finished second.

Away from the hustings however, Mr Rodger was making much better progress.

In 1962 he was promoted and transferred to head office in Wellington, where he continued to rise through the ranks of the public service, first in the Ministry of Works and then the Housing Corporation.

As befitted a strong Labour man, Mr Rodger also became a staunch unionist, and it was through his involvement with the Wellington branch of the Public Service Association that he met ‘‘the formidable Miss O’Connor’’ — who became Mrs...

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