Frank O'Flynn

O'Flynn was born in Runanga in 1918.[1] He was the son of Francis Edward O'Flynn and Margaret Helen Valentine Duncan. He received his education at Christchurch Normal School and Christchurch Boys' High School.[2]

On leaving school he was employed as a clerk by the Education Department in Wellington and attended Victoria University College part-time. In 1939 he became a clerk to the Wellington Labourers’ Union Secretary and completed a BA in 1940. Further study was interrupted by World War II, and he joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force in 1942, serving in the Pacific and attaining the rank of flight lieutenant.

He married Sylvia Elizabeth Hefford in 1942 and they had four children. At the 1947, 1950 and 1953 local-body elections he was stood unsuccessfully for the Wellington City Council on the Labour Party ticket.[1]

At the end of the war O'Flynn was employed as a law clerk in the Wellington firm O’Regan and Arndt. He continued to study law and completed an LLB in 1947 and LLM in 1948. Leaving O'Regan and Arndt in 1954, he practised in Wellington as a barrister and solicitor until 1968, when he was made a Queen’s Counsel (QC) and practised as such until 1972.

As one of New Zealand’s most prominent QCs, O'Flynn was renowned for his advocacy and willingness to take on the establishment of the time. His reputation as one of New Zealand’s leading advocates in the 1950s and 1960s was enhanced when he represented 126 survivors and families of victims in the Wahine ferry disaster inquiry held in June 1968.[1]

O'Flynn was also the first (and only) lawyer to sue prime minister Robert Muldoon successfully on behalf of a client: Muldoon was forced to pay out $5,000 for defaming O'Flynn’s client Brian Brooks (who later became a professor of law at Victoria University).[1] The 1972 case Brooks v Muldoon followed the outcome of remarks made on a current affairs television programme called Gallery by Robert Muldoon. O'Flynn conducted a lengthy cross-examination of the defendant (Muldoon) which fascinated the country. It was described one of O'Flynn's highpoints at the bar.[2]

He represented the seat of Kapiti from 1972 to 1975, when he was defeated.[3] Following his defeat O'Flynn considered standing for Mayor of Wellington in 1977, but he withdrew in favour of Sir Frank Kitts.[4] At the same election he stood for the Wellington City Council and was elected.[5] Between 1980 and 1981 he was leader of the Labour caucus on the council.[6] He was re-elected in 1980 but unexpectedly lost his seat on the council in 1983.[7]

Following the controversial de-selection of Gerald O'Brien, O'Flynn was selected as his replacement in the Island Bay electorate.[8] O'Brien ran as an independent candidate and drew away many former Labour voters causing O'Flynn to come close to losing one of Labour's safest seats.[9] He was elected narrowly by 650 votes and represented Island Bay from 1978 to 1987, when he retired due to ill health.[3] O'Flynn was a backer of David Lange for leader and was rewarded by being promoted to the front bench and given the role of Shadow Attorney-General.[10] Following Labour's victory at the 1984 election O'Flynn was naturally expected to in both political and legal circles to become Attorney-General, but Lange had been persuaded by his deputy Geoffrey Palmer (who had been O'Flynn's legal clerk decades earlier) to appoint him to the role instead.[11]

During the Fourth Labour Government he was a cabinet minister and served as Minister of Defence from 1984 to 1987.[12] He was also Minister of State, Minister in charge of War Pensions, Minister in charge of Rehabilitation, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Associate Minister of Overseas Trade and Marketing.[2] As Minister of Defence he famously said that "he would defend New Zealand by blowing up bridges and tunnels."[13] He was instrumental in developing Labour's nuclear-free policies, which despite resulting in the breakdown of ANZUS, O'Flynn described as "by far the brightest thing [the Government] had done."[1] He had a meeting in Malaysia in 1985 with United States Secretary of State George Shultz, where Shultz lambasted New Zealand's stance but O'Flynn defended their position resulting in deadlock.[2]

O'Flynn disliked the Defence portfolio and felt the officials at the Ministry of Defence took him for granted on many issues. On three occasions (July, August and December 1985) he threatened to resign as minister after Lange failed to back him during a disagreement with officials regarding the posting of a Defence official overseas at great cost to the taxpayer. O'Flynn thought that it was a waste of public money and that the official was little more than 'a big, dull fat Poo-Bah'. His bench mate Michael Bassett felt that O'Flynn's dislike of the defence portfolio was more an expression of his disappointment that Lange had broken his promise of giving him the position of Attorney-General. O'Flynn and Lange became increasingly estranged and their communications were reduced to being conducted through Bassett as an intermediary.[14] Not long after deciding to retire, he suffered a stroke (which he later recovered from) and was unable to deliver his valedictory speech in Parliament. It was read instead by Mike Moore on his behalf.[2]

He was appointed to the Privy Council in 1987; however, that same ill-health prevented him from travelling to England to be sworn into the Council by Queen Elizabeth II. He suffered a stroke in that year which led to a permanent disability, he then retired to Raumati Beach.[1]

O'Flynn died on 17 October 2003 in Paraparaumu, a week shy of his 85th birthday. He was survived by his wife, Sylvia and his four children.[1] He was buried at Karori Cemetery.[15]