Mark James Gosche is a New Zealand politician. He is a member of the Labour Party. He was born in Auckland to Samoan parents, and has been active in New Zealand's Pacific Islander community.
Biography
Member of Parliament
He was first elected to Parliament as a list MP in the 1996 election, and was MP for the Auckland seat of Maungakiekie following the 1999 election. He held a number of Cabinet posts, including Minister of Corrections, Minister of Housing, Minister of Transport, and Minister of Pacific Island Affairs. In May 2002, however, he resigned all his ministerial roles due to the serious illness of his wife, who had suffered a brain haemorrhage. In April 2007 he was bestowed with the Samoan matai title Vui at his grandmother's village of Lano in Samoa. At the 2008 election, Gosche retired from politics to spend more time with his family. Gosche is the Chief Executive of Vaka Tautua, a role he took up in July 2014 after five years on the governance board. Vaka Tautua is a not-for-profit ‘for Pacific by Pacific’ community health and social service provider working in the areas of disability, mental health, older people, family violence and financial capability – with offices in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. The governance board and staff of Vaka Tautua are almost all of Pacific Island heritage and all operational staff are bilingual. Gosche is of Samoan heritage. Prior to his current role he was Chief Advisor Strategic Relationships at the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs in Auckland; a Member of the NZ Parliament who held cabinet ministerial portfolios of Housing, Pacific Island Affairs, Transport, Corrections and Racing; and for 15 years he was a trade union leader representing service industry workers – where he set up four health centres that provided low-cost primary health care services. Since leaving politics he has held a large number of governance roles including NZ Rugby League, TYLA Trust, COMET Auckland, Vaka Tautua, Brain Injury Association, Talklink Trust and Fonua Ola. He currently serves on the board of Lifewise and was recently elected to the Mt. Wellington Licensing Trust which owns and operates hotel and conference centres – the profits of which are returned to the community via a charitable trust. Gosche's experience is also informed by his wife Carol whom he is a caregiver for. Carol, had a severe brain haemorrhage in 2002. He and his wife have four children.
