Roger Neville McClay, QSO (born 6 February 1945) is a former New Zealand politician. In 2010 he was convicted for defrauding two charities.

Early life

McClay was born in 1945. He attended secondary school at

Wesley College, Auckland Wesley College is a secondary school in Paerata, at the northern edge of Pukekohe, Auckland Region, New Zealand. The school provides education from year 9 to 13. The school was founded by members of the Methodist Church in 1844, making it one ...

Member of Parliament

A teacher by profession, he was an MP from 1981 to 1996, representing the National Party. He was first elected to Parliament in the 1981 election as MP for Taupo, defeating the incumbent Labour MP, Jack Ridley. In the 1984 election, he contested and won the new seat of Waikaremoana, which he held until he retired at the 1996 election. He became Minister of Youth Affairs and Associate Minister of Education and Social Welfare during the Fourth National Government. He later held the role of Commissioner for Children from 1998 to 2003. His son

Todd McClay Todd Michael McClay (born 22 November 1968) is a New Zealand politician and former ambassador. He is the Member of Parliament for Rotorua. He was previously an ambassador for the Cook Islands and Niue to the European Union. Early life McClay ...

was elected as the National Party Member of Parliament for Rotorua at the 2008 general election.

Post-parliament career

In the

2005 New Year Honours New Year Honours were granted in the United Kingdom and New Zealand at the start of 2005. Among these in the UK were knighthoods awarded to Mike Tomlinson, the educationalist; Derek Wanless, who led a review of the National Health Service; ...

, McClay was made a Companion of the

Queen's Service Order The King's Service Order () established by royal warrant of Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, is used to recognise "valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to the Crown or similar services within the ...

(QSO). McClay was the chairman for Keep New Zealand Beautiful until July 2009. He has been involved in a number of other charities, including the New Zealand Spinal Trust,

World Vision The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk of a "plu ...

, Heart Children New Zealand,

Variety, the Children's Charity Variety, the Children's Charity is a charitable organization founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1927. History On October 10, 1927, a group of eleven men involved in show business set up a social club which they named the "Variety Club". On ...

and For the Sake of Children. In March 2010 he was charged with misuse of taxpayer-subsidised flights. In August the same year he pleaded guilty. He repaid the two charities that he had defrauded, Keep New Zealand Beautiful and World Vision. He was convicted and given a sentence of 300 hours of community work. In addition, he was stripped of his travel benefits by the Parliamentary Services Commission.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McClay, Roger New Zealand National Party MPs Children's Ombudspersons in New Zealand Politicians from Auckland New Zealand educators New Zealand public servants 1945 births Living people People educated at Wesley College, Auckland Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand MPs for North Island electorates Companions of the Queen's Service Order New Zealand politicians convicted of fraud