Richard Mark Burton (known as Mark Burton) (born 16 January 1956) is a New Zealand politician. He is a member of the Labour Party, and until recently, served as Minister of Justice; Minister of Local Government; Minister in Charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations; Deputy Leader of the House; and the Minister Responsible for the Law Commission.
Burton was born in Northampton, England, but was brought to New Zealand by his family when ten years old. He attended high school in Wanganui. He has been involved in a wide range of social and community organisations, including the Red Cross, the Department of Social Welfare, the Central Plateau Rural Education Activities Programme, the Council of Social Services, the Taupo Employment Support Trust, and the Taupo Sexual Abuse Counselling Service. He received a medal for his work in 1990.
In the 1993 elections, Burton stood as the Labour Party's candidate for Tongariro, an electorate in the central North Island, defeating Ian Peters. This later became the seat of Taupo, which Burton retained.
Due to boundary changes to the Taupo seat for the 2008 general election, including the incorporation of the National-leaning area of Cambridge, his seat is now considered the most marginal in the country.
From 1996 to 1999, he served as his party's Senior Whip.
When the Labour Party won power in the 1999 election, Burton became part of the new Cabinet, assuming the roles of Minister of Internal Affairs, Minister of Defence, Minister for State-Owned Enterprises, Minister of Tourism, and Minister of Veterans' Affairs. In 2002, Internal Affairs and Veterans' Affairs were transferred to George Hawkins. In February 2005 he becomes the Minister of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, and dropped the State-Owned Enterprises portfolio.
In late 2004, with Jonathan Hunt set to retire from politics, Burton was regarded by many as the Labour Party's preferred choice to replace him as Speaker of the House of Representatives. In the end, however, Labour decided to nominate Margaret Wilson for the position.
Burton sponsored the introduction of the Electoral Finance Act, which made election funding more transparent and open by making anonymous donations illegal if they exceed the sum of $12,000. The Act capped the highest donation to the sum of $120,000 and increased public funding in elections to allow for more funding to go to a wider range of parties. The Act extended the regulated period classifying an election year to January 1 of the election year.
In November of 2007 Mark Burton resigned from his Cabinet positions during Prime Minister Helen Clark's portfolio renewal.
