Peter Dunne was born in Christchurch in 1954.

He graduated from the University of Canterbury in 1977 with a Master of Arts degree with Honours in Political Science, and has also studied business administration at Massey University. He was President of the University of Canterbury Students Association in 1975.

After graduation, he worked for the Department of Trade and Industry in Wellington in 1977-78, prior to joining the Alcoholic Liquor Advisory Council where he was Council Secretary (1978-80); Deputy Chief Executive (1980-84).

He joined the Ohariu Labour Electorate Committee in 1982; the Wellington Labour Regional Council in 1983; and was MP for the north-west Wellington seat of Ohariu from 1984 to 1993. Following boundary changes he was elected MP for the new seat of Onslow in 1993.

In September 1987 he was appointed a Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Ministers of Health (1987-89); Commerce (1988-1990); Regional Development (1988-90); Energy (1988-89); Justice (1989); Environment (1989-90); Internal Affairs (1989-90); and Local Government (1989-90).

From February to November 1990 he was Minister of Regional Development, Associate Minister of the Environment, and Associate Minister of Justice.

Mr Dunne has served on the Parliamentary Select Committees for Road Safety (1984-85); Finance and Expenditure (1984-87, and since 1990); Social Services (1987-89); Justice and Law Reform (1989-90); Commerce and Marketing (1990 and 1992-94) and Electoral Law (1990-91).

He was a member of the Labour Party's Policy Council (1985-1990, and its Secretary from 1985-87. He was also the Secretary of the Labour Party Caucus and its representative on the New Zealand Executive and New Zealand Council of the Labour Party from 1987-90.

Mr Dunne resigned from the Labour Party in October 1994, having been the Opposition spokesperson on Commerce, Customs and Revenue, and a member of the Oppositions front bench.

Following the formal coalition agreement between United New Zealand and the National Party, Mr Dunne was appointed as the United New Zealand representative in Cabinet as Ministers of Revenue and Internal Affairs.

Mr Dunne was made an Associate Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Management in 1988, and has been a member of the Board of the Institute of Policy Studies at Victoria University since 1987; a member of the board of directors of Employee Assistance Programmes Services Council since 1991; a trustee of the Business and Parliament Trust since 1991, and chairman of its executive committee since 1992; and a member of the executive committee of the New Zealand Malaysia Business Council since 1993.

He married Jennifer Mackrell in 1976 and they have two sons.