Daniel Giles Sullivan (18 July 1882 – 8 April 1947) was a New Zealand Member of Parliament, Cabinet Minister and Mayor of Christchurch.

He was particularly influenced by the ideas of German land nationalisation advocate Michael Flürscheim, but also closely read Henry George and Karl Marx.

His trip was made under the guise of improving his techniques as a polisher, but he also visited places he had read about and wished to learn more about trade unions.

Sullivan would later maintain that a determination to prevent the kind of poverty he had witnessed abroad strongly influenced his political career as was an aim to emulate the dedication of British trade unionists that he had met.

In addition to Britain he visited Northern Ireland, working for a time in the Belfast shipyards, and North America as well before returning to Christchurch after four years.

He favoured the industrial arbitration system over strike action and advocated for state ownership as a means to improve business and living conditions.

[2] During the 1905 election campaign, Sullivan heard a speech by Jim Thorn inspiring to join the Independent Political Labour League (IPLL).

[4] The 1908 election was won by George Warren Russell, who would later become a cabinet minister, and was in 1912 considered a possible successor of Joseph Ward as leader of the Liberal Party.

[7][8] During World War I he opposed conscription though he served on the executive of the Christchurch Patriotic Committee and on the local Citizens' Defence Corps.

[2] When Labour won the 1935 general election and Sullivan took on the heavy workload of a cabinet minister, he reluctantly resigned from the mayoralty in February 1936.

As Minister of Public Health, Russell was held responsible by large parts of the population for New Zealand's unpreparedness for the 1918 flu epidemic.

[16] During the 1920s, Sullivan and James McCombs led the opposition to Harry Holland within the Parliamentary Labour Party caucus.

[3] Sullivan had always been a vocal advocate for expanding manufacturing in New Zealand and his role as Minister of Industries and Commerce allowed him to put his ideas into practice.

He also oversaw exchange controls particularly due to wartime shortages, but this opened new opportunities to develop a broader range of manufacturing industry in New Zealand, which Sullivan enthusiastically took advantage of.

Despite Sullivan being a staunch Roman Catholic, the pair were married in Merivale at the Anglican Church of St Mary.