Stanley Joseph Rodger CMG JP (13 February 1940 – 29 May 2022) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party.

[1] In 1968, he married Anne Patricia O'Connor and the couple went on to have two children,[1] including Craig Rodger who became the Beverly Professor of Physics at the University of Otago.

[4] He remained at the Ministry of Works and Development until 1974 when he transferred to the newly created Housing Corporation.

[4] In 1963 he put himself forward to replace Phil Connolly the retiring MP for Dunedin Central, but lost out to Brian MacDonell.

[9] Rodger represented the electorate of Dunedin North in Parliament from 1978 to 1990, when he retired and was replaced by Pete Hodgson.

The reform was deeply unpopular, so much so that the PSA stripped Rodger of his life membership (however they restored it in 2004).

[15] The Business Round Table was critical of Rodger for holding up labour market reforms, though fellow ministers thought this was unfair due to his high workload (which also included the immigration portfolio from 1987).

He had planned to do so far in advance, confidentially telling Lange on 21 August 1988 of his retirement intentions as well as sending a sealed envelope to Keith Eunson, the editor of the Otago Daily Times with instruction not to open until 11 December 1989.

[20] After leaving the cabinet he was selected to represent the New Zealand government at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association held in Zimbabwe in September 1990.

[22] In December 1990, after exiting parliament, Rodger took up a position at the University of Otago as the assistant registrar and secretary of the School of Dentistry.