---
alias:
- Thomas Kerry Burke
- Sir Kerry Burke
category: Political Figure
created: 2026-09-23
location: Christchurch, New Zealand
relations:
- fn: 1
  role: Minister of Regional Development, Minister of Employment, Minister of Immigration
  start: 1984-07-26
  type: member_of
  with: '[[Executive Council of New Zealand]]'
summary: New Zealand Labour minister of immigration from July 1984 who announced in
  October 1984 that the impostor Raymond Hoersch had entered the country in 1980 and
  cleared the department of blame.
tags:
- Person
- NewZealand
- Politician
- Immigration
- RCHorsch
updated: 2026-09-23
---

Thomas Kerry Burke is a [New Zealand](/places/new-zealand/) politician who was appointed Minister of Regional Development, Minister of Employment and Minister of Immigration on July 26, 1984, in the first ministry formed after the Labour Party's election victory of that month; the same day the outgoing National minister, Anthony George Malcolm, resigned the offices of Minister of Health and Minister of Immigration.[^1]

### The Stokowski Affair

In October 1984 Burke reported on the admission to New Zealand of the man who had lived near Timaru as Dr Stanley Stokowski. He said that the case "involved an American-born man, now known to be Raymond Charles Hoersch, who entered New Zealand in 1980 and worked for a South Canterbury firm as an alternative fuels expert," and that police and customs inquiries had begun in March 1984 "after the impostor had been detained when reentering New Zealand in possession of a number of documents giving different identities." Burke said the immigration procedures had been correct: the university transcript submitted had been confirmed as genuine by the real Stokowski, but "all supporting documentation appeared to have been altered to the identity of the applicant," there had been "some pressure from the man's proposed employer to make an early decision," checks had not been made with the Ministry of Energy "because of representations from the proposed employer," and the applicant had not been interviewed by the New Zealand Consulate-General in [San Francisco](/places/san-francisco/). He also disclosed that two regional development suspensory loans totalling 120,235 dollars had been approved for the company, [Chemical Technology Limited](/organizations/chemical-technology-limited/), in 1981 on the recommendation of the South Canterbury Regional Development Council, and that the [Development Finance Corporation](/organizations/development-finance-corporation/) had reported favourably on the project's viability.[^2] The impostor was [R.C. Horsch](/people/rc-horsch/).

[^1]: *New Zealand Gazette,* July 26, 1984, No. 130, p. 2912 ("The Honourable Thomas Kerry Burke, to be Minister of Regional Development, Minister of Employment, and Minister of Immigration"). https://gazette.howison.co.nz/nzg/1984/issue/130/page/2912
[^2]: "Impostor: immigration cleared of blame," *The Press* (Christchurch), October 3, 1984. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19841003.2.23