Anne Tolley

The Honourable Anne Tolley JP
Tolley in 2019
Commission Chair of theTauranga City Council
Incumbent
Assumed office 9 February 2021
Preceded by	Tenby Powell(asMayor)
DeputySpeaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives
In office 8 November 2017 – 17 October 2020
Preceded by	Chester Borrows
Succeeded by	Adrian Rurawhe
26thMinister of Social Development
In office 13 October 2014 – 26 October 2017
Prime Minister	John Key Bill English
Preceded by	Paula Bennett
Succeeded by	Carmel Sepuloni
44thMinister of Education
In office 19 November 2008 – 25 November 2011
Prime Minister	John Key
Preceded by	Chris Carter
Succeeded by	Hekia Parata
Minister for Tertiary Education
In office 19 November 2008 – 27 January 2010
Prime Minister	John Key
Preceded by	Pete Hodgson
Succeeded by	Steven Joyce
Member of theNew Zealand Parliament forEast Coast
In office 17 September 2005 – 17 October 2020
Preceded by	Janet Mackey
Succeeded by	Kiri Allan
Majority	6,413
Member of theNew Zealand Parliament forNational Partylist
In office 27 November 1999 – 27 July 2002
Personal details
Born	Anne Merrilyn Hicks (1953-03-01)1 March 1953 Wellington,New Zealand
Political party	National Party
Spouse	Allan Hunt Tolley ​ (m.1973)​
Children	Three
Occupation	Hotelier, Local Government
Website	annetolley.co.nz

Anne Merrilyn TolleyJP(néeHicks;born 1 March 1953) is a New Zealand politician.

Tolley was elected as a member of theNapier City Councilin 1986 and served as deputy mayor from 1989 until 1995. In 1999 she was elected to Parliament as alist MPrepresenting theNational Party.She was unseated in 2002 but returned in 2005 as the newEast CoastMP. Between 2008 and 2017 she was a senior minister in theFifth National Government,holding the offices ofMinister of Education,Minister of Social Development,Minister of Corrections,Minister of PoliceandMinister of Local Government.She establishedOranga Tamarikiand was the firstMinister for Childrenfrom 2016 to 2017.

She wasDeputy Speaker of the House of Representativesfrom 2017 to 2020. In 2021 she was appointed Chair of the Commission overseeing theTauranga City Council.

Early life and family

Tolley was born inWellingtonon 1 March 1953, the daughter of Mary Margaret Hicks (née Norris) and her husband Ronald James Hicks. She was educated at Colenso High School (nowWilliam Colenso College) inNapier,and spent time as aRotary exchange studentinAllentown, Pennsylvania,United States. She went on to gain a diploma in computer programming. In 1973 she married Allan Hunt Tolley, and the couple had three children.With her husband, Tolley ran a boutique hotel in Napier.

Local government

In 1986 Tolley was elected as a member of the Napier City Council and remained in that role until 1995. She served as deputymayor of Napierbetween 1989 and 1995, and was an elected member of theHawke's Bay Regional Councilfrom 1989 to 1992. She has been aJustice of the Peacesince 1989.

While on Napier City Council, Tolley was involved in the establishment of alocal-authority trading enterpriseto runMarinelandand theNapier Aquarium,the Emerson Street redevelopment project, and the redevelopment ofMcLean Park.She sought re-election in the 1995 local elections, but was defeated.

Member of Parliament

New Zealand Parliament

Years	Term	Electorate	List	Party
1999–2002	46th	List	20		National
2005–2008	48th	East Coast	43		National
2008–2011	49th	East Coast	10		National
2011–2014	50th	East Coast	8		National
2014–2017	51st	East Coast	12		National
2017–2020	52nd	East Coast	11		National

An independent on the Napier City Council, Tolley was encouraged to join theLabour Partyby incumbentNapierMPGeoff Braybrookebut declined, instead joining the National Party. She was interested in being a candidate for National at the1996 general election,but had not been a member of the party for long enough.She challenged Braybrooke for the Napier seat in1999.While unsuccessful in that contest, Tolley was elected as alist MP.

In her first term, Tolley sat on the governance and administration committee and served as the National Party spokesperson for early childhood education and women's affairs.In 2000, her members bill—the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification (Prohibition of Child Pornography) Amendment Bill—was introduced.The bill responded to, and sought to overturn, the Court of Appeal's decision onMoonen v Film and Literature Board of Review,which had found that the right to freedom of expression in theNew Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990held even in theFilm and Literature Board of Review's consideration of photographs depicting children in sexualised poses.The bill was eventually voted down because the government did not considerMoonento sanction child pornography. Issues around censorship were progressed soon after through an inquiry into theFilms, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993and a government amendment passed in 2005.

In the2002 election,she unsuccessfully contested the Napier seat against Braybrooke's successor,Russell Fairbrother.Along with many other National MPs, Tolley did not escape the collapse of the party's vote that year, and so did not return to Parliament as a list MP.She did return at the2005 general election,having won theEast Coastelectorate over Labour candidateMoana Mackey,daughter of the previous East Coast MPJanet Mackey.She held the electorate at the four subsequent elections.

She served as the first woman National Partywhipfrom December 2006 until February 2008 when she became the party's education spokesperson.When National won the 2008 general election, she became the first womanMinister of Education.She continued in senior roles in theFifth National Governmentuntil its defeat in 2017 and thereafter becameDeputy Speaker.In that role, she chaired a cross-party steering group steering group to develop a parliamentary code of conduct, as an outcome of an independent review into bullying and harassment in the parliamentary workplace.

At the end of 2019, Tolley declared her intention to run as a list-only candidate in the 2020 general election in hope of being able to be appointedSpeaker of the Houseif National were able to form a government.She was succeeded as National's candidate for the East Coast electorate byRotorua District CouncillorTania Tapsell.However, in June 2020, with National polling poorly,Tolley announced that she would instead retire at the2020 election.She gave her valedictory statement on 23 July 2020.

Minister in the Fifth National Government

Minister of Education: 2008–2011

The National Party formed agovernmentafter the2008 general electionand Tolley was appointedMinister of Education,the first woman to hold that position. The key policy introduced during her term was introduction of the National Standards programme that measured children's progress against the curriculum in reading, writing and mathematics, in order to increase schools' accountability.The programme was opposed by many teachers and school principals, some of whom refused to implement the standards.In January 2010, Tolley's responsibilities for tertiary education were reassigned toSteven Joyce,with Prime MinisterJohn Keystating that this would allow Tolley to focus on the implementation of national standards.

In June 2010, Tolley expressed concerns about a Parliamentary Library research paper that was critical of National Standards, calling it "unprofessional", "highly political" and so biased it could have been written by the union opposing the policy. Such papers are required by the Parliamentary Library to be politically neutral.A month later the New Zealand Principals Federation voted to support regional associations which boycotted training for National Standards. Tolley reminded principals that in her view it would be quicker and give better results to contact herself or the Ministry of Education with concerns about the changes, than to speak through the media.

The stand-off between Tolley and teachers was embarrassing for the Government and resulted in Cabinet changes after National was re-elected in November 2011.Hekia Paratawas made Education Minister while Tolley was demoted in the Cabinet rankings, becoming Minister of Corrections and Police,succeedingJudith Collinswho was promoted to Minister of Justice.

Minister of Police and Minister of Corrections: 2011–2014

In March 2012, one of her first major announcements as the Minister of Corrections was the proposed closure of the old prisons in Wellington and New Plymouth. She also said that a number of older units at Arohata, Rolleston, Rangipo and Waikeria prisons would close.Later that year, the Government awarded a 25-year contract to Serco to build a 960-bed prison atWiri,South Auckland, at a cost of NZ$900 million.Tolley attended a sod-turning ceremony at the site of the new prison Wiri in September 2012.

In June 2012, Tolley as Police Minister was responsible for crushing the first "boy racer"car under theVehicle Confiscation and Seizure Act.

Minister of Social Development and Minister for Children: 2014–2017

When National was returned to government after the2014 general election,Tolley succeededPaula BennettasMinister of Social Development.A key achievement during this term was reforming theChild, Youth and Familyservice within theMinistry of Social Developmentinto a standalone agency,Oranga Tamariki, the Ministry for Children,after a Children's Commissioner report in 2015 found that the government had failed children in state care.

From September to December 2016, Tolley had an additional appointment as Minister for Youth. On 20 December 2016 she became the Minister for Children and theMinister of Local Governmentand held these roles, along with Minister of Social Development, until the Government was defeated at the2017 general election.

Along with former state services minister Paula Bennett, Tolley was accused byNew Zealand Firstparty leaderWinston Petersin 2017 of leaking information about his incorrectly filed superannuation application.Tolley admitted having told her sister of the situation before it was reported by media, but was not found to have alerted media.

Tauranga City Council

On 9 February 2021, the Minister of Local Government appointed a Crown Commission to oversee all ofTauranga City Council's governance responsibilities(with all existing elected members being discharged). Tolley was appointed Commission Chair.

Health

It emerged in 2010 that Tolley had undergone gastric bypass (stomach stapling) surgery in order to lose weight.Tolley joins other current and former New Zealand politicians includingRahui Katene,David Lange,Chester Borrows,Donna Awatere-HuataandTariana Turiato have had gastric bypass surgery at some point in the past.

External links

• Anne Tolley MPofficial site
• ProfileatNew Zealand Parliament
• Releases and speechesat Beehive.govt.nz