Munokoa Poto Williams (born 7 January 1962) is a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Labour Party politician and a member of Parliament. She was elected in a 2013 by-election and served as Minister of Conservation and

Minister for Disability Issues Whaikaha - Ministry of Disabled People is a government ministry within New Zealand's Ministry of Social Development. Its mission is to improve outcomes for disabled people in New Zealand, reform the wider disability system, and coordinate the Go ...

in the Sixth Labour Government.

Early life and education

Williams is of Cook Island descent. Her parents, Nahora and Marion Williams, migrated to New Zealand in the 1950s. She was born in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

and grew up in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, where she attended Beresford Street School and Auckland Girls' Grammar. Williams graduated from

Southern Cross University Southern Cross University (SCU) is an Australian public university, with campuses at Lismore and Coffs Harbour in northern New South Wales, and at Coolangatta, the most southern suburb of the Gold Coast in Queensland. In 2019, it was ranke ...

in Australia with an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

Professional career

Williams has a background working on family and sexual violence issues. She has worked for the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

, BirthRight, Healthcare NZ and disability agencies. She has served as a member of the Community Child Protection Review Panel, was involved in the Waitakere Community Law Service and Community Waitakere, and was part of the Living Wage Campaign and the LIFEWISE Big Sleepout. She moved from Auckland to Christchurch's suburb of New Brighton in January 2013 to take up a position as regional manager of the St John of God Hauora Trust but resigned from that role to run for Parliament later that year.

Political career

Christchurch East Christchurch East, originally called Christchurch City East, is a current New Zealand parliamentary electorate. It was first created for the and was abolished for two periods, from 1875–1905 and again from 1946–1996. It was last created fo ...

Lianne Dalziel Lianne Audrey Dalziel (; born 7 June 1960) is a New Zealand politician and former Mayor of Christchurch. Prior to this position, she was a member of the New Zealand Parliament for 23 years, serving as Minister of Immigration, Commerce, Minister ...

resigned in October 2013 to contest the Christchurch mayoralty, triggering a by-election. Williams won selection as Labour's candidate over five other candidates including future Christchurch city councillor

Deon Swiggs Deon William Swiggs (born 6 September 1986) is a New Zealand politician serving as the Environment Canterbury Councillor representing the Christchurch West/Ōpuna Regional Constituency. He previously served as the Christchurch City Councillor ...

and James Caygill (son of former Labour

Finance Minister A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfoli ...

David Caygill David Francis Caygill (born 15 November 1948) is a former New Zealand politician. He was born and raised in Christchurch. He entered politics in 1971 as Christchurch's youngest city councillor at the age of 22. He served as a Member of Parliam ...

). She convincingly defeated National's candidate

Matt Doocey Matthew Maurice Doocey (born 1972) is a New Zealand politician who was elected to the New Zealand Parliament at the 2014 general election as a representative of the New Zealand National Party. He was re-elected in 2017 with a majority increase ...

, securing 61 per cent of the vote. On 28 January 2014, Williams was sworn in as a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

for the first time. After

Alfred Ngaro Alfred Ngaro is a New Zealand politician, serving as leader of NewZeal since 2023. He was a list member of the New Zealand House of Representatives from 2011 to 2020, representing the National Party. Ngaro is the first New Zealander of Cook I ...

, she is the second Cook Islander to be a New Zealand MP. Williams held her electorate over National candidate

Jo Hayes Joanne Kowhai Hayes (born 1959) is a former New Zealand politician who served as a New Zealand National Party List MP in the New Zealand House of Representatives from 2014 to 2020. Early life and career Hayes' whakapapa is to the Whanganui- Ra ...

by 4,073 votes in the 2014 general election. She defeated Hayes again in 2017, by 7,480 votes, and new National candidate Lincoln Platt in 2020 by 17,336 votes.

Opposition, 2013–2017

In her first year as an MP, Williams was appointed to the Health Committee and was Labour's associate spokesperson for social development, the community and voluntary sector, and housing (Christchurch). After the election she nominated Andrew Little to succeed

David Cunliffe David Richard Cunliffe (born 30 April 1963) is a New Zealand management consultant and former politician who was Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition (New Zealand), Leader of the Opposition from September 2013 to ...

as Labour leader. In the 2014–2017 term, Williams served on the Health and Social Services committees and was Labour's spokesperson on disability issues and the community and voluntary sector. She became Labour's junior whip when

Jacinda Ardern Dame Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern ( ; born 26 July 1980) is a New Zealand politician and activist who was the 40th prime minister of New Zealand and Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party, leader of the Labour Party from 2017 to 2023. She was ...

became leader in September 2017.

Sixth Labour Government, 2017–2023

On 19 October 2017, a Labour-led coalition government was formed with support from

New Zealand First New Zealand First (), commonly abbreviated to NZ First or NZF, is a political party in New Zealand, founded and led by Winston Peters, who has served three times as Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand, deputy prime minister. The party has form ...

and the

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

parties. Williams was nominated and elected an Assistant

Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives In New Zealand, the speaker of the House of Representatives, commonly known as the speaker of the House (), is the presiding officer and highest authority of the New Zealand House of Representatives The House of Representatives () is the ...

. The National Party challenged her nomination for the office because Williams had not been sworn in as a member of Parliament for that term yet. Speaker

Trevor Mallard Sir Trevor Colin Mallard (born 17 June 1954) is a New Zealand politician and diplomat. Since 2023, he has served as Ambassador of New Zealand to Ireland. He was a Member of Parliament from 1984 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 2022. He served a ...

dismissed the challenges because it is not a requirement for members of Parliament to be sworn in to be nominated as a presiding officer. Following a

cabinet reshuffle A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet, or when the head of state changes the head of government and a number of ministers. They are more common in parliam ...

in late June 2019, Williams was appointed as a minister outside Cabinet, becoming Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector as well as an Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Social Development and Immigration. When Labour was returned to government in the 2020 general election, she was transferred into the roles of Minister of Police and Minister for Building and Construction and also became an associate minister in the children and public housing portfolios. Williams' appointment as police minister came as a surprise to some commentators as she was seen to be a contrast with her predecessor,

Stuart Nash Stuart Alexander Nash (born August 1967) is a New Zealand politician and lawyer. He was a member of the House of Representatives for Labour Party from to 2011, and was re-elected in as a representative of Napier electorate. In October 2017 ...

. Through 2022, Williams was under pressure in the role as a surge of

gang activity A gang is a group or society of associates, friends, or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectiv ...

caused conflict between the

Tribesmen The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

and

Killer Beez The Killer Beez (Killa Beez) are a large street gang based in New Zealand, mainly based in the South Auckland area. They were founded in 2003, as a large rogue street gang in Ōtara, as a spin-off of the larger "Tribesmen" gang. The Killer Beez ...

gangs in Auckland.

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

acknowledged that "focus" in the police portfolio had been lost and, in a reshuffle on 13 June 2022, reassigned Willilams to be Minister of Conservation and

. On 13 December 2022, Williams announced that she would not be contesting the

2023 New Zealand general election The 2023 New Zealand general election was held on 14 October 2023 to determine the composition of the 54th New Zealand Parliament, 54th Parliament of New Zealand. Voters elected 122 members to the unicameral New Zealand House of Representatives ...

and would step down at the end of the 2020–2023 term. While describing her job as an MP and Cabinet as an "extraordinary and amazing privilege," Williams stated that the Christchurch East electorate needed "someone with fresh eyes and fresh energy." On 10 February 2023, Williams was granted retention of the title "

The Honourable ''The Honourable'' (Commonwealth English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific Style ...

" for life, in recognition of her term as a member of the Executive Council.

Political positions

In May 2017, Williams suggested removing the presumption of innocence afforded to alleged perpetrators of sexual assault. She voted in favour of the Abortion Legislation Bill in March 2020 and against the End of Life Choice Bill in December 2019.

References

External links

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Poto 1962 births New Zealand people of Cook Island descent New Zealand Labour Party MPs Women members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand MPs for Christchurch electorates People educated at Auckland Girls' Grammar School Southern Cross University alumni Politicians from Wellington City Living people 21st-century New Zealand women politicians Candidates in the 2017 New Zealand general election Candidates in the 2020 New Zealand general election