Tialavea Fea Leniu Tionisio Hunt is a

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

n politician and former

Cabinet Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' p ...

. He is a member of the

Human Rights Protection Party The Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP, ) is a Samoan political party. It was founded in 1979 and dominated Samoan party politics for decades thereafter, leading every government until their defeat in 2021. Former Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele ...

. Hunt was educated at St. Peters school in

Falefa Falefā is located on the north eastern coast of Upolu island in Samoa. It was the ancient capital during the ('government') of (King) Fonoti after defeating his kin Vaafusuaga Toleafoa and Samalaulu for control of Samoa. King Fonoti chose t ...

, Marist Brothers Mulivai and St Josephs College, Lotopa. he worked in printing and construction before becoming a member of the board of the Samoa Shipping Corporation and the Development Bank of Samoa. He was first elected to the

Legislative Assembly of Samoa The Legislative Assembly (), also known as the Parliament of Samoa (), is the national legislature of Samoa, seated at Apia, where the country's central administration is situated. Samoan Parliament is composed of two parts: the O le Ao o le M ...

at the 2011 Samoan general election, and appointed Associate Minister of Finance and Associate Minister of Police and Prisons. Following the 2016 election Hunt was appointed as Minister of Revenue. A cabinet reshuffle in June 2016 saw him gain the prisons and corrections portfolio. In June 2017 he was responsible for a controversial policy to tax church ministers. When churches refused to pay, he threatened to seize their assets. Ministers were subsequently prosecuted for failing to pay tax, and taxes were deducted from bank accounts. In September 2017 he advocated for the deportation of foreigners convicted of crimes in Samoa. later that year he opposed the repatriation of Samoans convicted in

American Samoa American Samoa is an Territories of the United States, unincorporated and unorganized territory of the United States located in the Polynesia region of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. Centered on , it is southeast of the island count ...

. In early 2018 he faced calls to resign after he released a prisoner to attend a '' matai'' ceremony. In March 2020 Hunt was given responsibility for the Police as well as his existing Corrections portfolio. In July 2020 he called for

judicial corporal punishment Judicial corporal punishment is the infliction of corporal punishment as a result of a sentence imposed on an offender by a Court, court of law, including Flagellation, flagellation (also called flogging or whipping), forced Amputation, amputat ...

for rapists. In August 2020 he defended using prison inmates as unpaid labour for "personal projects" such as clearing land belonging to his family. He lost his seat in the

April 2021 Samoan general election General elections were held in Samoa on 9 April 2021 to determine the composition of the 17th Parliament. The Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP), which had been in government for most of the time since 1982, was led into the election by Tuila ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunt, Tialavea Tionisio Members of the Legislative Assembly of Samoa Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Government ministers of Samoa Human Rights Protection Party politicians