Anne Tolley

The Honourable Anne Tolley JP
Tolley in 2019
Commission Chair of the Tauranga City Council
In office 9 February 2021 – 2 August 2024
Preceded by	Tenby Powell (as Mayor)
Succeeded by	Mahe Drysdale (as Mayor)
Deputy Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives
In office 8 November 2017 – 17 October 2020
Preceded by	Chester Borrows
Succeeded by	Adrian Rurawhe
26th Minister 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
44th Minister 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[1]
Prime Minister	John Key
Preceded by	Pete Hodgson
Succeeded by	Steven Joyce
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for East Coast
In office 17 September 2005 – 17 October 2020
Preceded by	Janet Mackey
Succeeded by	Kiri Allan
Majority	6,413
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for National Party list
In office 27 November 1999 – 27 July 2002
Personal details
Born	Anne Merrilyn Hicks (1953-03-01) 1 March 1953 (age 71) 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 Tolley JP (née Hicks; born 1 March 1953) is a New Zealand politician.

Tolley was elected as a member of the Napier City Council in 1986 and served as deputy mayor from 1989 until 1995. In 1999 she was elected to Parliament as a list MP representing the National Party. She was unseated in 2002 but returned in 2005 as the new East Coast MP. Between 2008 and 2017 she was a senior minister in the Fifth National Government, holding the offices of Minister of Education, Minister of Social Development, Minister of Corrections, Minister of Police and Minister of Local Government. She established Oranga Tamariki and was the first Minister for Children from 2016 to 2017.

She was Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives from 2017 to 2020. In 2021 she was appointed chair of the commission overseeing the Tauranga City Council.^[2]

Early life and family

Tolley was born in Wellington on 1 March 1953, the daughter of Mary Margaret Hicks (née Norris) and her husband Ronald James Hicks. She was educated at Colenso High School (now William Colenso College) in Napier,^[3] and spent time as a Rotary exchange student in Allentown, 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.^[4] With her husband, Tolley ran a boutique hotel in Napier.^[3]

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 deputy mayor of Napier between 1989 and 1995, and was an elected member of the Hawke's Bay Regional Council from 1989 to 1992. She has been a Justice of the Peace since 1989.^[4]

While on Napier City Council, Tolley was involved in the establishment of a local-authority trading enterprise to run Marineland and the Napier Aquarium, the Emerson Street redevelopment project, and the redevelopment of McLean Park.^[3] She sought re-election in the 1995 local elections, but was defeated.^[3]

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 the Labour Party by incumbent Napier MP Geoff Braybrooke but declined, instead joining the National Party. She was interested in being a candidate for National at the 1996 general election, but had not been a member of the party for long enough.^[3] She challenged Braybrooke for the Napier seat in 1999. While unsuccessful in that contest, Tolley was elected as a list 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.^[5] In 2000, her members bill—the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification (Prohibition of Child Pornography) Amendment Bill—was introduced.^[6] The bill responded to, and sought to overturn, the Court of Appeal's decision on Moonen v Film and Literature Board of Review, which had found that the right to freedom of expression in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 held even in the Film and Literature Board of Review's consideration of photographs depicting children in sexualised poses.^[7] The bill was eventually voted down because the government did not consider Moonen to sanction child pornography. Issues around censorship were progressed soon after through an inquiry into the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993 and a government amendment passed in 2005.^[8][9]

In the 2002 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.^[10] She did return at the 2005 general election, having won the East Coast electorate over Labour candidate Moana Mackey, daughter of the previous East Coast MP Janet Mackey.^[11] She held the electorate at the four subsequent elections.^[3]

She served as the first woman National Party whip from December 2006 until February 2008 when she became the party's education spokesperson.^[12][13] When National won the 2008 general election, she became the first woman Minister of Education. She continued in senior roles in the Fifth National Government until its defeat in 2017 and thereafter became Deputy 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.^[14]

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 appointed Speaker of the House if National were able to form a government.^[15] She was succeeded as National's candidate for the East Coast electorate by Rotorua District Councillor Tania Tapsell.^[16] However, in June 2020, with National polling poorly,^[17] Tolley announced that she would instead retire at the 2020 election.^[18] She gave her valedictory statement on 23 July 2020.^[19][20]

Minister in the Fifth National Government

Minister of Education: 2008–2011

The National Party formed a government after the 2008 general election and Tolley was appointed Minister 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.^[21] The programme was opposed by many teachers and school principals, some of whom refused to implement the standards.^[22] In January 2010, Tolley's responsibilities for tertiary education were reassigned to Steven Joyce, with Prime Minister John Key stating that this would allow Tolley to focus on the implementation of national standards.^[23]

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.^[24] 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.^[25]

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.^[26] Hekia Parata was made Education Minister while Tolley was demoted in the Cabinet rankings, becoming Minister of Corrections and Police,^[27] succeeding Judith Collins who was promoted to Minister of Justice.^[28]

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.^[29] Later that year, the Government awarded a 25-year contract to Serco to build a 960-bed prison at Wiri, South Auckland, at a cost of NZ$900 million.^[30][31] Tolley attended a sod-turning ceremony at the site of the new prison Wiri in September 2012.^[32]

In June 2012, Tolley as Police Minister was responsible for crushing the first "boy racer" car under the Vehicle Confiscation and Seizure Act.^[33]

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

When National was returned to government after the 2014 general election, Tolley succeeded Paula Bennett as Minister of Social Development. A key achievement during this term was reforming the Child, Youth and Family service within the Ministry of Social Development into 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.^[34]

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 the Minister of Local Government and held these roles, along with Minister of Social Development, until the Government was defeated at the 2017 general election.^[35]

Along with former state services minister Paula Bennett, Tolley was accused by New Zealand First party leader Winston Peters in 2017 of leaking information about his incorrectly filed superannuation application.^[36] Tolley admitted having told her sister of the situation before it was reported by media, but was not found to have alerted media.^[37]

Tauranga City Council

On 9 February 2021, the Minister of Local Government appointed a Crown Commission to oversee all of Tauranga City Council's governance responsibilities ^[38] (with all existing elected members being discharged). Tolley was appointed commission chair.^[39]

Health

It emerged in 2010 that Tolley had undergone gastric bypass (stomach stapling) surgery in order to lose weight.^[40] Tolley joins other current and former New Zealand politicians including Rahui Katene, David Lange, Chester Borrows, Donna Awatere-Huata and Tariana Turia to have had gastric bypass surgery at some point in the past.

References

1. "John Key announces Cabinet reshuffle". The New Zealand Herald. 26 January 2010. Retrieved 26 January 2010.
2. "Commissioners appointed to Tauranga City Council". 2 February 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
3. Laing, Doug (3 July 2020). "The shoulder tap that could have turned National MP Anne Tolley to Labour". The New Zealand Herald. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
4. Taylor, Alister, ed. (2001). "New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa 2001". New Zealand Who's Who, Aotearoa. Auckland: Alister Taylor Publishers. ISSN 1172-9813.
5. "Tolley, Anne". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
6. "Still No Action On Bill To Prohibit Child Porn". Scoop News. 26 March 2024. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
7. "Still No Action On Bill To Prohibit Child Porn". Scoop News. 26 March 2024. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
8. Wilson, David (December 2002). "Censorship In New Zealand: The Policy Challenges of New Technology" (PDF). Social Policy Journal of New Zealand (19).
9. "Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Amendment Bill". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
10. "Candidate profile: Anne Tolley". Newshub. 20 October 2011. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
11. "Electorate Profile East Coast". Parliament.nz. October 2005. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
12. "Katherine Rich puts family before politics in her decision to stand down". Newshub. 13 February 2008. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
13. Jones, Charlotte (30 June 2020). "Anne Tolley reflects on her work in politics as she bows out". RNZ. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
14. "Bullying and harassment in Parliament – one year on". Newsroom. 7 July 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
15. "Anne Tolley to go list only in 2020, citing ambitions to be Speaker". Stuff. 19 December 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
16. Conchie, Sandra (6 June 2020). "Rotorua Lakes councillor Tania Tapsell selected to be National Party candidate for East Coast". The New Zealand Herald. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
17. "Tolley says it is time for family". www.gisborneherald.co.nz. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
18. Andre Chumko (27 June 2020). "Anne Tolley to retire from Parliament this year". Stuff. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
19. Cheng, Derek (23 July 2020). "National Party MP Anne Tolley gives emotional sign-off from politics". The New Zealand Herald. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
20. Jones, Charlotte (30 June 2020). "Anne Tolley reflects on her work in politics as she bows out". RNZ. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
21. Editorial: Trust parents with the facts about schools, NZ Herald 22 November 2011
22. "Principals reject education policy – National – NZ Herald News". www.nzherald.co.nz. Archived from the original on 23 February 2013. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
23. Young, Audrey (26 January 2010). "Tolley relieved of portfolio to focus on national standards". The New Zealand Herald. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
24. Young, Audrey (30 June 2010). "Tolley upset at paper on standards". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
25. "Minister warns principals against speaking out about standards – National – NZ Herald News". www.nzherald.co.nz. Archived from the original on 23 February 2013. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
26. "Women move up the Govt ranks". The New Zealand Herald. 13 December 2011.
27. Romanos, Amelia (12 December 2011). "Boost for women in new Cabinet". The New Zealand Herald.
28. "Power hands over SOE portfolio". The New Zealand Herald. 13 April 2011.
29. "Minister defends prison closure plans – National – NZ Herald News". www.nzherald.co.nz. Archived from the original on 12 January 2013. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
30. Clendon, David (21 June 2012). "$900 million for empty beds" (Press release). Wellington: Green Party. Archived from the original on 10 February 2013. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
31. APNZ (23 March 2012). "Minister defends prison closure plans". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
32. "Construction begins on $300m prison". Archived from the original on 20 September 2012. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
33. "Boy racers mourn first crushed car". Stuff. 21 June 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
34. Kenny, Katie (28 July 2016). "Faces of Innocents: CYF to be shut down and replaced by a new ministry". Stuff. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
35. "Tolley, Anne – New Zealand Parliament". Parliament.nz. 7 April 2017. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
36. "Bennett, Tolley avoid financial damages in Peters privacy case". RNZ. 14 November 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
37. "Anne Tolley admits 'outburst' in Winston Peters superannuation case". RNZ. 7 November 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
38. "Our Council – Tauranga City Council". www.tauranga.govt.nz. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
39. "Commissioners – Tauranga City Council". www.tauranga.govt.nz. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
40. Forbes, Michael (26 January 2010). "Stomach-stapled MPs put weight behind Turia". Stuff. New Zealand. Retrieved 16 September 2011.

External links

• Anne Tolley MP official site
• Profile at New Zealand Parliament
• Releases and speeches at Beehive.govt.nz

New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by Janet Mackey	Member of Parliament for East Coast 2005–2020	Succeeded by Kiri Allan
Political offices
Preceded by Chris Carter	Minister of Education 2008–2011	Succeeded by Hekia Parata
Preceded by Judith Collins	Minister of Corrections 2011–2014	Succeeded by Sam Lotu-Iiga
	Minister of Police 2011–2014	Succeeded by Michael Woodhouse
Preceded by Paula Bennett	Minister for Social Development 2014–2017	Succeeded by Carmel Sepuloni