Andrew James Little (born 7 May 1965) is a New Zealand politician and former trade union official, currently serving as
Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services.
Some governments have separate ministers for mental health.
Coun ...
and
Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations. He is also the Minister for the
Government Communications Security Bureau
The Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) ( mi, Te Tira Tiaki) is the public-service department of New Zealand charged with promoting New Zealand's national security by collecting and analysing information of an intelligence nature. ...
and the
New Zealand Security Intelligence Service
The New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS or SIS; mi, Te Pā Whakamarumaru) is New Zealand's primary national intelligence agency. It is responsible for providing information and advising on matters including national security (inc ...
. Little was previously
Leader of the Opposition from 2014 to 2017.
Little was the national secretary of New Zealand's largest trade union, the
Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union
The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) was the largest private sector trade union in New Zealand. It was formed in 1996 by the merger of the Engineers' Union (EU), the Printing, Packaging and Manufacturing Union (PPMU), and th ...
(EPMU), and he was President of the Labour Party from 2009 to 2011. He entered Parliament in as a
list MP
A list MP is a member of parliament (MP) elected from a party list rather than from by a geographical constituency. The place in Parliament is due to the number of votes that the party won, not to votes received by the MP personally. This occurs ...
. Little served as the
Leader
Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets vi ...
of the
New Zealand Labour Party from 18 November 2014 until 1 August 2017, when he resigned to make way for
Jacinda Ardern
Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern ( ; born 26 July 1980) is a New Zealand politician who has been serving as the 40th prime minister of New Zealand and leader of the Labour Party since 2017. A member of the Labour Party, she has been the member of ...
.
With the formation of a
Labour-led coalition government in October 2017, Little was appointed as
Minister of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
,
Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, and Minister in charge of the
Government Communications Security Bureau
The Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) ( mi, Te Tira Tiaki) is the public-service department of New Zealand charged with promoting New Zealand's national security by collecting and analysing information of an intelligence nature. ...
and
New Zealand Security Intelligence Service
The New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS or SIS; mi, Te Pā Whakamarumaru) is New Zealand's primary national intelligence agency. It is responsible for providing information and advising on matters including national security (inc ...
.
In July 2020, Little was appointed as the
Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety.
Following the
2020 election, Little left the Justice and Workplace Relations and Safety roles and was instead appointed Minister of Health.
Early life
Born in
New Plymouth on 7 May 1965, Little was educated at
New Plymouth Boys' High School
New Plymouth Boys' High School is a single-sex boys' state secondary school in New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand.
The school currently caters for approximately 1300 students, including 210 boarders, on its site.
The school often collabora ...
. His father was a devout
National Party supporter and Little recalls delivering National pamphlets under his father's direction when he was younger. When he was 17, Little got his first job as a labourer digging the main cable trench for a new methanol plant in
Waitara Valley as part of the "
Think Big
In their most common sense, the terms thought and thinking refer to conscious cognitive processes that can happen independently of sensory stimulation. Their most paradigmatic forms are judging, reasoning, concept formation, problem solving, an ...
" project. During his time there he noticed that the contractor he was working for was deliberately using a less than adequate amount of concrete than the work required. He finished work there at the beginning of 1984 and left upon being accepted to enter university.
In the 1980s Little studied law, philosophy and
public policy
Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public p ...
at
Victoria University of Wellington
Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand.
The university is well kno ...
, where he became active in the campaign against New Zealand's
student loan
A student loan is a type of loan designed to help students pay for post-secondary education and the associated fees, such as tuition, books and supplies, and living expenses. It may differ from other types of loans in the fact that the interest r ...
scheme. He was elected president of the
Victoria University of Wellington Students' Association
The Victoria University of Wellington Students' Association (VUWSA) is the official student association at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. VUWSA was established in 1899 as the Victoria University College Students' Society.
Follo ...
and later served as
New Zealand Union of Students' Associations
The New Zealand Union of Students' Associations (NZUSA) is a representative body that advocates for the interests of tertiary students in New Zealand. Between 1935 and 2006, it was known as the New Zealand University Students' Association, until i ...
(NZUSA) president in 1988 and 1989.
Career with trade unions
After graduating Little took a job as a lawyer with the Engineers' Union (a forerunner of the
EPMU), with his work including
Accident Compensation Corporation
The Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) ( mi, Te Kaporeihana Āwhina Hunga Whara) is the New Zealand Crown entity responsible for administering the country's no-fault accidental injury compensation scheme, commonly referred to as the ACC sch ...
(ACC) and
employment law
Labour laws (also known as labor laws or employment laws) are those that mediate the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade unions, and the government. Collective labour law relates to the tripartite relationship between employee, ...
issues.
In 1997 he was appointed the union's general counsel (chief lawyer). Two years later, he was appointed assistant national secretary, and was elected national secretary when
Rex Jones
Rex Elliott Jones (born 1951) is a New Zealand trade unionist.
Biography
Jones was born in 1951 to Kieth Elliott and Gwendoline Sylvia Jones. He lived in Papatoetoe, Auckland and became a union delegate in 1969.
In 1984 was the National Secre ...
stood down from the position in 2000.
In 2007 Little was ranked at number 40 on the
New Zealand Listener Power List.
Little became an important extra-parliamentary figure within the Labour Party and was one of the main advisors from the trade unions. Little was a representative on Labour's national council as Affiliates Vice-President, responsible for liaison between the Labour Party and affiliated trade unions. On 2 March 2009 it was announced that Little was elected unopposed as President of the
New Zealand Labour Party. He held that post until 2 April 2011.
Member of Parliament (2011–present)
Little stood for Parliament in the
2011 general election; despite a loss in the
New Plymouth electorate to the
National Party incumbent
Jonathan Young, he was elected as a list MP owing to his ranking of 15 on the Labour Party list. This was the highest rank given to a Labour candidate who was not an incumbent MP.
He took on the ACC portfolio and gained profile during the National Party's restructuring of the organisation.
Together with
Trevor Mallard
Trevor Colin Mallard (born 17 June 1954) is a New Zealand politician and member of the Labour Party. First elected to Parliament in 1984, he was Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives from 2017 until 2022.
Mallard was a Cabinet m ...
, he launched attacks against ACC Minister
Judith Collins
Judith Anne Collins (born 24 February 1959) is a New Zealand politician who served as the Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the New Zealand National Party from 14 July 2020 to 25 November 2021. She was the second female Leader of the Natio ...
, who eventually responded with issuing a defamation claim. The affair resulted in the resignations of the
Accident Compensation Corporation
The Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) ( mi, Te Kaporeihana Āwhina Hunga Whara) is the New Zealand Crown entity responsible for administering the country's no-fault accidental injury compensation scheme, commonly referred to as the ACC sch ...
(ACC) chairman John Judge, and the ACC chief executive Ralph Stewart.
At the
2014 election he again stood and lost in the New Plymouth electorate. Young was returned with a much increased margin, but this was partially explained by boundary changes.
Little was elected as list MP because of his ranking of 11 on the Labour Party list.
Little introduced a
member's bill
A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in w ...
in the ballot that, if passed, would create a new criminal offence of
corporate manslaughter
Corporate manslaughter is a crime in several jurisdictions, including England and Wales and Hong Kong. It enables a corporation to be punished and censured for culpable conduct that leads to a person's death. This extends beyond any compensation t ...
. The Crimes (Corporate Manslaughter) Amendment Bill was drafted in the wake of the 2010
Pike River Mine disaster
The Pike River Mine disaster was a coal mining accident that began on 19 November 2010 in the Pike River Mine, northeast of Greymouth, in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island following a methane explosion at approximately 3:44 p ...
and the
CTV Building
The CTV Building was the headquarters of Canterbury Television (locally known as CTV) and other companies. Located on the corner of Cashel and Madras Streets in Christchurch Central City, New Zealand. It became one of the symbols of the Februa ...
collapse during the
2011 Christchurch earthquake
A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. local time (23:51 UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the entire of the Canterbury region in the South Island, centred south-east ...
. The bill is modelled on the United Kingdom's
Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007
The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 (c. 19) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that seeks to broaden the law on corporate manslaughter in the United Kingdom. The Act created a new offence respectively named ...
. At the time, Little stated the bill was needed because "the track record of prosecutions under the
Health and Safety Act is that they tend to focus on lower level failures because getting the evidence and securing the conviction are easier, but personal responsibility for fatalities goes unchecked." A 2012 3News poll found that seventy-four percent of respondents would like to see a charge of corporate manslaughter introduced. The Bill was eventually transferred to the name of
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 from September 2013 to September 2014. He was Member of Parl ...
but was not drawn before Cunliffe's retirement from Parliament in early 2017.
Leader of the Opposition (2014–2017)
![Andrew Little gives State of the Nation speech 06](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Andrew_Little_gives_State_of_the_Nation_speech_06.JPG)
Following Labour's defeat at the general election in September 2014,
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 from September 2013 to September 2014. He was Member of Parl ...
resigned as leader of the Labour Party.
Little announced his bid for the
2014 Labour Party leadership election on 9 October 2014 and was nominated by
Poto Williams
Munokoa Poto Williams (born 7 January 1962) is a New Zealand Labour Party politician and a member of Parliament. She was elected in a 2013 by-election and is currently Minister of Conservation and Minister for Disability Issues in the Sixth ...
and
Iain Lees-Galloway
Iain Francis Lees-Galloway (born 18 September 1978), initially Iain Galloway, is a New Zealand former politician. He represented the Palmerston North electorate in Parliament for the Labour Party. He was the Minister for Workplace Relations, Im ...
. He won the election, which was held on 18 November 2014, and defeated
Grant Robertson
Grant Murray Robertson (born 30 October 1971) is a New Zealand politician and member of the Labour Party who has served as the 19th deputy prime minister of New Zealand since 2020 and the minister of Finance since 2017. He has served as Member ...
,
David Parker, and
Nanaia Mahuta
Nanaia Cybele Mahuta (born 21 August 1970) is a New Zealand politician who is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hauraki-Waikato and serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Sixth Labour Government since 2020. She is also the Minister o ...
.
In reporting on the election, some media focused on his trade union background.
As Leader of the Labour Party and
Leader of the Opposition, Little sought to challenge the Government with a strong alternative narrative. In a 2015 conference speech he introduced a new "Kiwi dream" theme (the
New Zealand dream
The New Zealand dream (or the Kiwi dream) centres on the consumerism, acquisition of a Single-family detached home, family house on a quarter acre, quarter-acre section, with at least one motor vehicle. The New Zealand dream resembles the Austra ...
).
In 2015 Labour introduced a new slogan, "Backing the Kiwi Dream". Little largely focused on issues and concerns such as rising house prices in urban areas, a '
brain drain', unemployment and job security and the growing wage gap between
baby boomers
Baby boomers, often shortened to boomers, are the Western demographic cohort following the Silent Generation and preceding Generation X. The generation is often defined as people born from 1946 to 1964, during the mid-20th century baby boom. ...
and
millennials—the "Kiwi dream" narrative was particularly designed to engage young voters.
Little appointed long-serving Labour MP
Annette King
Dame Annette Faye King (née Robinson, born 13 September 1947) is a former New Zealand politician. She served as Deputy Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party and Deputy Leader of the Opposition from 2008 to 2011, and from 2014 until 1 March 20 ...
as Labour's 'interim' deputy leader shortly after his election as leader. This appointment was made permanent in October 2015 after
Jacinda Ardern
Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern ( ; born 26 July 1980) is a New Zealand politician who has been serving as the 40th prime minister of New Zealand and leader of the Labour Party since 2017. A member of the Labour Party, she has been the member of ...
(who had previously sought to be Robertson's deputy leader) was reportedly offered the role but turned it down. Robertson was appointed finance spokesperson and ranked third in the caucus in a bid to unify different groups within the party. For much of Little's leadership, key portfolios in the
Little shadow Cabinet were held by King (health),
Phil Twyford
Philip Stoner Twyford (born 4 May 1963) is a politician from New Zealand and a member of the Labour Party. He has been a Member of Parliament since 2008. He is the Labour Party MP for Te Atatū.
Early years
Twyford was born in 1963 in Auckland ...
(housing),
Chris Hipkins
Christopher John Hipkins (born 5 September 1978) is a New Zealand Labour Party politician and a member of the Sixth Labour Government's Cabinet as Minister of Education, Minister of Police, Minister for the Public Service and Leader of the ...
(education), Ardern (justice and children) and
Carmel Sepuloni (social development). Little reshuffled his
shadow cabinet in November 2015 (demoting David Cunliffe), December 2016 (after the retirements of Phil Goff and David Shearer) and March 2017 (in which Ardern was promoted to deputy leader).
Little was criticised by some for perceived poor performance in television interviews, his low profile and poor
name recognition
In politics, name recognition is the ability a voter has to identify a candidate's name due to a certain amount of previous exposure through various campaigning methods. It can be described as the awareness voters have about specific candidates r ...
with the general public.
A ''
Dominion Post'' assessment said "he has little charisma and a lack of new ideas" and criticised Labour's "bare platform". He was praised by political commentators early in his leadership for uniting the party caucus and averting the infighting that characterised David Cunliffe's tenure as leader, though at the expense of dropping many of the party's former policy proposals.
In October 2016 Labour floated the idea of a levy on employers who imported offshore
skilled labour
Skill is a measure of the amount of worker's expertise, specialization, wages, and supervisory capacity. Skilled workers are generally more trained, higher paid, and have more responsibilities than unskilled workers.
Skilled workers have long had ...
rather than upskilled their domestic workers. Little responded to criticisms that it amounted to a "tax on immigrants", saying "If we want to make sure we've got the skills for the future ... for those employers who don't take on apprentices, don't invest in training, you can contribute a levy and that'll help to defray the cost of those who are doing the training".
Little also criticised the number of
travel visa
A visa (from the Latin ''charta visa'', meaning "paper that has been seen") is a conditional authorization granted by a polity to a foreigner that allows them to enter, remain within, or leave its territory. Visas typically include limits on ...
s granted to semi-skilled workers, citing statistics. Kirk Hope, Chief executive of
Business New Zealand, criticised the proposal policy and warned that it would affect smaller businesses who are unable to recruit enough local workers.
Little was sued for defamation by Lani and
Earl Hagaman after he made statements linking a contract awarded to their company with donations they had made to the National Party. In April 2017, a jury cleared him of some of the charges, and were unable to reach a verdict on others.
On 1 August 2017, Little resigned as Leader of the Labour Party due to the party's history of low results in polls, and was succeeded by deputy leader
Jacinda Ardern
Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern ( ; born 26 July 1980) is a New Zealand politician who has been serving as the 40th prime minister of New Zealand and leader of the Labour Party since 2017. A member of the Labour Party, she has been the member of ...
. Little was later lauded by party supporters for "selflessly" putting aside his personal ambition to allow Ardern to lead the party, which saw a swift reversal of fortune for Labour and the opportunity to form a new government after the
2017 general election with
New Zealand First and the
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...
. Little served as Labour's justice spokesperson over the election period.
Cabinet Minister (2017–present)
First term (2017–2020)
The Labour Party increased its share of the vote in the . Little was elected as a Cabinet Minister by the Labour Party caucus following Labour's
formation of a government with
New Zealand First and the
Greens. In late October 2017, Little assumed several portfolios including
Minister of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
,
Minister for Courts, Minister Responsible for the
Government Communications Security Bureau
The Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) ( mi, Te Tira Tiaki) is the public-service department of New Zealand charged with promoting New Zealand's national security by collecting and analysing information of an intelligence nature. ...
(GCSB) and the
New Zealand Security Intelligence Service
The New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS or SIS; mi, Te Pā Whakamarumaru) is New Zealand's primary national intelligence agency. It is responsible for providing information and advising on matters including national security (inc ...
(NZSIS), Minister for
Treaty of Waitangi
The Treaty of Waitangi ( mi, Te Tiriti o Waitangi) is a document of central importance to the History of New Zealand, history, to the political constitution of the state, and to the national mythos of New Zealand. It has played a major role in ...
Negotiations, and Minister Responsible for
Pike River Re-entry.
On 20 November 2018, Little announced the creation of the
Pike River Recovery Agency to plan a manned re-entry of the
Pike River Mine
The Pike River Mine is a coal mine formerly operated by Pike River Coal north-northeast of Greymouth in the West Coast Region of New Zealand's South Island. It is the site of the Pike River Mine disaster that occurred on 19 November 2010, lea ...
in order to recover the bodies of the 29 miners who perished during the
Pike River Mine disaster
The Pike River Mine disaster was a coal mining accident that began on 19 November 2010 in the Pike River Mine, northeast of Greymouth, in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island following a methane explosion at approximately 3:44 p ...
in September 2010. On 19 April 2018, Little entered the Pike River mine portal with victims' family representatives Anna Osborne and Sonya Rockhouse to demonstrate that a safe re-entry was possible. He also promised that the Government would re-enter the drift to recover evidence and the remains of deceased miners. Drift entry was achieved in 2019 but plans to recover the victims' bodies were abandoned in 2021.
![Andrew Little, 2017](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Andrew_Little%2C_2017.jpg)
As Justice Minister, Little announced plans in December 2017 to reduce the prison population by 30 per cent over the next 15 years. The prison population at the time was 10,394. Towards this goal, in May 2018, he announced the Government would repeal the contentious 'three strikes' law – the
Sentencing and Parole Reform Act 2010
The Sentencing and Parole Reform Act 2010, now repealed, was an Act of Parliament in New Zealand that denied parole to repeat violent offenders, and imposed maximum terms of imprisonment on repeat offenders who commit three serious violent offence ...
– which had been introduced by the
previous National Government. NZ First refused to back this proposal forcing Little to announce on 11 June 2018 that the coalition Government had abandoned the plan.
Little later voiced criticism of Australia's deportation of
New Zealanders in Australia
New Zealand Australians refers to Australian citizens whose origins are in New Zealand, as well as New Zealand migrants and expatriates based in Australia. Migration from New Zealand to Australia is a common phenomenon, given Australia's proximit ...
during a controversial
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...
documentary entitled "Don't Call Australia Home", that was released on 17 July 2018. Under changes to the Australian
Migration Act, any foreigners with a criminal record or who do not meet a "character test" are subject to deportation. Little remarked that Australia's deportation policy would damage the sibling relationship between the two countries. Little's remarks drew criticism from the Australian
Assistant Minister for Home Affairs Alex Hawke
Alexander George Hawke (born 9 July 1977) is an Australian politician who served as Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs from 2020 to 2022 in the Morrison Government. Hawke has served as Member of ...
, who defended the deportations on law and order grounds and criticized Little for not urging New Zealand citizens to obey Australian law. In response, Little criticized Australia's deportation laws for lacking "humanitarian ideals" and described the removal of New Zealand citizens who identified as Australian residents as a human rights violation. In response, the Australian
Minister for Home Affairs
An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergenc ...
Peter Dutton
Peter Craig Dutton (born 18 November 1970) is an Australian politician who has been leader of the opposition and leader of the Liberal Party since May 2022. He has represented the Queensland seat of Dickson in the House of Representatives sinc ...
defended his government's deportation policy and called on Little to reflect "a little more" on the
Trans-Tasman
Trans-Tasman is an adjective used primarily to signify the relationship between Australia and New Zealand. The term refers to the Tasman Sea, which lies between the two countries. For example, ''trans-Tasman commerce'' refers to commerce betwee ...
relationship. Little countered by expressing concern about what he perceived as a growing "venality" in Australia's treatment of foreigners.
On 24 July 2018, Little rejected a call by the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
committee on women's rights for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into New Zealand's
Family Court system, saying the New Zealand Government already has a fair idea of what the problems were. Little had already ordered a Ministerial Review of the Family Court.
After the
Christchurch mosque shootings
On 15 March 2019, two consecutive mass shootings occurred in a terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. The attacks, carried out by a lone gunman who entered both mosques during Friday prayer, began at the Al Noor Mosque ...
in March 2019, Little told
Radio New Zealand, “I have given authority to the agencies to do intrusive activities under warrant, the number of those (warrants) I’m not at liberty to disclose". He said that the intelligence services usually put 30 to 40 people under monitoring at a time. Although more people than usual were being monitored, he was not willing to reveal how many. He also stated that the operations could be anything from physical surveillance to watching telecommunications activity.
On 5 August 2019, as Justice Minister, Little announced abortion law reform legislation that would permit
abortion
Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...
without restrictions for the first 20 weeks of a woman's pregnancy. While later-term abortions will still require testing by medical experts, Little announced that abortion would also be removed from the
Crimes Act 1961
The Crimes Act 1961 is an act of New Zealand Parliament that forms a leading part of the criminal law in New Zealand. It repeals the Crimes Act 1908, itself a successor of the Criminal Code Act 1893. Most crimes in New Zealand are created by ...
. Other changes include allowing women to self-refer to an abortion service, ensuring that health practitioners advise women about counselling services, establishing safe areas around abortion facilities, and ensuring that conscientious objecting doctors inform women about their stance and alternative services. Labour had negotiated with New Zealand First cabinet minister
Tracey Martin
Tracey Anne Martin (born 1 July 1964) is a New Zealand politician and a former member of the New Zealand House of Representatives. Until 2021 she was a member of the New Zealand First Party, and served as its Deputy Leader from 2013 to 2015. S ...
for several months to ensure support for the legislation. Though Martin ruled out a referendum, she was overruled by NZ First party leader
Winston Peters
Winston Raymond Peters (born 11 April 1945) is a New Zealand politician serving as the leader of New Zealand First since its foundation in 1993. Peters served as the 13th deputy prime minister of New Zealand from 1996 to 1998 and 2017 to 2020, ...
, who demanded a binding referendum. Little rejected Peters' call for a referendum, stating that the Government would seek the support of MPs from all parties to pass the legislation. On 18 March 2020, he voted for the bill at its third reading, and it became law as the
Abortion Legislation Act 2020.
On 22 July 2020, Little was appointed
Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety following the resignation of
Iain Lees-Galloway
Iain Francis Lees-Galloway (born 18 September 1978), initially Iain Galloway, is a New Zealand former politician. He represented the Palmerston North electorate in Parliament for the Labour Party. He was the Minister for Workplace Relations, Im ...
due to an affair with one of his staff members.
Second term (2020–present)
During the
2020 New Zealand general election
The 2020 New Zealand general election was held on Saturday 17 October 2020 to determine the composition of the 53rd parliament. Voters elected 120 members to the House of Representatives, 72 from single-member electorates and 48 from closed ...
held on 17 October 2020, Little was re-elected on the Labour Party list. In early November, Little was named as
Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services.
Some governments have separate ministers for mental health.
Coun ...
and also retained his ministerial portfolios for the Government Communications Security Bureau, the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service, Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, and Pike River Re-entry.
He was additionally appointed Lead Coordination Minister for the Government's Response to the Royal Commission's Report into the Terrorist Attack on the Christchurch Mosques after that report was published in December 2020.
On 20 July 2021, Little, in his capacity as Minister in charge of the
Government Communications Security Bureau
The Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) ( mi, Te Tira Tiaki) is the public-service department of New Zealand charged with promoting New Zealand's national security by collecting and analysing information of an intelligence nature. ...
, confirmed that the spy agency had established links between Chinese state-sponsored actors known as "Advanced Persistent Threat 40" (APT40) and malicious cyber activity in New Zealand. In addition, Little confirmed that New Zealand was joining other Western governments including the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and the European Union in condemning the
Chinese Ministry of State Security and other Chinese state-sponsored actors for their involvement in the
2021 Microsoft Exchange Server data breach
A global wave of cyberattacks and data breaches began in January 2021 after four zero-day exploits were discovered in on-premises Microsoft Exchange Servers, giving attackers full access to user emails and passwords on affected servers, admin ...
.
In response, the Chinese Embassy in New Zealand rejected the New Zealand Government's claims, claiming that China was a staunch defender of cybersecurity and firmly opposed all forms of cyber attacks and crimes.
In mid-June 2022, Little in his capacity as Health Minister acknowledged that the country's health system was under strain due to a manpower shortage and the effects of COVID-19 and the seasonal flu on hospitals and health clinics. However, he denied that health services were facing a crisis. In response, the National Party's health spokesperson
Shane Reti
Shane Raymond Reti (born 5 June 1963) is a New Zealand politician and a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives, first elected at the 2014 general election. He is a member of the New Zealand National Party and served as its deputy ...
accused Little of denying that New Zealand's healthcare system was facing a crisis. Little's remarks were criticised by various unidentified health workers, who reported that significant staff shortages and hospital demand in response to COVID-19 and the seasonal flu were straining hospital resources. In early July 2022, the Association of General Surgeons issued an open letter to Little stating that the staffing shortage was undermining the ability of doctors to deliver care to patients.
In late October 2022, Little in his capacity as Minister of
Treaty of Waitangi
The Treaty of Waitangi ( mi, Te Tiriti o Waitangi) is a document of central importance to the History of New Zealand, history, to the political constitution of the state, and to the national mythos of New Zealand. It has played a major role in ...
negotiations apologised to the
Taranaki
Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont.
The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth D ...
–based
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
iwi
Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, ...
(tribe)
Ngāti Maru on behalf of the New Zealand Crown for land confiscations that occurred following the
New Zealand Wars
The New Zealand Wars took place from 1845 to 1872 between the New Zealand colonial government and allied Māori on one side and Māori and Māori-allied settlers on the other. They were previously commonly referred to as the Land Wars or the ...
. Though the tribe had not taken part in the fighting, most of their land had been confiscated by the Crown.
Personal life
Little currently lives in
Island Bay,
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) 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 second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...
with his wife Leigh and their son.
He was diagnosed with early-stage
prostate cancer in 2009; but after receiving treatment, he was given a clean bill of health. He has subsequently had annual check-ups.
See also
*
Shadow Cabinet of Andrew Little
*
Politics of New Zealand
References
External links
Profile on the Labour Party website
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Little, Andrew
1965 births
21st-century New Zealand politicians
Candidates in the 2017 New Zealand general election
Leaders of the Opposition (New Zealand)
Living people
Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives
New Zealand Labour Party leaders
New Zealand Labour Party MPs
New Zealand list MPs
New Zealand trade unionists
People educated at New Plymouth Boys' High School
People from New Plymouth
Victoria University of Wellington alumni
Victoria University of Wellington Students' Association presidents
Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand
20th-century New Zealand lawyers
Candidates in the 2020 New Zealand general election
Justice ministers of New Zealand