Jennifer Teresia Salesa (née Latu, born 1968) is a New Zealand politician and member of the Labour Party who has served as a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

since 2014. She was first elected as MP for

Manukau East Manukau East was a New Zealand parliamentary electorate that returned one member of parliament to the House of Representatives. It was first formed for the . Between the and the 2020 electorate adjustment it was held by Jenny Salesa, a member ...

, and after its abolition in 2020 won the replacement electorate of

Panmure-Ōtāhuhu Panmure-Ōtāhuhu is an electorate to the New Zealand House of Representatives. It was first contested at the . Population centres The electorate consists of the mid-eastern part of the Manukau Ward, and a long strip of suburbs along the wes ...

. She served as a Cabinet Minister in the Sixth Labour Government as Minister for Building and Construction,

Minister of Customs The Minister of Customs was a position in the Cabinet of the Government of Canada responsible for the administration of customs revenue collection in Canada. This position was originally created by Statute 31 Vict., c. 43, and assented to on 22 M ...

(from 2019) and Minister for Ethnic Communities from 2017 until 6 November 2020.

Biography

Early life and career

She is of

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

n heritage and is married to university academic

Damon Salesa Damon Ieremia Salesa (born 30 December 1972) is a New Zealand academic. Of Samoan descent, he is the first Pacific person to hold the position of vice-chancellor at a New Zealand university. Education Raised in Glen Innes, Salesa attended S ...

. Prior to entering Parliament Salesa had worked in the public sector, and overseas in the United States.

Political career

Salesa replaced long serving MP Ross Robertson in the

seat when he retired at the election. She was successful in gaining the Labour party nomination for the seat, ahead of Auckland Councillor

Efeso Collins Fa'anānā Efeso Collins (born ) is a former elected member of the Auckland Council. He was a two-term Auckland councillor (2016–2022), in 2019 he was the highest polling candidate in the Manakau Ward. He is of Samoan and Tokelauan descent. H ...

. Salesa won the seat with 68.0% of the vote and a large majority amounting to 50.9%. In mid-October 2017, Salesa 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. She was appointed Minister for Building and Construction and Minister of Ethnic Communities, and Associate Minister of Education, Health, and Housing and Urban Development. At the 9th New Zealand Youth Parliament, Salesa's Youth MP,

Shaneel Lal Shaneel Shavneel Lal (born 22 January 2000) is a Fijian-New Zealand LGBT rights activist, known for spearheading the movement to ban conversion therapy in New Zealand. Lal is a model, a columnist for ''New Zealand Herald'', and a political com ...

founded the movement to end gay and gender conversion therapy in New Zealand. In late June 2019, Salesa was made

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 parli ...

, replacing

Kris Faafoi Kristopher John Faafoi (born 23 June 1976) is a former New Zealand Labour Party politician. He became the Member of Parliament for the Mana electorate in 2010. He did not contest the seat as an electorate MP in 2020 but continued as a list MP ...

who assumed the portfolio of Associate Minister for public housing. 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 ...

, Salesa contested the

electorate, defeating National Party candidate

Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi (Punjabi: ਕੰਵਲਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਬਖ਼ਸ਼ੀ; born 20 February 1964) is an Indian-born New Zealand politician and a member of the National Party. He was a Member of Parliament as a list MP from the 2008 ...

by a final margin of 18,626 votes. When the new Cabinet was announced following the election, Salesa lost all her ministerial positions. She was instead nominated for the role of Assistant Speaker. On 9 November 2020, Salesa was granted retention of the title "

The Honourable ''The Honourable'' (British English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific style that is used as a prefix before the names or titles of certain ...

" for life, in recognition of her term as a member of the Executive Council. She was officially appointed an Assistant Speaker on 26 November.

References

, - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Salesa, Jenny 1960s births Living people 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 Auckland electorates Tongan emigrants to New Zealand 21st-century New Zealand politicians 21st-century New Zealand women politicians Candidates in the 2017 New Zealand general election Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand Women government ministers of New Zealand Year of birth missing (living people) Candidates in the 2020 New Zealand general election Women legislative deputy speakers