Anthony Boyd Williams Ryall (born 19 November 1964) is a former New Zealand politician. He represented the National Party in the New Zealand Parliament from 1990 to 2014. Between 2008 and 2014 he served as a

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’, � ...

, holding the posts of Minister of Health, Minister of State Services and Minister of State Owned Enterprises. He served previously in the Shipley Cabinet between 1997 and 1999. He announced in February 2014 that he was to retire from politics at that year's general election. He is chief executive of BestStart Educare, an early childhood education provider.

Early life and family

He was born in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

and educated in the Eastern Bay of Plenty and graduated Bachelor of Business Studies (Accounting and Finance) from

Massey University Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural or ...

. Ryall is married with two children.

Professional career

Before entering politics, he worked as a credit analyst at a

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

. In 1990 he was in the Corporate Credit Recovery section of the

Bank of New Zealand Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) is one of New Zealand's Big Four (banking), big four banks and has been operating in the country since the first office was opened in Auckland in October 1861 followed shortly after by the first branch in Dunedin in D ...

. He joined the East Cape branch of the Young Nationals in 1980. In 1987 he was an assistant at the party National Headquarters, and in 1988/89 was Canvassing Coordinator and Treasurer of the Miramar electorate.

Member of Parliament

1990–1999

He first won election to Parliament as

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 ...

for the East Cape electorate in the 1990 election at age 26. Subsequent boundary reorganisations saw him represent the

Eastern Bay of Plenty Eastern Bay of Plenty is a former New Zealand parliamentary New Zealand electorates, electorate, which existed for one parliamentary term from 1993 to 1996, and was held by New Zealand National Party, National's Tony Ryall. Population centres Ba ...

electorate (1993–1996) and the Bay of Plenty electorate (1996–2014). Ryall served in the

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

between 1997–1999 variously as Minister for State-Owned Enterprises (8 December 1997 – 10 December 1999), Minister of Local Government ( 31 August 1998 – 31 January 1999), Minister of Youth Affairs (31 August 1998 – 10 December 1999), Associate Minister of Justice (8 December 1997 – 31 January 1999), Minister of Justice (31 January – 10 December 1999), Minister in Charge of the Audit Department (8 December 1997 – 26 August 1998), Minister Responsible for

Radio New Zealand Radio New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and c ...

(8 December 1997 – 31 January 1999), and Minister Responsible for Housing New Zealand (31 January 1999 – 10 December 1999).

In Opposition: 1999–2008

During the National Party's time in Opposition, he was spokesperson for Housing (1999–2002), Justice (1999–2002), Timberlands and

SILNA Silna (german: Schilln) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Pszczew, within Międzyrzecz County, Lubusz Voivodeship, in western Poland. It lies approximately east of Pszczew, east of Międzyrzecz, south-east of Gorzów Wielk ...

(1999–2002), Commerce (15 August 2002 – 2 November 2003), Corrections (15 August 2002 – 2 November 2003), Courts (15 August 2002 – 2 November 2003), Police (15 August 2002 – 2 November 2003), Sentencing (15 August 2002 – 2 November 2003), Law and Order (2003 – 26 October 2005), and Immigration (9 August 2004 – 26 October 2005). In the 2005 general election Ryall won the largest National Party electorate majority in the country: in his Bay of Plenty electorate he gained a majority of approximately 15,800 votes. In the 2008 election he secured the country's second largest majority, behind the Prime Minister's 17,600 majority.

Cabinet Minister in the Fifth National Government: 2008–2014

From November 2008 to his retirement from politics in 2014, he served as the Minister of Health. Along with the Minister of Finance, Ryall oversaw National's government share offer programme, which yielded $4.7b from the partial sale of three state-owned electricity generators and Air New Zealand. He announced in February 2014 that he was to retire from politics at that year's general election. Ryall was appointed a

Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant (document), royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Monarchy of New Zealand, Queen of New Zealand, "for those ...

, for services as a Member of Parliament, in the

2015 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2015 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

After politics

Ryall joined law firm Simpson Grierson in November 2014 as head of its public policy practice. In February 2015, he was appointed a director of the New Zealand subsidiary of Australian nib Health Funds, a health insurance company. He is currently chief executive of BestStart Educare Limited.

References

External links

* , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Ryall, Tony 1964 births Living people New Zealand National Party MPs Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand Ministers of Housing (New Zealand) Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Massey University alumni Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit New Zealand MPs for North Island electorates 21st-century New Zealand politicians Justice ministers of New Zealand