Munokoa Poto Williams (born 7 January 1962) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

Labour Party politician and 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 o ...

. She was elected in a 2013 by-election and is currently Minister of Conservation and

Minister for Disability Issues Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of governmen ...

in the

Sixth Labour Government The Sixth Labour Government has governed New Zealand since 26 October 2017. It is headed by Jacinda Ardern, the Labour Party leader and prime minister. Following the 2017 general election held on 23 September, the New Zealand First party h ...

Early life and education

Williams is of Cook Islander descent. Her parents, Nahora and Marion Williams, migrated to New Zealand in the 1950s. She was born in

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 ...

and grew up in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

, where she attended Beresford Street School and Auckland Girls' Grammar. Williams graduated from

Southern Cross University Southern Cross University (SCU) is an Australian public university, with campuses at Lismore and Coffs Harbour in northern New South Wales, and at Coolangatta, the most southern suburb of the Gold Coast in Queensland. It is ranked in the ...

in Australia with an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

Professional career

Williams has a background working on family and sexual violence issues. She has worked for the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

, BirthRight, Healthcare NZ and disability agencies. She has served as a member of the Community Child Protection Review Panel, was involved in the Waitakere Community Law Service and Community Waitakere, and was part of the Living Wage Campaign and the LIFEWISE Big Sleepout. She moved from Auckland to Christchurch's suburb of New Brighton in January 2013 to take up a position as regional manager of the St John of God Hauora Trust but resigned from that role to run for Parliament later that year.

Political career

Christchurch East Christchurch East, originally called Christchurch City East, is a current New Zealand parliamentary electorate. It was first created for the and was abolished for two period, from 1875–1905 and again from 1946–1996. It was last created for ...

Lianne Dalziel Lianne Audrey Dalziel (; born 7 June 1960) is a New Zealand politician and former Mayor of Christchurch. Prior to this position, she was a member of the New Zealand Parliament for 23 years, serving as Minister of Immigration, Commerce, Minister ...

resigned in October 2013 to contest the Christchurch mayoralty, triggering a by-election. Williams won selection as Labour's candidate over five other candidates including future Christchurch city councillor Deon Swiggs and James Caygill (son of former Labour

Finance Minister A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

David Caygill David Francis Caygill (born 15 November 1948) is a former New Zealand politician. Caygill was born and raised in Christchurch. He entered politics in 1971 as Christchurch's youngest city councillor at the age of 22. He served as a Member of Pa ...

). She convincingly defeated National's candidate

Matt Doocey Matthew Maurice Doocey (born 1972) is a New Zealand politician who was elected to the New Zealand Parliament at the 2014 general election as a representative of the New Zealand National Party. He was re-elected in 2017 with a majority increase ...

, securing 61 per cent of the vote. On 28 January 2014, Williams was sworn in as a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

for the first time. After

Alfred Ngaro Alfred Ngaro (born 1966) is a New Zealand politician. He was a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives from 2011 to 2020. He is a member of the National Party and the first Cook Islander who was elected to Parliament in New Zealand. ...

, she is the second Cook Islander to be a New Zealand MP. Williams held her electorate over National candidate

Jo Hayes Joanne Kowhai Hayes (born 1959) is a former New Zealand politician who served as a New Zealand National Party List MP in the New Zealand House of Representatives from 2014 to 2020. Early life and career Hayes' whakapapa is to the Whanganui- Ra ...

by 4,073 votes in the 2014 general election. She defeated Hayes again in 2017, by 7,480 votes, and new National candidate Lincoln Platt in 2020 by 17,336 votes.

Opposition, 2013–2017

In her first year as an MP, Williams was appointed to the Health Committee and was Labour's associate spokesperson for social development, the community and voluntary sector, and housing (Christchurch). After the election she nominated Andrew Little to succeed

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 ...

as Labour leader. In the 2014–2017 term, Williams served on the Health and Social Services committees and was Labour's spokesperson on disability issues and the community and voluntary sector. She became Labour's junior whip when

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 ...

became leader in September 2017.

Sixth Labour Government, 2017–present

On 19 October 2017, a Labour-led coalition government was formed with support from

New Zealand First New Zealand First ( mi, Aotearoa Tuatahi), commonly abbreviated to NZ First, is a nationalist and populist political party in New Zealand. The party formed in July 1993 following the resignation on 19 March 1993 of its leader and founder, Win ...

and the

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combin ...

parties. Williams was nominated and elected an Assistant

Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** ...

. The National Party challenged her nomination for the office because Williams had not been sworn in as a member of Parliament for that term yet. Speaker

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 ...

dismissed the challenges because it is not a requirement for members of Parliament to be sworn in to be nominated as a presiding officer. 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 par ...

in late June 2019, Williams was appointed as a minister outside Cabinet, becoming Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector as well as an Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Social Development and Immigration. When Labour was returned to government in the 2020 general election, she was transferred into the roles of Minister of Police and Minister for Building and Construction and also became an associate minister in the children and public housing portfolios. Williams' appointment as police minister came as a surprise to some commentators as she was seen to be a contrast with her predecessor,

Stuart Nash Stuart Alexander Nash (born August 1967) is a politician from New Zealand. He was a list member of the House of Representatives for the Labour Party from to 2011, and was re-elected in the as representative of the Napier electorate. He ente ...

. Through 2022, Williams was under pressure in the role as a surge of

gang activity A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collecti ...

caused conflict between the Tribesmen and Killer Beez gangs in Auckland.

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

acknowledged that "focus" in the police portfolio had been lost and, in a reshuffle on 13 June 2022, reassigned Willilams to be Minister of Conservation and

. On 13 December 2022, Williams announced that she would not be contesting the

2023 New Zealand general election The 2023 New Zealand general election to determine the composition of the 54th Parliament of New Zealand is planned to be held on 14 October 2023, after the currently elected 53rd Parliament is dissolved or expires. Voters will elect 120 memb ...

and would step down at the end of the 2020–2023 term. While describing her job as an MP and Cabinet as an "extraordinary and amazing privilege," Wiliams stated that the Christchurch East electorate needed "someone with fresh eyes and fresh energy."

Political positions

In May 2017, Williams suggested removing the presumption of innocence afforded to alleged perpetrators of sexual assault. She voted in favour of the Abortion Legislation Bill in March 2020 and against the

End of Life Choice Bill The End of Life Choice Act 2019 is an Act of Parliament in New Zealand that seeks to give people with a terminal illness the option of receiving assisted dying. The Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Health confirmed that, "The Bill uses “a ...

in December 2019.

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Poto 1962 births New Zealand people of Cook Island descent 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 Christchurch electorates People educated at Auckland Girls' Grammar School Southern Cross University alumni People from Wellington City Living people 21st-century New Zealand politicians 21st-century New Zealand women politicians Candidates in the 2020 New Zealand general election