New Minister for Justice Portfolio

In the post-election ministerial line-up, Aupito William Sio retains the Justice Associate Minister role, while Kris Faafoi replaces Andrew Little to become New Zealand’s 50th Minister of Justice.

Following the Labour party’s landslide election victory, Aupito William Sio has picked up the role of Minister for Courts while retaining the Justice Associate Minister role he’s held since 26 October 2017.

Sio has also retained his Pacific Peoples ministerial portfolio while adding foreign affairs, education (Pacific Peoples), and health (Pacific Peoples) to his list of associate portfolios.

Kris Faafoi is now Minister of Justice in addition to his roles as Minister of Immigration and Minister of Broadcasting and Media.

Faafoi was elected as the Member of Parliament for Mana in November

New Zealand’s Minister of Justice, Hon Kris Faafoi. 2010, following more than a decade working as a journalist at both TVNZ and the BBC. He had also served as chief press secretary for the then Labour leader Phil Goff.

After the resignation of Mana MP Luamanuvao Winnie Laban on 10 August 2010, Faafoi represented Labour in the resulting by-election, which he won, becoming the first MP of Tokelauan descent.

Faafoi became Minister of Civil Defence, Commerce and Consumer Affairs and Associate Minister of Immigration in October 2017. He assumed the Customs portfolio in August 2018 after Minister of Customs Meka Whaitiri stood aside over a ‘staffing matter’.

On 7 September 2018, he was appointed Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media upon the resignation of Clare Curran.

On 27 June 2019, Faafoi was appointed Minister of Government Digital Services. He also assumed the position of Associate Minister for Public Housing, and relinquished his position as Minister of Civil Defence and Minister of Customs.

On 22 July, he became Minister of Immigration after Iain Lees-Galloway was dismissed following admission of an inappropriate relationship with a former staffer.

According to Pacific Media Network, Minister Faafoi says he will provide a different perspective to the Justice portfolio.

“The fact that we’ve got a Maori corrections minister [Kelvin Davis], a Cook Island police minister [Poto Williams] and a Tokelauean justice minister, I think we’ll bring a unique perspective to that because we’re really sick and tired of seeing our friends and whanau being overrepresented in those spheres,” he told PMI.

“It’s time to make sure that we do all the long-term stuff to make sure that if they are going through, they come through the system better people.”

In his maiden speech in parliament, Faafoi commented that the Tokelauan custom of inati— sharing on the basis of need—is something that is ingrained in his DNA.

“I saw it first hand in 2003 on my first visit to Tokelau,” he said. “The men of the village set a large net to catch fish for all the families. It was then divided up to ensure that no family would go without.”

As Immigration Minister, Faafoi recently announced that from January 2021, up to 2,000 experienced seasonal workers from the Pacific will be able to travel to New Zealand to address labour shortages in the horticulture and wine growing sectors.

Under the arrangements, employers are required to pay the workers at least $22.10 per hour (living wage), and the equivalent of 30 hours work per week while in managed isolation.

Meanwhile, the majority of New Zealand’s front line security guards are being paid at or around the minimum wage ($18.90).