Meet Barbara
Titahi Bay, Porirua has been home to Barbara, her husband Chris (Ngā Puhi) and their eight children for the last 12 years. She’s privileged to be the MP for Mana and for the opportunity to serve the place she loves.
She is the Minister of Economic Development, Internal Affairs, and Pacific Peoples, as well as Associate Minister of Health (Pacific Peoples), Cyclone Recovery, and Housing.
Barbara has been moulded and shaped by quintessential Labour values. The safety nets provided by previous Labour governments meant that as a child, she never fell through the cracks. She wants to use these values to make Mana the best place for children to grow up.
“I stand on the shoulders of those before me wanting to use those values to improve the lives of families in Mana. So it is my turn to serve my community, to promote and expand those values to ensure that these safety nets, opportunities, and choices remain or are reinstated.”
Before Parliament, Barbara acted as a senior advisor to Ministers under successive governments and was a key contributor to the Government’s law reforms following the March 15 Terror Attacks. She’s proud of her work in helping to make Aotearoa New Zealand a safer place.
Barbara was also heavily involved in the Government’s tax, social policy, small business, and economic responses to COVID-19.
"The issues that matter to the people of Mana are affordable warm, dry homes, homes that we can call our own; 24/7 access to healthcare; fair paying jobs and decent conditions where workers' rights are respected; quality local education so that our children do not have to leave the electorate to learn, with classrooms and buildings that match the mana of the students that learn within their walls; a thriving local economy where businesses small and significant can spend most of their time actually running their business rather than being unreasonably caught up in compliance; core infrastructure that is maintained or expanded to accommodate for population growth so that we can swim at our local beach and not fear the floods that come with rising sea levels and extreme weather patterns; a world that breathes for generations to come. I’m proud and privileged to be the voice for Mana in Parliament so we can work on these, and other matters, and together make this the best part of Aotearoa New Zealand."