45 Facts About Alfred Ngaro

Alfred Ngaro is a New Zealand politician, serving as leader of NewZeal since 2023.

Alfred Ngaro was a list member of the New Zealand House of Representatives from 2011 to 2020, representing the National Party.

Alfred Ngaro was Minister for Pacific Peoples and Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector in the final year of the Fifth National Government of New Zealand.

Alfred Ngaro was later elected leader of the socially conservative New Zeal party in July 2023, and unsuccessfully stood as a list candidate at the subsequent general election.

Alfred Ngaro was raised in Te Atatu and attended the local schools of Edmonton Primary, Rangeview Intermediate and Henderson High School.

Alfred Ngaro's father, Daniel Alfred Ngaro, is from Aitutaki and Pukapuka, and was a union delegate.

Alfred Ngaro's parents worked hard, his mother as a cleaner and his father as a labourer, to give Ngaro and his siblings education and training opportunities.

Alfred Ngaro has described himself as "Polynesian by birth and Jewish by descent".

Alfred Ngaro trained and qualified as an electrician and completed his theological degree at the Henderson campus of the Bible College of New Zealand.

Alfred Ngaro co-pioneered several community initiatives such as the Tamaki Achievement Pathway, Healthy Village Action Zone Project, and the Inspiring Communities Exchange Network sponsored by the Tindall Foundation.

Alfred Ngaro is an Ambassador for the White Ribbon campaign.

Alfred Ngaro later won a Sir Peter Blake Emerging Leader Award for his work on the Tamaki Transformation Project.

Alfred Ngaro served as the Auckland District Health Board's Pacific committee chairman and as the Tamaki College board of trustees chairman.

Alfred Ngaro was a member of various advisory committees for the Ministry of Social Development.

Alfred Ngaro was encouraged by his friend Sam Lotu-Iiga, then the first-term National MP in Maungakiekie and a former Auckland City Councillor in Maungakiekie, to become active in politics.

Alfred Ngaro contested the new Maungakiekie-Tamaki ward on the Auckland Council at the 2010 Auckland local elections, as a Citizens and Ratepayers candidate.

Alfred Ngaro finished second to Richard Northey and was not elected.

In early September 2011, Alfred Ngaro was announced as a list-only candidate for the New Zealand National Party at the 2011 election.

Alfred Ngaro was ranked 37th on the party list and was elected to the 50th Parliament.

Alfred Ngaro is the first Cook Islander to be elected to the New Zealand Parliament.

Alfred Ngaro lost to Labour's Phil Twyford by 2,813 votes.

Between 2011 and 2016, during the second and third terms of the Fifth National Government, Alfred Ngaro was a member of the justice and electoral committee and the social services committee.

Alfred Ngaro was deputy chair of the justice and electoral committee in 2013, deputy chair of the social services committee in 2014, and chair of the social services committee after the 2014 general election until his promotion into the ministry.

Alfred Ngaro was the member in charge of the Local Government Amendment Bill.

Alfred Ngaro was sworn in as Minister for Pacific Peoples, Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector, Associate Minister for Children and Associate Minister for Social Housing on 20 December 2016.

Alfred Ngaro launched a policy analysis framework for promoting Pacific perspectives in government decision-making.

Alfred Ngaro led the purchase by the government of motels in Gisborne and Hawke's Bay in an attempt to address social housing shortfalls in those regions.

Alfred Ngaro apologised after his words were criticised by both Labour leader Andrew Little and Minister of Finance Steven Joyce.

Prime Minister Bill English subsequently offered reassurances to community agencies that they would always be free to express views on government policy, and announced that he had asked officials to review the decisions Alfred Ngaro had made as a minister.

Alfred Ngaro unsuccessfully contested Te Atatu for a second time at the 2017 general election.

Alfred Ngaro became National's spokesperson for children, the community and voluntary sector, and pacific peoples.

Alfred Ngaro sat on the social services and community committee.

In mid-May 2019, there were reports that Alfred Ngaro was considering forming his own Christian party, providing a potential coalition partner for National at the 2020 general election.

In late May 2019, Alfred Ngaro ruled out starting a new Christian party and confirmed that he would remain a member of the National Party.

Alfred Ngaro contested the 2020 general election for National, standing for a third time in Te Atatu and placed at 30th on the party list.

Alfred Ngaro attracted media attention during the election campaign when he posted a Facebook attack ad claiming that a vote for his Labour opponent Phil Twyford would lead to the decriminalisation of recreational cannabis and all drugs and unlimited abortion.

Alfred Ngaro's post was criticised by Labour MP Ruth Dyson, Auckland councillor Richard Hills, political commentator Ben Thomas, and former Internet Party leader Laila Harre.

Alfred Ngaro subsequently contested the 2023 Port Waikato by-election in late November 2023 as a NewZeal candidate.

Alfred Ngaro came third in a diminished field after the withdrawal of Labour, Green and ACT New Zealand candidates, earning 409 votes.

Alfred Ngaro holds a theology degree and served as a community pastor.

Alfred Ngaro voted against the Marriage Amendment Bill, the End of Life Choice Bill and the Abortion Legislation Bill.

In mid-May 2019, Alfred Ngaro attracted criticism from former National MP Jami-Lee Ross and the Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand when he shared a Facebook post on his page likening abortion to the Holocaust.

In 2021, Alfred Ngaro co-founded the Indigenous Coalition for Israel with Sheree Trotter, an organisation dedicated to educating and empowering indigenous voices in support of Israel.

Alfred Ngaro is not a consistently reliable witness of truth.

In 2024, Alfred Ngaro was investigated for and cleared of assault allegations after a family funeral in the Cook Islands.