1. Shane Geoffrey Jones was born on 3 September 1959 and is a New Zealand politician and a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives for the New Zealand First party.
62 Facts About Shane Jones
1. 2.
Shane Jones became a cabinet minister in his first term, serving as Minister for Building and Construction in the Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand.
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Shane Jones left parliament the following year for a brief diplomatic career, before returning as a New Zealand First MP at the 2017 general election.
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Shane Jones was born in Awanui, near Kaitaia, the eldest of six children to parents Peter, a farmer, and Ruth, a teacher.
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Shane Jones is Maori, of Te Aupouri and Ngai Takoto descent, as well as having English, Welsh and Croatian ancestry.
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Shane Jones next studied at Victoria University of Wellington where he earned a Bachelor of Arts.
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Shane Jones returned to Victoria University in the 1990s as a lecturer in Maori studies.
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Shane Jones worked in the Maori secretariat in the Ministry for the Environment and later in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, providing advice to the Fourth Labour Government on settling Treaty of Waitangi breaches.
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Shane Jones became chair of the commission in August 2000 and completed the allocation of fisheries resources among iwi in 2004.
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Shane Jones chaired the Maori-owned fishing corporation Sealord during which period the company was merged with Nippon Suisan Kaisha.
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Shane Jones was approved as the candidate for the Northland electorate and was ranked 27 on the party list.
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On 31 October 2007, by then still in his first term, Shane Jones was promoted into Cabinet.
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Shane Jones became Minister for Building and Construction and held additional responsibilities as associate minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, Immigration and Trade.
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Shane Jones scrapped a government proposal requiring new buildings to have low flow showers heads, prior to the 2008 general election.
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Labour was defeated at the election and Shane Jones contested the Northland electorate unsuccessfully, but was returned to parliament as a list member due to his high list placing of 16.
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Labour lost again in the 2011 election; Shane Jones was defeated in Tamaki Makaurau but remained a list MP.
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Shane Jones was twice removed from his portfolios under controversy.
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On 10 June 2010, after the release of ministerial credit card records, Shane Jones admitted to having used a Crown credit card for personal expenditure, but assured the public that he had reimbursed the Crown in full for the expenditure.
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Later that day Shane Jones admitted that he had used the card to hire pornographic films at hotels while on ministerial business.
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On 23 May 2012, Shane Jones stood down from the front bench and his shadow portfolios while an investigation took place.
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Labour Party leader David Shearer asked the Auditor-General to investigate Shane Jones' handling of the citizenship application.
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Shane Jones had acted against officials' advice that he should decline the application because of questions about Yan's multiple identities and a warrant for his arrest in China.
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Shane Jones defended his decision, saying it was based on humanitarian grounds because a high-level Government official had told him that Yan faced execution if he returned to China.
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Shearer said Shane Jones supported the decision to refer the matter to the Auditor-General because Shane Jones must be given a chance to clear his name.
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In 2014, while economic development spokesperson, Shane Jones alleged that Progressive Enterprises, owner of Countdown supermarkets, was involved in racketeering and extortion.
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Shane Jones was the second MP to declare his candidacy, following Shearer's former deputy leader Grant Robertson.
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Shane Jones later said his candidacy was to honour Labour stalwart Parekura Horomia who had died earlier that year.
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Shane Jones won the votes of seven out of 34 caucus colleagues and a minority of members' and affiliated unions' votes.
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On 22 April 2014, Shane Jones announced his intention to step down as a Labour Party MP, leaving at the end of May He was appointed to the newly created role of Pacific Economic Ambassador by Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully.
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On 30 June 2017, after months of speculation, Shane Jones was confirmed as the New Zealand First candidate for Whangarei for the 2017 general election.
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Shane Jones was placed eighth on the party list for New Zealand First, above some of the members of the New Zealand First caucus of the Parliament at the time, increasing his chances of re-entering Parliament.
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New Zealand online magazine The Spinoff hosted a live debate on Facebook with seven of the 2017 election's candidates that the magazine found "most exciting", including Shane Jones, representing New Zealand First.
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Shane Jones was part of the negotiating team that ultimately saw Winston Peters select a coalition with Labour over National.
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Shane Jones was appointed Minister for Infrastructure, Minister of Forestry and Minister for Regional Economic Development, Associate Minister of Finance and Associate Minister of Transport.
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Shane Jones drew further criticism when he made a series of anti-Indian remarks in October and November 2019 and again in February 2020.
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Shane Jones' comments were condemned by the Waitakere Indian Association, who called on Ardern and Minister for Ethnic Communities Jenny Salesa to demand a public apology from Shane Jones and to address the Indian community's concerns.
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On 5 November 2019, Shane Jones described the community response as a "Bollywood reaction" and claimed that he was speaking for New Zealanders who were anxious about immigration.
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Shane Jones' remarks were criticised by Ardern, the Waitakere Indian Association, National Party leader Simon Bridges, Green Party co-leader James Shaw, and Labour MP Iain Lees-Galloway.
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In 2020, Shane Jones described climate change activists for advocating reduced meat consumption as "medieval torture chamber workers" hellbent on "preaching this gospel of absolutism" in response to the Government's recent announcement that they would be introducing climate change education in schools.
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Shane Jones was selected as New Zealand First's Northland candidate for the 2020 general election.
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Shane Jones was defeated, coming third place with 5,119 votes behind Labour's Willow-Jean Prime and National's Matt King.
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Since leaving Parliament for the second time, Shane Jones has provided media commentary critical of the Sixth Labour Government.
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Shane Jones used the song to highlight his role in promoting the Government's Provincial Growth Fund.
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Shane Jones was appointed the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Resources, Associate Minister of Finance and Associate Minister of Energy in the Sixth National Government of New Zealand on 27 November 2023.
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In early June 2024, Shane Jones announced that the Government would introduce legislation to reverse the previous Labour Government's ban on oil and gas exploration in the second half of 2024.
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Shane Jones confirmed that the Government would amend legislation to make it easier for companies to get permission for oil exploration.
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Shane Jones argued that reversing the ban on oil and gas exploration would help attract investment and promote economic growth and jobs.
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In July 2024, Shane Jones expressed interest in expanding the aquaculture sector in his capacity as Minister for Oceans and Fisheries.
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Shane Jones told the news website Newsroom that the aquaculture sector faced fewer barriers and offered more opportunities than the wool, dairy and meat sectors.
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In early August 2024, Shane Jones accused electrical utility companies of exploiting soaring energy bills and said that the Government was seeking advice on potential regulatory intervention in the energy sector.
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Shane Jones compared Jones' remarks to rhetoric used by US President Donald Trump.
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On 12 February 2025, Shane Jones announced that the Government would be making changes to the Quota Management System including excluding ship camera footage from Official Information Act requests.
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In mid-February 2024, Shane Jones criticised the Supreme Court of New Zealand for permitting climate activist Mike Smith to pursue legal action against several polluters, describing the ruling as the "Americanisation" of New Zealand's judiciary.
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Shane Jones said that the Government was funding wananga and marae.
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Shane Jones voted in favour of the Marriage Amendment Bill to legalise same-sex marriage in New Zealand in 2012 and 2013.
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Shane Jones supported the End of Life Choice Bill at all stages in 2017 and 2019.
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Shane Jones supported the Abortion Legislation Bill at its first and second readings in 2019 and 2020.
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Shane Jones has attracted scrutiny due to his links to the tobacco industry and New Zealand First successfully pressing for the repeal of smoke free legislation as part of its coalition agreement with the National Party.
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Shane Jones confirmed that Dawson was involved in "soundings" about the party's tobacco policy.
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In March 2024, when Shane Jones was asked if he was complying with the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which "obliges its parties to protect policy from tobacco industry influence and be completely transparent in its dealings with the industry", he stated that he didn't know about it and was not interested in it.
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Shane Jones has seven children with his first wife Ngareta, from whom he separated in 2011; she died from cancer in 2015.
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Shane Jones began a relationship with former beauty queen Dorothy Pumipi in 2011 while she was his campaign manager; they married in 2018.