Shane Jones

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Shane Geoffrey Jones (born 3 September 1959) is a New Zealand politician.

Since 2017, he has been a member of New Zealand's First List.

Jones served as a Labour MP from 2005 to 2014. Jones was a cabinet minister in New Zealand's Fifth Labour Government.

In a 2013 leadership race, he contested the Labour Party's leadership but lost to rival David Cunliffe.

Following the 2017 general election on September 23, 2013, Jones stood as the New Zealand First Party nominee for Whangarei in the 2017 general election; he was ranked eighth on the New Zealand First Party list and returned to parliament following the election on September 23, 2017.

Jones was appointed Minister in the New Zealand First Labor government in October 2017, with the responsibility of Infrastructure, Forestry, and Regional Economic Development.

Early life

Jones is Mori, of Te Aupsuri and Ng-i Takoto descent, as well as having English, Welsh, and Croatian roots. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA) and a Masters of Public Administration (MPA), and was given a Harkness Fellowship to study at Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University.

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Political career

He was ranked seventeenth on the Labour Party's party list in 2005, placing him at number twenty-seventh on the party's list. This was Labour's highest position for someone who was not yet a member of parliament. After the Labour Party gained 50 seats in New Zealand's 120 seat parliament, he took his seat in the new parliament. Jones served in a variety of senior positions in the public sector, including as chairman of the Waitangi Fisheries Commission. He worked with the Ministry of Environment and the Cabinet's Department. Jones became chair of the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee after his election in 2005. He had often been ruminated by the media and among his coworkers as a candidate for the Labour Party's leader.

Jones was appointed as a cabinet minister with the responsibility of Building and Construction in the cabinet reshuffle on October 31 and transferred to an associate minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, Immigration, and Trade. Prior to the 2008 general election, he scrapped a government plan calling for new buildings to have low flow shower heads. Labour was defeated at the referendum and Jones challenged the Northland electorate narrowly, but he was returned to parliament as a list member due to his high list position of 16.

Jones admitted to using a Crown credit card for personal use on ten days, but told the world that he had reimbursed the Crown in full for the expenditure. Jones confessed later that day that he had used the card to rent pornographic films at hotels while on ministerial service. According to the credit card report, he chartered an executive jet for $1200, which he attributed to bad weather that caused a change in his schedule.

On June 14, 2010, opposition leader Phil Goff and two other Labour MPs were arrested for misusing ministerial credit cards. Jones was pushed from the parliamentary front bench and barred from the Environment and Economic Development shadow portfolios.

In 2008, when Jones was Minister of Immigration, he accepted the citizenship application of Chinese businessman William Yan. Yan was charged with making incorrect claims on immigration papers. While an investigation was underway, Jones stepped down from the front bench and into shadow portfolios on May 23, 2012. David Shearer, the Labour Party's leader, has requested that the Auditor General look into Jones' handling of the citizenship application. Jones had retaliated against authorities' recommendation that he withhold his application due to concerns over Yan's multiple identities and a warrant for his detention in China. Jones defended his decision, saying it was motivated by humanitarian grounds because a high-ranking Government official warned him that if Yan was returning to China, he would face execution. Jones accepted the decision to refer the matter to the Auditor General because Jones must have the opportunity to clarify his name, according to Shearer.

Shearer said he believed Jones had performed the correct procedures, but that the disagreements made within and outside of court as well as the questions raised openly prompted him to refer it to an outside company. "New Zealanders must have confidence in the government processes," Shearer said, "and Labour believes it is crucial for the Auditor-General to have assurance that the correct decision was taken in this situation."

Yan was found not guilty of all the immigration charges on May 24. The Auditor General will launch a formal inquiry into the matter on May 30.

Jones declared on April 22, 2014, he would resign as a Labour Party MP, which will come to an end in May. He will be serving as the Pacific Economic Ambassador, according to TV3.

Jones was announced on June 30, 2017, after months of rumors, as the New Zealand First candidate for Whangarei in the 2017 general election. Jones was also ranked eighth on the party list for New Zealand First, above some of the New Zealand First caucuses of Parliament at the time, improving his odds of re-entering Parliament. The Spinoff, a New Zealand online publication, hosted a live debate on Facebook among seven of the 2017 election's top candidates, including Jones, representing New Zealand First.

Jones challenged Whangarei in the 2017 election, finishing third (7,651) behind National candidate Shane Reti (18,734) and Labour candidate Tony Savage (7,767). On the New Zealand First list, he was elected to Parliament.

Following the establishment of a coalition government made up of the Labour Party, New Zealand First, and the Green Party, Jones was named Minister of Infrastructure, Minister of Forestry, and Minister for Regional Economic Growth following the 2017 election.

During a parliamentary debate on Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's meeting with US President Donald Trump, Jones and Labour MP Kieran McAnulty were ejected from Parliament by House Speaker Trevor Mallard on September 25.

Jones drew national notice in mid-October 2019 after being photographed with an AR-15 style rifle while on vacation. Following the Christchurch mosque massacres, the AR-15 rifle was one of the semi-automatic weapons outlawed by New Zealand's Arms (Prohibited Firearms, Magazines, and Parts).

Jones, who was lightheaded, was admitted to the hospital on December 11, 2019 as a precaution after being sick from exhaustion.

As Minister of Regional Economic Development Jones, the federal government was responsible for the creation of a number of provinces, e.g. For Southland, the West Coast, and the Wairarapa, there are three main areas. The first grants for the Whanganui rail line, $5 million for the Napier-Wairoa rail line, and $2.3 million for the Gisborne port were among the first awarded in February 2018.

In late October 2019, Jones revealed that the Government will invest NZ$20 million in revitalizing Hillside Engineering in South Dunedin as a key heavy engineering and KiwiRail servicing hub.

The opposition National Party demanded an inquiry into Jones' involvement in the NZ Future Forrest Products Limited's bid for NZ$15 million in Provincial Growth Fund funding on January 21, 2020. Future Forrest Products of New Zealand has links to New Zealand First.

Jones had said:

The Waitakere Indian Association, a student body in Warwick, called on Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister of Ethnic Communities Jenny Salesa to demand a public apology from Jones and to address the Indian community's concerns.

Members of the Migrant Workers Association and Love Aotearote Racism held a rally in Auckland's Aotea Square on November 3rd to protest Jones' remarks. Jones' remarks were also condemned by broadcaster Patrick Gower, who described Jones as a "brave wonder." Prime Minister Ardern, Trade Minister Damien O'Connor, and Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway have all condemned Jones' remarks as not representative of the New Zealand Government. Jones characterized the community's outpouring of concerns about immigration as a "Bollywood reaction" and said he was speaking for New Zealanders who were worried about immigration. The Government reversed the partnership visa decision on Friday, reintroducing the exemption for non-resident Indian marriages.

Jones delivered a "enormous strain" on the country's social and economic infrastructure on Tuesday, February 29. He also stated that the large number of international students from India had destroyed New Zealand tertiary institutions. Prime Minister Ardern, the Waitakere Indian Association, National Party chief Simon Bridges, Green Party co-leader James Shaw, and Labour MP Iain Lees-Galloway condemned Jones' remarks. They were also condemned as "racist, ignorant, and harmful," Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon said. Jones has defended his remarks by alleging that members of the Indian community were mistreating their own people.

Jones drew national and public notice when he called several protesting farmers outside Parliament "rednecks" on November 14th. This march by protesting farmer's "blanket forestry" policy had been organized by the farming lobby group 50 Shades of Green, who were protesting the government's "blanket forestry" policy. Climate Change Minister James Shaw, the National Party's agricultural spokesperson, and Federated Farmers vice president Andrew Hoggard all chastised Jones' remarks. Shaw praised Jones' remarks to "putting out fire with gasoline," while Muller described Jones as a bully who had shown "remarkable disrespect to hundreds of farmers who traveled a long way to receive their word." Jones' remarks were unhelpful, and it was suspected that the government was dismissing the agricultural sector's fears, according to Hoggard. Willie Jackson, a Labour politician, defended Jones' remarks, saying that the farmers were out of line.

Jones attracted national attention on 20 January 2020 when he mocked climate activists for reducing meat intake, comparing their campaigns to "eco bible-bashing." Jones also compared climate activists to "medieval torture chamber workers" who are hellbent on "preaching this gospel of absolutism." He made these remarks in reaction to the government's recent announcement that climate change education will be in classrooms.

Jones contested the seat of Northland electorate during the 2020 New Zealand general election, which was held on October 17th. He was disqualified, polling third place behind Labour's Willow-Jean Prime Minister (17,066) and National's Matt King (16,903). New Zealand First lost all of its parliamentary seats, earning just 2.6% of the party's support below the threshold of five percent needed to enter Parliament.

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