Shane Jones

Early life

Jones is Māori, of Te Aupōuri and Ngāi Takoto descent, as well as having English, Welsh and Croatian ancestry. He has a Bachelor of Arts (BA) and a Master Public Administration (MPA), and was awarded a Harkness Fellowship to study at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Labour Party

He stood in the 2005 election for the Labour Party, being ranked twenty-seventh on its party list. This is the highest position given by Labour to someone who was not already a member of parliament. He took his seat in the new parliament after the Labour Party won 50 seats in New Zealand's 120 seat parliament. Jones held a number of senior roles in the public sector, being best known for his work as chairman of the Waitangi Fisheries Commission. He worked for the Ministry for the Environment and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. After his entry into parliament, after 2005 election, Jones became chair of the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee. He has often been speculated by the media and among his colleagues as the future leader of the Labour Party.

In the cabinet re-shuffle on 31 October 2007, Jones was made a cabinet minister with the portfolios of Building and Construction, and was made an associate minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, Immigration and Trade. He scrapped a government proposal requiring new buildings to have low flow showers heads, prior to the 2008 general election. Labour was defeated at the election and Jones contested the Northland electorate unsuccessfully, but was returned to parliament as a list member due to his high list placing of 16.

Expense controversy

On 10 June 2010 after the release of ministerial credit card records, 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. Later that day Jones admitted that he had used the card to hire pornographic films at hotels while on ministerial business. The credit card record showed that he chartered an executive jet for $1200, which he claimed was due to bad weather which forced a change in his schedule.

On 14 June 2010, opposition leader Phil Goff demoted Jones along with two other Labour MPs for misuse of ministerial credit cards. Jones was removed from the parliamentary front bench and stripped of the shadow portfolios of Environment and Economic Development.

Yan controversy

In 2008, when Jones was Minister of Immigration, he approved the citizenship application of Chinese businessman William Yan. Yan was charged with making false declarations on immigration documents. On 23 May 2012, Jones stood down from the front bench and his shadow portfolios while an investigation took place. Labour Party leader David Shearer asked the Auditor-General to investigate Jones' handling of the citizenship application. 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. 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. Shearer said Jones supported the decision to refer the matter to the Auditor-General because that was the only way to clear his name.

Shearer said he still believed Jones had followed proper processes, but the differing statements made inside and outside of court, and the questions raised publicly had prompted him to refer it to an independent agency. Shearer said: "New Zealanders must be able to have confidence in the processes of government and that is why Labour believes it is important for the Auditor-General to provide reassurance that the appropriate action was taken in this case."

On 24 May 2012, Yan was found not guilty on all the immigration charges. On 30 May, it was announced that the Auditor General would conduct a formal investigation into the matter.

Retirement from parliament

On 22 April 2014, Jones announced his intention to step down as a Labour Party MP, leaving at the end of May. TV3 reported he would be taking on the newly created role of Pacific Economic Ambassador.

Re-entering politics

On 30 June 2017, after months of speculation, Jones was confirmed as the New Zealand First candidate for Whangarei for the 2017 general election. Jones is also 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. New Zealand online magazine, The Spinoff hosted a live debate on Facebook, among seven of the 2017 election’s candidates that the magazine found "most exciting", including Jones, representing New Zealand First.