Hon Anne Tolley was first elected to parliament on the National Party list in 1999.

In the 2005 General Election, Mrs Tolley won the seat of East Coast; a large and diverse electorate, which stretches from Gisborne, around East Cape and through to the Whakatane plains. She was elected Junior Whip, and given the Child, Youth and Family portfolio.

In 2006, she was elected Senior Whip, the first woman to hold the position in the National Party.

Hon Anne Tolley was re-elected as Member of Parliament for East Coast in the 2008 General Election, with an increased majority, and became Minister of Education, Minister for Tertiary Education and Minister Responsible for the Education Review Office. Mrs Tolley is currently Minister of Education and Minister Responsible for the Education Review Office.

Since becoming Minister of Education, Mrs Tolley has focussed on lifting student achievement and giving young people the best possible start in life. She has implemented the ground-breaking National Standards in primary schools, which gives parents good information on how their child is progressing against national standards in reading, writing and maths. This identifies those who are falling behind, so that teachers and parents can give them the extra support they need.

Another key initiative Mrs Tolley has introduced is the Government’s Youth Guarantee Scheme, which will improve the educational achievements of targeted 16 and 17 year olds by providing them with an opportunity to participate in a range of vocational courses free of charge.

Mrs Tolley and her husband Allan live in Gisborne. They have three adult children and two grandchildren. She is a former Hawke’s Bay Regional Councillor, a Napier City Councillor and was the Deputy Mayor of Napier City for six years.

Top 5 Issues

1. Building a stronger economy
   • Balance the books sooner.
   • Borrow less so we can have lower interest rates for longer.
   • Keep personal taxes lower to encourage hard work.
   • Make New Zealand more competitive so our exporters can sell more overseas and create more real jobs.
   • Encourage savings and investments.
   • Use the mixed-Ownership model to fund infrastructure to help us grow faster.
   • Invest in skills training and tertiary education that gets results.
   
2. Building world-class infrastructure
   • Ultra-fast broadband for greater innovation.
   • More, and better, roads to ease congestion.
   • Investing in more rail and public transport.
   
3. Building a safer New Zealand
   • Staying strong on crime – tougher sentencing, stronger bail laws, and a focus on victims.
   • Keep working to lower the crime rate further so our families are safer.
   • Making our roads safer, so we can keep the road toll lower.
   
4. Rebuilding Christchurch
   • $5.5 billion recovery fund
   • Re-establishing essential infrastructure
   • More construction-related training
   
5. Building better public services
   • Better Schools – identifying and helping children falling behind, school reports in plain English.
   • World-class healthcare –more doctors and nurses, more operations, shorter waiting times.
   • Effective welfare- more people back into work, more incentives to work, payment cards for teens on benefits.
   

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