Hon Christopher Finlayson is Attorney-General for New Zealand. He is also Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage and Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations.

Chris was born in Wellington in 1956 and attended Victoria University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in French and Latin and a Masters of Law. He practised law in Wellington for 25 years, where he was a partner at Bell Gully from 1990 – 2002 and thereafter a barrister sole.

He entered Parliament in 2005 as a National Party Member of Parliament and assumed his current roles in the John Key Government after the November 2008 election.

Before entering Parliament, Chris represented clients in all of New Zealand's Courts and Tribunals, including nine appearances in the Privy Council. For many years he maintained his links to academic life through part-time teaching at Victoria University's Law Faculty. He continues to sit on the Rules Committee of the High Court, which regulates court procedures in New Zealand.

Chris served on the board of Creative New Zealand for six years and chaired the Arts Board from 1998 - 2001. He was also a Trustee of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Foundation and a number of other arts organisations. He is well-known for his sponsorship of the arts.

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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