Hon Tony Ryall represents the Bay of Plenty Electorate, which includes the fast-growing suburbs of Tauranga City (Papamoa, Bayfair, Maungatapu, Welcome Bay, and Ohauiti), and the surrounding rural areas of Te Puke, Kaimai, Omokoroa and Te Puna.

First elected as MP for East Cape in 1990, Mr Ryall won his seat from the Labour Party. Following boundary changes he represented Eastern Bay of Plenty electorate (1993-96) and Bay of Plenty electorate (1996- ).

Mr Ryall is married to Kara and has two children Maisie (14) and Llewellyn (10). After schooling in the Eastern Bay of Plenty, Mr Ryall graduated from Massey University with a Bachelor of Business Studies (Accounting and Finance), also with a Diploma in Business Studies (Accounting).

In 1997, Mr Ryall was promoted into the Shipley Cabinet. He held the portfolios of Minister of Justice, Minister for State Owned Enterprises, Minister of Local Government, Minister of Youth Affairs and Minister Responsible for Housing New Zealand Ltd. While in Opposition Mr Ryall served first as Law and Order spokesman, then as Health Spokesman.

In the National-led Government, he is Minister of Health, Minister for State Owned Enterprises and Minister of State Services.

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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