“Even as a back bench MP, I had no idea how busy this job would be,” says Hon Jan Tinetti of her new ministerial roles. 

The Tauranga MP has taken on three large portfolios following the 2020 Elections: Minister for Women, Minister for Internal Affairs (which includes overseeing both the Royal Commission of Inquiries into March 15 Mosque Attack, and Historical Abuse in State Care), and Associate Minister of Education.

As she is relatively new to the role, Jan says the day-to-day currently involves a lot of reading and plenty of BIMs (Briefings for Incoming Minsters) on her various portfolios, not to mention continuing with her Tauranga MP duties locally as well.

As part of our BWN Women in Leadership series, we visited Jan at her Greerton office to find out:

• What are the biggest issues facing women in 2021?
• How we can overcome our biggest challenge – ourselves
• Why women calling out each other’s successes will be key to getting more women into leadership roles.

Jan on her portfolios:

Minister for Women

“This is ensuring the lives of women and girls is improved, and there are great opportunities here. That’s a big one at the moment, of course, because of the fallout from COVID. We know that has had a bigger impact on women and we are aware something needs to be done.”

Minster of Internal Affairs

“This is a big one. It’s the one that everyone asks me ‘What is it?’ It works with aspects such as births, deaths and marriages, identity (passports), online harm, gambling, fire and emergency, national library and archives and more. Part of this is also overseeing The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch Terrorist Attack.”

Associate Minister of Education

“I worked in the primary teaching sector for 27 years and I am really excited that I will have an impact at that level going forwards.

“I don’t know what my delegations are yet, but the Prime Minister did say it is likely I will work on learning support. This is where I was working the most, especially as Principal of Merivale School for 11 years. There were a huge amount of students who had learning support needs so it was an area of specialty for me.

“There’s a lot to do, but I’m not scared by that.”