TRUE BLUE: All politicians try to make life better for their fellow New Zealanders, says retired National Party East Coast MP and Deputy Speaker of the House Anne Tolley. Picture by Liam Clayton
Anne Tolley’s political instincts remain strong four months after announcing her retirement from politics.
“I get passionate and yell at the television,” she said.
“But you make your decision that you’re going and you move on.
“I do get caught up with the television.”
The Deputy Speaker of the House and National’s East Coast MP for the past 15 years described her feelings about retirement as being “50/50”.
She was envious of the fine weather through most of the 2020 election campaign.
During the last three campaigns the weather had been “crappy” on both the Gisborne and Bay of Plenty side of the East Coast electorate, or in the case of 2011, on both sides.
“I’ve got photos of standing on street corners under umbrellas and everyone else in rain coats — pretty miserable.”
Mrs Tolley, speaking to The Herald before election day, said she would find election night very different from the norm, regardless of the result.
Her father Ronald, whom she describes as a political junkie, died last year.
They would sit together watching the results each election night while everybody else partied.
Mrs Tolley, in her valedictory speech in Parliament, was quick to thank husband Allan and the rest of her family for the sacrifices they had made over her 15 years in national politics.
Her granddaughter Madeleine was only a few months old when Mrs Tolley entered Parliament.
She is now 21.
Madeleine has only known her grandma as a politician.
“They’ve all put up with years of my political career: the good, the bad, and a little bit of the ugly.”
Mrs Tolley started political life in local-body politics.
She was a Napier city councillor from 1986 to 1995 and served as deputy mayor for six years.
She was a Napier-based list MP from 1999 to 2002 and visited Gisborne monthly as the National Party’s representative for the electorate held by Labour’s Janet Mackey.
It was MPs Tony Ryall and Simon Power who suggested she could win the East Coast seat, which she did in 2005.
She went on to hold nine ministerial portfolios from 2008 to 2017, including police, social development, education and children, and served as Deputy Speaker of the House in the last parliament.
The Tolleys lived in Gisborne and later moved to Ohope.
Mrs Tolley said politics had had a major impact on family life.
“There have been ups and downs and criticism.”
But the years in politics had been worth it.
Her introduction, as Education Minister, of a controversial National Standards programme that measured children’s progress against the curriculum in reading, writing and mathematics, attracted particularly strong opposition from the education sector.
Mrs Tolley said there had been many achievements, but she singled out prison reform and her work on trades academies.
Investment was made in ensuring each inmate received an educational assessment, job training and life skills training.
The aim was to reduce recidivism by 25 percent.
“We got halfway there,” she said.
“We possibly needed another three years.”
Trade academies which allow young people to start working on their trades qualifications while still at school were important, she said.
“People learn in different ways.
“Many young Maori men are kinetic learners — they learn by touch, feel and by doing.”
Mrs Tolley rejects a frequently-made allegation that politicians live in an ivory tower.
“As a politician, you get to see much of the real world. You actually get to see a lot more.”
As a member of the select committee looking into legalising prostitution, she met street workers and discussed the dangers they faced.
“As Minister of Social Development, I never went into an office without talking to the people in the waiting room.”
Both in her valedictory speech, and while speaking to The Herald, she spoke of meeting prison inmates, who always treated her with respect; and abused children, including a young man “whose story didn’t actually have a happy ending”.
Another young woman she met at Oranga Tamariki has gone on to university and a successful career.
“I ran into her a year ago at a local school.
“I wish her well.
“These kids have lived through horrific stuff.
“You go to a prison and most of them have been in state care.
But, she said, “The human connection with parents is so strong.”
She had only met one person who did not want anything to do with their family. She had been sexually abused, and her family had done nothing to help her.
“All the others, given a chance, would go back to their families.
“All they want is for their families to be normal.”
She has two concerns for the future.
One is reform of polytechnics, including EIT Tairawhiti, and the other is the amalgamation of health boards.
“We must not lose our district heath board — it’s critical.
“This is a remote area.
“Wellington bureaucrats mean well, but they don’t know where places like Tikitiki are.
“They have no idea of what the roads are like, how long it takes to get anywhere, and how we live our lives.”
What has been the worse moment in Ms Tolley’s political career?
The Herald did not have to ask.
She provided the answer without prompting and with some feeling.
It was being sued by Winston Peters for allegedly disclosing details of a pension payment irregularity to the media.
The case against Mrs Tolley, fellow Cabinet Minister Paula Bennett and several senior civil servants was dismissed in the High Court earlier this year.
She was disappointed that her integrity had been challenged.
“The judge said our evidence was accepted and unchallenged.”
Appearing in court had been a horrendous experience.
Mrs Tolley said she would continue to follow friends from both sides of the political spectrum.
“As Deputy Speaker, I’ve got to know and respect MPs right across the House.”
She named Louisa Wall as one friend from the Labour caucus.
In her valedictory speech, she wished good luck to all MPs in the then upcoming elections. “Some more than others, perhaps.”