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Jo Luxton

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The Honourable
Jo Luxton
MP
Luxton in 2023
66th Minister of Customs
In office
8 May 2023 – 27 November 2023
Prime MinisterChris Hipkins
Preceded byDamien O'Connor (acting)
Succeeded byCasey Costello
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Rangitata
In office
17 October 2020 – 14 October 2023
Preceded byAndrew Falloon
Succeeded byJames Meager
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Labour party list
In office
23 September 2017 – 17 October 2020
14 October 2023 – present
Personal details
Born1973 (age 50–51)
Political partyLabour (2013–present)
SpouseMatt
Children3
RelativesNorman Kirk (great-uncle)

Jo-Anne Marie Luxton (born 1973)[1] is a New Zealand politician. She has been a Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for the Labour Party since the 2017 general election.

Before her political career, Luxton was an early childhood educator. From 8 May to 27 November 2023, she was Minister of Customs and Associate Minister of Education, with responsibility for early childhood education, in the Sixth Labour Government.

Early life, career and family

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Luxton was born to parents Jim, a builder, and Margaret Thompson in Rotorua.[2] She has two younger sisters. The family moved around the North Island during Luxton's childhood and she was raised mainly in Gisborne, where she attended Campion College and Lytton High School.[2]

In her twenties, Luxton moved to Ashburton with her then-husband, a farm worker, and worked on a dairy farm with him.[1] When their marriage broke up, she began working for Playcentre and had a twenty-year career in early childhood education before her election to Parliament in 2017.[3] She owned and operated the Hinds Early Learning Centre, which was an accredited living wage employer.[4]

Luxton is the great-niece of former Labour Prime Minister Norman Kirk.[1] She is of Māori descent, through her mother's biological father, which she did not learn until about 2004.[5] She has a blended family of five children with her second husband, a builder, and is also the guardian of her younger sister who has Down syndrome.[6]

In October 2022 she admitted causing a three-car crash in Timaru.[7]

Political career

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New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate List Party
2017–2020 52nd List 29 Labour
2020–2023 53rd Rangitata 39 Labour
2023–present 54th List 19 Labour

Luxton became involved with the Labour Party in 2013 and became the chairperson of her local party branch.[1] In 2016, she was selected as the Labour candidate for Rangitata electorate in the 2017 election.[4] She was ranked 29 on Labour's party list.[8]

Luxton did not win the electorate, which had been held by the National Party since 2005, but entered parliament as a list MP.[9] She was the second speaker in the address in reply debate on 8 November 2017. Her maiden speech highlighted her views that education "needs to be free and accessible to everyone [because] it could mean the difference between living a decent life and contributing to society in a positive way, and ending up in our overcrowded prisons."[2] She also acknowledged former Labour MP Maryan Street as a political mentor.[2]

In her first term, Luxton sat on the education and workforce committee and was deputy chairperson of each of the committees for primary production (until August 2018), economic development, science and innovation (from August 2018 until July 2019) and regulations review (from July 2019 until September 2020).[10] She was briefly responsible for a member's bill, previously in the name of Sue Moroney, which proposed to reinstate a general legal right for workers to have meal and rest breaks; this ultimately was adopted as government legislation.[11][12]

At the 2020 New Zealand general election Luxton again ran in Rangitata for the Labour party. In what was regarded as a surprise victory, she defeated National's Megan Hands by a final margin of 4,408 votes.[13] Rangitata had been traditionally regarded as a safe National seat.[14] In her second term, Luxton continued to sit on the education and workforce committee and chaired the primary production committee. Each of those roles ended in February 2023 after her promotion into the executive.[10]

Luxton signing the oath during a ceremony at Government House, Wellington, on 1 February 2023 at which she was appointed a parliamentary under-secretary

In a cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Chris Hipkins on 31 January 2023, Luxton was appointed a parliamentary under-secretary to the Ministers of Agriculture and Education.[15] In another cabinet reshuffle by Hipkins on 8 May 2023, caused by Meka Whaitiri resigning from the Labour Party, Luxton was appointed Minister of Customs and Associate Minister for Agriculture and Education.[16] As customs minister, she oversaw the third reading of legislation that enabled arrival cards to be completed digitally from July 2023.[17][18] In her associate minister roles, she had responsibility for animal welfare, residential and trades training for the food and fibre sector, early childhood education (ECE), Pacific education, and the Education Review Office.[19] She announced salary increases for early childhood educators in August 2023, although it was reported that the government knew in September 2023 that it had a $253 million shortfall in ECE funding, which was not publicly known until after that month's election.[20][21]

During the 2023 general election, Luxton was unseated by new National candidate James Meager by a margin of 10,846 votes.[22] She was however re-elected on the Labour party list.[23] After her electorate loss, Luxton closed her local offices in Timaru and Ashburton.[24] Labour did not remain in government and, in late November, Luxton was appointed opposition spokesperson for agriculture, biosecurity and rural communities in the Shadow Cabinet of Chris Hipkins.[25] On 5 December 2023, Luxton was granted retention of the title The Honourable, in recognition of her term as a member of the Executive Council.[26] She currently sits on the primary production committee.[10]

Views and politics

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Cannabis

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In mid-September 2020, Luxton announced that she would not be voting in support of the Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill referendum, citing her own personal experiences of being in relationship with a person who abused cannabis.[27]

Euthanasia

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Luxton has stated that she would be voting in favour of the End of Life Choice Act 2019 during the 2020 euthanasia referendum, citing her belief that people should be able to die with dignity and the experiences of her terminally ill mother.[27]

Abortion

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Luxton voted in favour of the Abortion Legislation Bill in 2019 and 2020.[28]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Hudson, Daisy (29 August 2017). "Coffee with the candidate: Labour Rangitata candidate Jo Luxton". The Timaru Herald. Stuff. Archived from the original on 10 October 2018. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d Luxton, Jo (8 November 2017). "Address in Reply". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  3. ^ Luxton, Jo (31 October 2018). "Education (National Education and Learning Priorities) Amendment Bill — Third Reading". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  4. ^ a b Hudson, Daisy (6 July 2016). "Jo Luxton confirmed as Labour's Rangitata candidate". The Timaru Herald. Stuff. Archived from the original on 10 October 2018. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
  5. ^ Malone, Audrey (20 May 2018). "Labour's Jo Luxton 'between two worlds'". Stuff. Archived from the original on 10 October 2018.
  6. ^ Walters, Laura (29 July 2023). "Backstory: Labour MP describes struggles on single parent benefit, guardianship of sister". Newshub. Archived from the original on 2 January 2024. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  7. ^ "MP admits causing three-car crash in her electorate". NZ Herald. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
  8. ^ "Revised Labour Party List for the 2017 Election". Scoop. 15 August 2017. Archived from the original on 18 October 2020. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  9. ^ "Successful Candidates". Electoral Commission. 23 September 2017. Archived from the original on 2 October 2017. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
  10. ^ a b c "Luxton, Jo – New Zealand Parliament". www.parliament.nz. 13 December 2023. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  11. ^ Cooke, Henry (25 November 2018). "Controversial workplace relations bill softened somewhat to get support from NZ First". www.stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  12. ^ "Employment Relations (Restoring Kiwis' Right to a Break at Work) Amendment Bill". New Zealand Parliament. 7 November 2017. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  13. ^ "Rangitata – Official Result". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  14. ^ Holden, Joanne; Littlewood, Matthew (17 October 2020). "Labour's Jo Luxton wins National-held Rangitata, Jacqui Dean holds Waitaki". Stuff. Archived from the original on 20 October 2020. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  15. ^ "Prime Minister Chris Hipkins reveals Cabinet reshuffle". Radio NZ. 31 January 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
  16. ^ Whyte, Anna (8 May 2023). "MP Jo Luxton promoted in wake of Meka Whaitiri's Labour exit". Stuff. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  17. ^ "A safe, simple, more modern New Zealand border on its way". The Beehive. 17 May 2023. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  18. ^ Downes, Siobhan (9 July 2023). "New digital arrival cards to launch for some travellers entering New Zealand". www.stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  19. ^ "Delegations to Associate Ministers". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC). 26 September 2023. Archived from the original on 23 November 2023. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  20. ^ "Funding review, Pay Parity increase, and changes to home-based funding conditions confirmed for early learning sector". The Beehive. 31 August 2023. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  21. ^ Gerritsen, John (22 November 2023). "Pay parity for ECE teachers 'further out of reach' after cost blowout". RNZ. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  22. ^ "Rangitata – Official Result". Electoral Commission. 3 November 2023. Archived from the original on 23 November 2023. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
  23. ^ "2023 General Election: Successful candidates". Electoral Commission. 3 November 2023. Archived from the original on 17 November 2023. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  24. ^ Srinivasa, Yashas (27 January 2024). "New offices in the works for Rangitata and Waitaki MPs". www.stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  25. ^ "Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins reveals new shadow Cabinet". Radio New Zealand. 30 November 2023. Archived from the original on 11 December 2023. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
  26. ^ "Retention of the title "The Honourable"". New Zealand Gazette. 8 December 2023. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
  27. ^ a b "Labour MP Jo Luxton against cannabis legalisation". Stuff. 17 September 2020. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  28. ^ Cheng, Derek (19 March 2020). "How MPs voted on abortion law reform". NZ Herald. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
[edit]
  • Media related to Jo Luxton at Wikimedia Commons
New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Rangitata
2020–2023 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Customs
2023 		Succeeded by
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