Finance and Infrastructure Opposition spokesperson, the Hon Pesetatamalelagi Barbara Edmonds returned to her alma mater the University of Auckland to talk with Business academics and learn more about the Pacific Strategy and Pacific Academy initiatives ready to be launched this year.
Edmonds (Fale’ula, Faleatiu, Safotu, Fasito’o/Sāmoa) is the MP for Mana and visited the University on 24 February. She met with leaders from the School of Business, Schools, Community and Engagement Team, and the Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor Pacific.
“It’s nice to be back home, it does feel like home, this is my alma mater where I did my Law and Arts degree that set me up for my career.
“We had good discussions with the School of Business, around macro, micro economic policies that we will be testing as part of our policies that we will be forming, and it’s always so good to be with our Pacific students.”
Pro Vice-Chancellor Pacific Professor Jemaima Sipaea Tiatia-Siau says drafting the University’s first Pacific Strategy in 142 years has been a huge task over the last year; having someone with the expertise and calibre of the Finance Opposition Spokesperson view the work undertaken spoke to the importance of the document.
“We’re grateful to have had the Hon Barbara Edmonds come onto campus, to be able to share with her the work we have undertaken.
“She’s a great example of why drawing up a road map for Pacific success here at the University is important, so that our young people can flourish at the University and leave ready to take on the world.”
Professor Tiatia-Siau says the Mana MP relished learning about initiatives to prepare school leavers for the university environment such as Auckland Maths Challenge and the Pacific Academy, ensuring Pacific youth were able to thrive.
Edmonds says it was also important to encourage the Pacific community into the Business space. She pivoted during her career path starting out in Health Sciences before graduating with a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts in 2008, going on to become a specialist tax lawyer.
A mother of eight, her path to becoming a Cabinet Minister began eight years ago while working as a private secretary for the National Party’s Ministers of Revenue, Michael Woodhouse and Judith Collins. The following year in 2017 she was appointed as a political adviser for the Labour Government’s Revenue and Police Minister Stuart Nash. She entered Parliament in 2020 as the MP for Mana and became a Cabinet Minister in 2023, holding the Internal Affairs and Pacific Peoples portfolios.
“I came into the business space through the Arts and through Law, it was a very different pathway, says the 44 year-old.
“I got into the area of Tax through Law, it’s a good indicator of broadening [your scope]. The Humanities and the Arts are important, it means you have a good grounding for a diverse career.
“I’ve been really fortunate that I had a good grounding here, with the Law School and with the Faculty of Arts, and that means decades later you become a Finance Opposition spokesperson for a major political party, don’t knock the Arts!”
Professor Tiatia-Siau says Edmonds’ visit to give guidance and moral support to developing the Pacific Strategy was timely.
“We are this week welcoming our first-year students and we are also on the eve of a great milestone. The presence of Pesetatamalelagi the Hon. Barbara Edmonds is a show of support for the work we are doing, and she is a wonderful role model of what can be accomplished once you have secured a university education.”