Real Life with John Cowan

Born in Awanui, Northland in 1959, Shane Jones is of Te Aupouri and Ngai Takoto descent and has Welsh and Dalmatian heritage. He was sent to boarding school in St Stephens School, Auckland before studying politics at both Auckland and Victoria Universities.

Shane was responsible for setting up the Maori Policy Unit at the Ministry for the Environment in 1990. He also worked for a year under Geoffrey Palmer in the Prime Minister’s Department before taking his wife and four children to the U.S. while he studied at Harvard. This was where he completed his Masters in Public Administration degree on a Harkness Fellowship.

Mr. Jones entered parliament in 2005 and has held a series of responsibilities that currently include the roles of spokesman for Transport, Fisheries and Aquaculture, Maori Economic Development and Infrastructure. He has also been involved in a few well-known controversies in his time in parliament.

Shane and his wife Ngareta have seven children and one grandchild. In his spare time he loves reading, gardening, sport and family time.

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