Kiri Allan facts for kids

Quick facts for kids The Honourable Kiri Allan
Allan in 2019
51st Minister of Justice
In office 14 June 2022 – 24 July 2023
Prime Minister	Jacinda Ardern Chris Hipkins
Preceded by	Kris Faafoi
Succeeded by	Ginny Andersen
Minister for Regional Development
In office 1 February 2023 – 24 July 2023
Prime Minister	Chris Hipkins
Preceded by	Stuart Nash (as Minister for Economic and Regional Development)
Succeeded by	Kieran McAnulty
14th Minister of Conservation
In office 6 November 2020 – 14 June 2022
Prime Minister	Jacinda Ardern
Preceded by	Eugenie Sage
Succeeded by	Poto Williams
27th Minister for Emergency Management
In office 6 November 2020 – 14 June 2022
Prime Minister	Jacinda Ardern
Preceded by	Peeni Henare
Succeeded by	Kieran McAnulty
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for East Coast
In office 17 October 2020 – 14 October 2023
Preceded by	Anne Tolley
Succeeded by	Dana Kirkpatrick
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Labour party list
In office 23 September 2017 – 17 October 2020
Personal details
Born	Kiritapu Lyndsay Allan 1984 (age 39–40) Te Karaka, New Zealand
Political party	Labour
Spouse	Natalie Coates ​ ​ (m. 2016; div. 2022)​
Children	1
Profession	Lawyer

Kiritapu Lyndsay Allan (born 1984), known as Kiri Allan, is a former member of Parliament (MP) in the New Zealand House of Representatives. Allan was a member for the Labour Party, entering the House as a list MP in 2017, and going on to win the East Coast electorate in 2020. Allan served in multiple ministerial portfolios after 2020, including serving as Minister of Justice from June 2022 to July 2023.

In June 2023, concerns about how Allan treated her staff were raised. She took time off from her parliamentary duties after the breakup of her relationship with RNZ journalist, Mani Dunlop, and on 24 July 2023, resigned from her ministerial roles after she was arrested for careless driving the previous night.

Early life

Allan was born in Te Karaka, of Ngāti Ranginui and Ngāti Tūwharetoa descent. She is the ninth of ten children. As a baby, she was whāngai – given to an aunt and uncle, Gail and David Allan, who lived in Paengaroa. Her parents attended a Pentecostal Christian church, which contributed to her perspective on helping others.

She spent a couple of years at Auckland Girls’ Grammar in Kahurangi, the reo-Māori unit. She left high school at 16 and started work at a KFC franchise in West Auckland. She also joined the Service & Food Workers Union at that time. At 17, she hitch hiked south and took her next job as a cherry picker in Blenheim.

At age 19, she enrolled at Victoria University of Wellington where she studied law and politics, and joined the Labour Party. During her university studies she worked as an intern with Prime Minister Helen Clark.

Career before politics

After finishing her law degree, she was a judge's clerk for a period before taking a role at law firm ChenPalmer, where she worked for two years. Later she joined Kahui Legal, a specialist law firm focussed on issues related to Māori development in Whakatāne before standing as Labour candidate for the East Coast in 2017.

Political career

First term, 2017–2020

Allan stood for Labour in the East Coast electorate in the 2017 election and was placed 21 on Labour's party list. She came second to Anne Tolley in the election, but entered Parliament via the party list.

In 2018, she launched the down to earth political podcast Authorised By with Green Party MP Chlöe Swarbrick. She got on well with Swarbrick and they both felt the average Kiwi on the street was detached from politics.

During the 52nd New Zealand Parliament she was Labour's junior whip, and therefore the junior government whip. She was also a member of various Select Committees, including the Epidemic Response Committee during the COVID-19 pandemic. By the end of 2018, Allan was labelled a strong performer among backbenchers in Parliament. She is also the chair of Labour's rural caucus.

Ahead of the 2020 New Zealand general election, Allan was ranked at 25 on Labour's party list and was selected by the party to contest the East Coast electorate again. Anne Tolley, who had defeated Allan for the seat in 2017 had decided to contest the 2020 election as a List only candidate, and then had later decided to retire outright, leaving the seat open.

Second term, 2020–present

Electoral portrait, 2020

Allan was elected as MP for East Coast in the 2020 election, which saw a landslide victory for the Labour party. She defeated National's candidate Tania Tapsell by 6,331 votes.

On 2 November 2020, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced she would enter Cabinet during her second term in parliament, becoming Minister for Conservation and Minister for Emergency Management. In addition, she also assumed the associate ministerial portfolios for Arts, Culture and Heritage and Environment.

In a June 2022 reshuffle, Allan was promoted from Conservation to instead be Minister of Justice. Following Jacinda Ardern's resignation as Prime Minister in 2023, Allan was speculated to be a Labour leadership candidate, but declined to run.

2023 Radio New Zealand speech

Allan made a controversial speech at Radio New Zealand's (RNZ) Wellington office on 31 March 2023 as part of the farewell event for departing employee Māni Dunlop, who was her fiancée at the time. Dunlop had been a front runner to take over Susie Ferguson's role on Morning Report, but resigned when the role was offered to Ingrid Hipkiss. Commentators have suggested the reason Dunlop wasn't offered the role was because she was engaged to Allan, a senior Cabinet Minister, which would make it difficult for her to cover crime and justice related stories.

However, at the farewell event, Allan chose to comment on RNZ's alleged inability to retain Māori employees and suggested the senior leadership team needed to look into it. Allan later acknowledged that her comments might have been interpreted as giving RNZ instruction on how to manage its staff or organisation, which Ministers are not allowed to do. She later apologised and stated that was not her intent. Three months later, it was reported that Allan and Dunlop were no longer in a relationship.

2023 bullying allegations

In June 2023, concerns were raised by the heads of two government agencies, the Department of Conservation (DOC) and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) about how Allan had treated her staff in her Cabinet office. This followed information that someone on secondment from DOC working in her office left early "due to the working relationships in the office". Allan responded to the allegations saying that no one had laid a formal complaint about her behaviour. On 3 July, Allan was on leave, with both her and Prime Minister Chris Hipkins confirming that she was not on mental health leave. The prime minister reminded ministers about the need to treat their staff with respect and stated that he would discuss her workplace issues with her after he had returned from his trip to Europe.

On 14 July, Hipkins confirmed that Allan would return from leave on 17 July to resume her ministerial duties, and that she would also receive extra coaching to help her promote a "positive work environment." Allan also issued an apology for her past behaviour and offered to speak to anyone who wanted to talk to her individually. She also resolved to promote a positive workplace environment.

Personal life

Allan married Natalie Coates in 2016 after same-sex marriage was legalised in New Zealand. They had a baby just before the 2017 election, of whom fellow Labour MP Tāmati Coffey is the biological father, and Allan brought the baby to Parliament. They divorced in May 2022. Allan had a previous relationship with another Labour Party MP, Meka Whaitiri.

In April 2021, Allan announced she would be taking medical leave from parliament after being diagnosed with stage 3 cervical cancer. In December 2021 she announced that after treatment she was cancer-free and encouraged others to have regular testing for different forms of cancer.

In 2022, Allan became engaged to RNZ National presenter Māni Dunlop, but they broke up in 2023. In June 2023, Allan took leave from Parliament following the breakup. On 3 July, Allan went on leave again. This decision followed concerns raised by public servants about her management style and her relationships with staff in her office.

On 23 July 2023, Allan was involved in a car crash in Wellington, and was charged with careless driving and refusing to accompany a police officer. She also received an infringement offence for excess breath alcohol. The following day, Allan resigned from all ministerial portfolios. Prime Minister, Chris Hipkins, noted that Allan's behaviour was related to the break-down of her relationship with former RNZ journalist, Māni Dunlop. On 4 September, Allan revealed that she had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.

On 30 November 2023, Allan confirmed that she would be pleading not guilt to a charge of failing to accompany a Police officer on the grounds that she did not have access to a lawyer. In rationalising her decision, Allan stated that her sole purpose was to ensure that Police and the public "have certainty about when the right to legal counsel is available".