Lautafi Fio Selafi Purcell

Lautafi Fio Selafi Purcell
Purcell in 2018
Minister of Labour, Industry and Commerce
In office
18 March 2016 – 24 May 2021[a]
Prime MinisterTuila'epa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi
Preceded byFonotoe Pierre Lauofo
Succeeded byFaumuina Asi Pauli Wayne Fong
Minister of Public Enterprises
In office
26 April 2014 – 24 May 2021
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byFaumuina Asi Pauli Wayne Fong
Minister of Tourism
In office
18 March 2016 – 30 June 2016
Preceded byTuila'epa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi
Succeeded bySala Fata Pinati
Member of the Samoan Parliament
for Satupaitea
Assumed office
2 August 2011
Preceded byAsiata Sale'imoa Va'ai
Personal details
Political partyHuman Rights Protection Party

Lautafi Fio Selafi Joseph Purcell is a Samoan politician and former Cabinet Minister. He is a member of the Human Rights Protection Party.

Purcell was educated at Chanel College, Moamoa and St Paul's College, Auckland as well as Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand.[1] He subsequently worked as a prison manager, prison inspector and policy advisor for the New Zealand Department of Justice and Department of Corrections.[1]

Purcell was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Samoa in a 2011 by-election,[2] and appointed Associate Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries.[1] Following a Cabinet reshuffle in April 2014 he was appointed as the first Minister of Public Enterprises.[3]

He was re-elected unopposed at the 2016 Samoan general election[4][5] and appointed Minister of Labour, Tourism and Samoa Land Corporation, as well as retaining his Government Enterprises portfolio.[6][7] Another reshuffle in June 2016 saw him lose the Tourism portfolio to Sala Fata Pinati but retain Labour, Commerce, and Government Enterprises.[8]

He is married to public servant Lematua Gisa Fuatai Purcell.[9]


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  1. ^ a b c "Honourable Lautafi Fio Selafi Joseph Purcell". Government of Samoa. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  2. ^ "Bi-election clean sweep for HRPP". Savali. 2 August 2011. Archived from the original on 10 August 2014.
  3. ^ "Samoa's PM new head of Finance Ministry". RNZ. 26 April 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  4. ^ Lanuola Tusani Tupufia (13 February 2016). "Lautafi returns unopposed". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  5. ^ "Samoa's ruling HRPP retains 4 seats ahead of the poll". RNZ. 25 February 2016. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  6. ^ "Many New Faces in Samoa Cabinet". Talanei. 22 March 2016. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  7. ^ "Former Samoa deputy PM left out of cabinet". RNZ. 18 March 2016. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  8. ^ "Samoa PM reshuffles his cabinet". RNZ. 30 June 2016. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  9. ^ "Cabinet Appoints Lematua Gisa Fuatai Purcell as the Regulator". Talamua. 10 September 2020. Retrieved 20 November 2020.