Tialavea Tionisio Hunt

Tialavea Tionisio Hunt
Hunt in 2020
Minister of Police
In office
26 March 2020 – 24 May 2021
Prime MinisterTuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi
Preceded byTuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi
Succeeded byLefau Harry Schuster
Minister of Prisons
In office
30 June 2016 – 24 May 2021
Preceded bySala Fata Pinati
Succeeded byLefau Harry Schuster
Minister of Customs & Revenue
In office
18 March 2016 – 24 May 2021
Preceded byTuiloma Pule Lameko
Succeeded byTuala Iosefo Ponifasio
Member of the Samoan Parliament
for Vaa o Fonoti
In office
4 March 2011 – 9 April 2021
Preceded byTuitama Talalelei Tuitama
Succeeded byAlaiasa Sepulona Moananu
Personal details
Political partyHuman Rights Protection Party

Tialavea Fea Leniu Tionisio Hunt is a Samoan politician and former Cabinet Minister. He is a member of the Human Rights Protection Party.

Hunt was educated at St. Peters school in Falefa, Marist Brothers Mulivai and St Josephs College, Lotopa.[1] he worked in printing and construction before becoming a member of the board of the Samoa Shipping Corporation and the Development Bank of Samoa.[1] He was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Samoa at the 2011 Samoan general election, and appointed Associate Minister of Finance and Associate Minister of Police and Prisons.[1]

Following the 2016 election Hunt was appointed as Minister of Revenue.[2] A cabinet reshuffle in June 2016 saw him gain the prisons and corrections portfolio.[3] In June 2017 he was responsible for a controversial policy to tax church ministers.[4] When churches refused to pay, he threatened to seize their assets.[5] Ministers were subsequently prosecuted for failing to pay tax,[6] and taxes were deducted from bank accounts.[7]

In September 2017 he advocated for the deportation of foreigners convicted of crimes in Samoa.[8] later that year he opposed the repatriation of Samoans convicted in American Samoa.[9] In early 2018 he faced calls to resign after he released a prisoner to attend a matai ceremony.[10][11]

In March 2020 Hunt was given responsibility for the Police as well as his existing Corrections portfolio.[12] In July 2020 he called for judicial corporal punishment for rapists.[13] In August 2020 he defended using prison inmates as unpaid labour for "personal projects" such as clearing land belonging to his family.[14]

He lost his seat in the April 2021 Samoan general election.[15]

  1. ^ a b c "Honourable Tialavea Fea Leniu Tionisio Hunt". Government of Samoa. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  2. ^ "Former Samoa deputy PM left out of cabinet". RNZ. 18 March 2016. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  3. ^ "Samoa PM reshuffles his cabinet". RNZ. 30 June 2016. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  4. ^ "Samoa to tax head of state and church ministers". RNZ. 5 June 2017. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  5. ^ "Pay up or assets will be seized - Samoa govt to church ministers". RNZ. 9 July 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  6. ^ "More Samoa church ministers face charges over tax". RNZ. 26 November 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  7. ^ "Samoa ministers' tax arrears deducted from back accounts". RNZ. 10 October 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  8. ^ "Samoa push to deport foreign convicts". RNZ. 27 September 2017. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  9. ^ "Samoa opposes American Samoa prisoner repatriation". RNZ. 11 December 2017. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  10. ^ "Samoan prisoner released to attend matai ceremony". RNZ. 16 January 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  11. ^ "Call for Samoa's Minister of Prisons to resign". RNZ. 27 February 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  12. ^ "Samoa police and prison portfolio now under one Minister". RNZ. 26 March 2020. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  13. ^ "Samoan minister calls for corporal punishment". RNZ. 27 July 2020. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  14. ^ Joyetter Feagaimaali'i (5 August 2020). "Police Minister defends use of prisoners". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  15. ^ Seia Lavilavi Soloi (13 April 2021). "Five Cabinet Minister lose seats after polls". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 29 May 2021.