Agnes Loheni


Agnes Loreta Loheni is a New Zealand politician and a Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for the New Zealand National Party. She was declared elected on 31 January 2019, following the resignation of Chris Finlayson.

Early life and career

Loheni was born in 1972 in Auckland, spending her formative years in Mount Albert. She lived in a state house with as many as 15 family members in just three bedrooms, and was educated at Marist College, Auckland. Loheni is a Samoan New Zealander. She is the eldest daughter of Fepulea'i Pelasio Loheni and Filomena Mata'utia Loheni. She also has three sisters named Jackie, Gina and Charlene. Agnes, her mother Mena, and her sisters ran a local Samoan fashion brand called MENA.
She is married and has five children. Loheni has a degree in chemical engineering from the University of Auckland. After graduating she had a two-year OE based in London and then returned to New Zealand where she focused on running the family business selling contemporary Pasifika fashion.

Political career

In Loheni stood for the National Party in the electorate and was placed 49 on National's party list. She did not win the safe Labour electorate and was not ranked high enough on National's party list to be allocated a seat in parliament. In February 2018 Loheni and several other "next in line" list candidates attended National's parliamentary caucus meeting to help ease their transition into parliament should they enter during the course of the parliamentary term.
Loheni became an MP on 31 January 2019, following the retirement of National MP Chris Finlayson, and was sworn in on 12 February. She was appointed as National's associate spokesperson for small business and associate spokesperson for Pacific people by leader Simon Bridges.
In November 2019 she stood for the National nomination in the safer seat of, but lost to former Air New Zealand CEO Christopher Luxon. In May 2020 she indicated that she was seeking the National nomination for the new seat of, but a month later the party announced Rima Nakhle as its candidate. Loheni was instead selected to contest for a second time.

Views

Loheni has taken an anti-abortion stance. She served on the Abortion Legislation Select Committee to consider the Abortion Legislation Act 2020. Loheni wrote a minority report for the committee criticising the bill for what she considered its lack of safeguards on late-term abortions and foetal abnormalities.