Paul Ayers Robert Foster-Bell (born March 1977) is a former New Zealand diplomat, a politician and was a list member of the House of Representatives between May 2013 and 2017 for the National Party. While he failed to win the party's nomination for the Whangarei electorate in March 2014, he remained in Parliament as a list MP for the following term.
Foster-Bell was born in Whangārei in 1977 and grew up on a beef farm in the Portland area. His parents are Bob and Alyse Foster-Bell.[1] He attended Otaika Primary School, Raumanga Intermediate and Whangarei Boys' High School. He studied in Dunedin, gaining a bachelor degree in archaeology (2003), a graduate diploma in business (2008), and a Master of International Studies with Distinction (2023) from Otago University. He is of English, Scots, Irish, Portuguese and Māori descent, with whakapapa ties to the tribes of Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa and Te Aupōuri.[2][3]
Career
Foster-Bell was a diplomat and his last assignment was as Deputy Head of Mission at the New Zealand Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, having previously served as First Secretary & Consul in Tehran in Iran, and Deputy High Commissioner to Pakistan. In Wellington he worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade's (MFAT) Middle East and Africa division, as Deputy Chief of Protocol, and as a Regional Manager in the Ministry's Security Directorate.[4] He took leave from MFAT from June to November 2011 to contest a parliamentary election.[3]
Foster-Bell speaking at the 2014 Aro Valley candidates meeting before the election
In March 2014, Foster-Bell sought the National Party nomination in the Whangarei electorate, but was beaten by Shane Reti.[6][11] Foster-Bell stood in Wellington Central once more, and was beaten by Labour's Grant Robertson. With a higher list placing of 46, and was returned as a member of parliament.[12]
Foster-Bell was part of a cross-party group initiated by Jan Logie to look at and advocate for LGBTI rights. The group consisted of Catherine Delahunty (Green), Chris Bishop (National), David Seymour (Act), Denis O'Rouke (NZ First), Denise Roche (Green), James Shaw (Green), Jan Logie (Green), Kevin Hague (Green), Louisa Wall (Labour), Nanaia Mahuta (Labour), Paul Foster-Bell (National), and Trevor Mallard (Labour).[13]
In April 2016, Foster-Bell convinced all MPs to unanimously pass his member's bill to create an exemption under the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 that allowed Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association (RSA) veterans' clubs to serve traditional tots of liquor at gunfire breakfasts on Anzac Day. [14]
In March 2017, Foster-Bell had his Arbitration Amendment Bill, which aimed to change New Zealand's arbitration regime to "conform more closely to international standards" drawn in the member's bill ballot. [15]
Foster-Bell courted controversy in 2016 when news broke that he had 12 staff leave his office in the 2013–2016 period, amidst claims by former staffers that he had bullied them. Foster-Bell strongly denied these allegations, saying that he was not a bully.[16]
In 2016 Foster-Bell also received criticism for his travel expenses, which totaled more than $61,000 for a one-year period. Prime Minister John Key defended Foster-Bell's expenses, saying "It's not unusual for us to use a list MP, certainly someone with skills like he has in foreign affairs, around the country. Other MPs ask him to support them in terms of talks or seminars ... or to fill in, for instance, for ministers."[17][18]
In February 2017, Foster-Bell announced that he had withdrawn from the National Party's candidate selections for the 2017 election and would retire from politics.[19]
After politics
After stepping down from Parliament, Foster-Bell served as political advisor to the Ambassador of the United States to New Zealand Scott P. Brown. [20]
As of 2023, Foster-Bell was working as Business Development Manager for Culture, Society and Economy in the Research and Enterprise Division of Otago University while undertaking post-graduate research in international relations. [21] He chairs the trust board for educational charity Shakespeare Globe Centre NZ, in which capacity he heavily criticised arts funder Creative NZ in September 2022 for de-funding Shakespeare programmes for school-aged students.[22]
Personal life
In 2016 Foster-Bell announced that he was gay in response to remarks made by Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki regarding homosexuals.[23]
Notes
↑ Normally, list MPs do not have individual predecessors or successors, but Blue resigned during a sitting parliament and therefore was succeeded by Foster-Bell.
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