Raylene Liufalani’s career with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has seen her travel the world. The Niuean-born senior policy officer tells VAIMOANA TAPALEAO about her role tackling today’s global issues.
With a life-long love of different languages and cultures, Niuean-born Raylene Liufalani is living the dream working for New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Liufalani always had a strong interest in language and culture, and a two-week field trip to Japan as a student provided the initial inspiration to consider such a career.
Niuean born (Tuapa) but raised in New Zealand, her love for languages began at Gisborne Girls High School where she learned Japanese. She then took up Chinese at the University of Waikato. In 1997, a scholarship took her to Shanghai, China. She then returned to Waikato to complete her Masters in Chinese. She has been with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFAT) since 2000 and is currently a senior policy offi cer in the International Security and Disarmament division.
After joining MFAT, she was posted to Taiwan for four years, dealing with trade and economic policy. Now she’s dealing with a heavier load, taking on the bigger issues. “My job now has me looking after nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation; getting rid of nuclear weapons and showing off New Zealand’s policy on that,” she explains.
Liufalani has picked up an unusual accent from her travels and learning Cantonese, Japanese and Mandarin (the latter being a requirement when she was posted in Taiwan). Sounding slightly British with a slight Asian twang; she describes her accent as “Chinglish.” “I studied Chinese together with social policy and foreign affairs at (the University of) Waikato. Then I went to Shanghai and took international studies,” she adds.
Liufalani says working in foreign affairs is an exciting job because of the unpredictability factor. “You never know what’s going to be around the corner,” she quips. “You have the luxury of doing different things within the one job. There are great opportunities and you meet fascinating people. Sometimes you get thrown into the deep end, but there’s no better way to learn.”
In August she heads to Europe to take up a new post in Geneva, Switzerland, promoting New Zealand foreign policy, and is excited at the prospect of living in one of Europe and the world’s key political centres. Raylene says there are many Pacific and Maori people at MFAT, and she encourages more to consider it as a career.
Says Liufalani: “People think that to get into MFAT you need a certain degree, but that’s not the case. It’s about looking for the right type of people. I have a colleague who’s Samoan and he’s posted in Vienna. We definitely need more Pacific and Maori people because we are representative of New Zealand.”
