Hong Kong’s new tourism chief Rosanna Law: tough on housing abuses, big fan of Mirror singer

Law rose through the ranks as an administrative officer and served in various bureaus and departments after joining the public service in 1989

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Rosanna Law was made housing director in August 2023 and has been praised for her crackdown on well-off tenants abusing public housing resources. Photo: Sun Yeung

Published: 6:30pm, 5 Dec 2024Updated: 7:25pm, 5 Dec 2024

Hong Kong’s new secretary for culture, sports and tourism has risen through government ranks over more than three decades of service, and in recent years, has not been shy about her passion for a singer with the Cantopop boy band Mirror.

Rosanna Law Shuk-pui, 56, who enjoyed a strong media presence in her roles as transport commissioner and later director of housing, was appointed to her new ministerial role on Thursday, replacing Kevin Yeung Yun-hung, who held the position for two years.

She was made housing director in August 2023 and has been praised for her crackdown on well-off tenants abusing public housing resources.

She once shared a tip for identifying the bad apples: checking the identity of people renting car park spaces at public housing estates. The strategy contributed to the discovery of a number of wealthy families renting public flats after luxury cars were found regularly parked at estates.

Law said in October that housing authorities reclaimed about 15,500 public rental flats in the 2023-24 financial year, with close to a fifth resulting from mandatory declarations of assets.

But last month, she drew criticism online after she was seen being dismissive of three elderly villagers from Kwu Tung in the New Territories who were trying to hand her a petition letter over the slated demolition of their homes.