Having obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Auckland, he became an assistant teacher at the Tonga High School in 1968.
He later obtained a Master of Arts degree from the University of Durham in 1971,[1] and was appointed Assistant Secretary at the Tongan Ministry of Finance that same year.
[2] Matoto was appointed to Cabinet as Minister for Public Enterprises in October 2006.
[9] He also oversaw an unpopular Ministerial pay increase in 2009[10][11] and a series of budget cuts in 2010.
In December 2010, he was one of the first people to be named a Life Peer in Tonga's heretofore solely hereditary nobility, by King George Tupou V. As a Noble of the Realm, he is known as Lord Matoto of Tuʻanekivale.