Donna Lynn Awatere Huata (sometimes written Awatere-Huata, previously known as Donna Awatere; born 1949) is a former member of the
New Zealand Parliament
The New Zealand Parliament ( mi, Pāremata Aotearoa) is the unicameral legislature of New Zealand, consisting of the King of New Zealand ( King-in-Parliament) and the New Zealand House of Representatives. The King is usually represented by h ...
for the
ACT New Zealand
ACT New Zealand, known simply as ACT (), is a right-wing, classical-liberal political party in New Zealand. According to former party leader Rodney Hide, ACT's values are "individual freedom, personal responsibility, doing the best for our natur ...
Party and activist for
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
causes.
Early life
Donna Awatere was born in
Rotorua
Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. The city lies on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authority encompass ...
in 1949, and was educated in
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
. Her primary area of study was education, particularly
educational psychology
Educational psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of human learning. The study of learning processes, from both cognitive and behavioral perspectives, allows researchers to understand individual differences i ...
, but she has also undertaken study in
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
tic singing and
film production
Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, casti ...
.
Her father, Colonel
Arapeta Awatere DSO MC, was a prominent member of the
Māori Battalion
The 28th (Māori) Battalion, more commonly known as the Māori Battalion, was an infantry battalion of the New Zealand Army that served during the Second World War. It formed following pressure on the Labour government from some Māori Memb ...
who was later elected to the
Auckland City Council
Auckland City Council was the local government authority for Auckland City, New Zealand, from 1871 to 1 November 2010, when it and Auckland's six other city and district councils were amalgamated to form the Auckland Council. It was an elected b ...
. In 1969 he was convicted of the murder of his mistress's lover and sent to jail, where he eventually died.
Activism
From the 1970s Awatere became involved in the
Māori protest movement
The Māori protest movement is a broad indigenous-rights movement in New Zealand (). While there were a range of conflicts between Māori and European immigrants prior to the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, the signing provided a l ...
, including the group
Ngā Tamatoa. She was a leading protester against the
1981 Springbok Tour, and in 1984 she published ''Maori Sovereignty'', which became a key text in the Māori protest movement. During this period she and fellow Maori activist Ripeka Evans went to Communist Cuba. She was also involved in
feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
politics, and ''Maori Sovereignty'' was originally written for the feminist magazine ''
Broadsheet
A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of . Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper format), ta ...
''. She was critical of white feminists who ignored issues of race, and expressed the opinion that the problems facing Māori were more important than those facing women and other marginalised groups. In ''Maori Sovereignty'' she is generally critical of the established left.
After the publication of ''Maori Sovereignty'', Awatere retired from protest and became a
biculturalism
Biculturalism in sociology describes the co-existence, to varying degrees, of two originally distinct cultures.
Official policy recognizing, fostering, or encouraging biculturalism typically emerges in countries that have emerged from a histo ...
consultant for various organisations, including the
New Zealand Treasury
The New Zealand Treasury ( mi, Te Tai Ōhanga) is the central public service department of New Zealand charged with advising the Government on economic policy, assisting with improving the performance of New Zealand's economy, and managing fina ...
and the
New Zealand Police
The New Zealand Police ( mi, Ngā Pirihimana o Aotearoa) is the national police service and principal law enforcement agency of New Zealand, responsible for preventing crime, enhancing public safety, bringing offenders to justice, and maintai ...
. She also imported a children's reading programme, which she later developed and promoted through the Pipi Foundation. During this period she married
Wi Huata and changed her surname from Awatere to Awatere Huata.
Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
Shortly before the , Awatere Huata joined the
ACT New Zealand
ACT New Zealand, known simply as ACT (), is a right-wing, classical-liberal political party in New Zealand. According to former party leader Rodney Hide, ACT's values are "individual freedom, personal responsibility, doing the best for our natur ...
party. This surprised many commentators, as ACT was not generally associated with the sort of cause that Awatere Huata had previously supported. In a 2019 interview on
Māori Television's current affairs program
Te Ao with Moana, Awatere Huata claimed she joined ACT as she supported its educational policy of the funding following the child, as she believed this would make it easier to establish
Kura Kaupapa
Rúben de Almeida Barbeiro (born August 21, 1987 in Leiria), better known as KURA, is a Portuguese electro house music DJ and producer. Kura has released tracks through labels such as Hardwell's Revealed Recordings, Flashover Recordings, ...
and
Kohanga Reo. She described herself as being at the time too "economically naïve to understand
CT's agendawas a neoliberal agenda," and said once discovering this she resolved to stay within parliament and "fight from within". In the interview she described going with ACT as being "one step too far".
Awatere Huata was ranked in fourth place on ACT's party list, and stood as a candidate in the Māori electorate of
Te Puku O Te Whenua
Te Puku O Te Whenua or "the belly of the land" was one of the five new New Zealand parliamentary Māori electorates created in 1996 for MMP. It was replaced in the 1999 election.
Population centres
The electorate included the following populati ...
, coming in 4th place. She was not successful in her electorate race, but entered
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
as a
list MP
A list MP is a member of parliament (MP) elected from a party list rather than from by a geographical constituency. The place in Parliament is due to the number of votes that the party won, not to votes received by the MP personally. This occurs ...
. In the , she polled fifth in but due to her fourth-place ranking on the party's list consequently remained in Parliament. In the , she came 4th in and although she was lowered to fifth place on the list, nevertheless remained in parliament comfortably.
Pipi Foundation Affair
In 2003 Awatere Huata was expelled from the ACT party on allegations of fraud regarding the Pipi Foundation charity, which at the time was under investigation by the
Serious Fraud Office. Subsequently, there were a series of legal battles around Awatere Huata's right to remain in parliament as an independent list MP. These culminated in one of the
Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
's first major decisions in 2004 and she was removed from Parliament, giving the
ACT Party a new MP,
Kenneth Wang
Kenneth Xiaoxuan Wang (; born 1955) is a former Deputy Leader of the ACT New Zealand party. He previously served as a member of Parliament to replace Donna Awatere Huata, who was expelled from Parliament in November 2004.
Biography
Wang was ...
until the
2005 New Zealand election.
Awatere Huata was charged by the
Serious Fraud Office and later convicted of fraud after taking $80,000 from the Pipi Foundation, a Government funded charity, she had set up as an MP in 1999. The media reported that "Some of the stolen money was used to pay for Awatere Huata's stomach stapling operation and some was used to pay state-integrated school fees for the couple's children."
On 30 September 2005, she was sentenced to 2 years 9 months in jail alongside her husband, Wi Huata, who received 2 years with the ability to apply for home detention. On 16 May 2006, she was released on home detention and after her sentence was completed in February 2009, she was able to set up a correspondence teaching centre "The Learning Post".
In October 2010 another school she and her husband ran was forced to go into liquidation owing large sums of money.
NZQA said that many of the courses were inadequately supported. The school had only 15 pupils.
In a 2019 interview with
Moana Maniapoto Awatere Huata stated "I am proud of the fact that because of the issues that erupted around me that led to me being expelled from parliament, I actually helped bring down ACT. And that, to me, is a big achievement."
After Parliament
Awatere Huata worked briefly in several roles for
New Zealand Māori Council
The New Zealand Māori Council is a body representing and consulting the Māori people of New Zealand. The council is one of the oldest Māori representative groups. Recently, the council increased its focus on social challenges and issues that ...
, including administrative support and representing the council at the
United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII or PFII) is the UN's central coordinating body for matters relating to the concerns and rights of the world's indigenous peoples. There are more than 370 million indigenous peop ...
. This was followed by a role under
Mark Solomon at the
Māori Carbon Foundation.
In mid-March 2022, Awatere Huata and her husband Wi Huata were ordered to vacate their home and farm on disputed land in
Maraekakaho
Maraekakaho is a rural settlement in the Hastings District and Hawke's Bay Region of New Zealand's North Island.
The main village was developed by Sir Douglas Maclean in the early 20th century, on a pastoral station established by his father, ...
near
Hastings
Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England,
east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...
. Justice Christine Grice ruled in favour of the Te Hua Whenua Trust's trustees, who disputed the Huata's lease of the land for the past 35 years.
This decision reversed a Maori Land Court ruling and is now being appealed.
Notes
References
Published works
**
*''Awatere Huata's contribution is a paper entitled:'' "Common sense in education."
**
*''Awatere Huata's contribution is a paper entitled:'' "Maori client needs of the future."
**
*''Awatere Huata's contribution is a paper entitled:'' "Kiwi myth or New Zealand dream?"
**
**
*''As part of this Television New Zealand Maori programme (made at the Kokohinau Marae near
Te Teko
Te Teko is a small inland town along the banks of the Rangitaiki River in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island.
The township includes a racecourse, golf course, police station, and a primary school. The primary school was estab ...
), Awatere Huata was interviewed about her book, My journey '' (for details of the book, see below)
**
*''This is another iteration of the Ashley Heenan recording listed below.''
**
**
**
*''The first three parts of this book were originally published in the New Zealand
feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
magazine, Broadsheet. ''
**
**
*''"This paper was prepared for the Public Service in a Multicultural Society conference, State Services Commission, March 1982" (p.4)''.
**
**
**
**
**
*''Awatere's contribution is a paper entitled'': "Maori Land March, 1975."
**
* ''Awatere Huata (and five other women) was initially interviewed in 1976 for a documentary series: this production is an update on her (and their) life and times.''
**
*''Awatere's contribution is as one of the vocal soloists on the sixth track''.
**
*''Awatere Huata's contribution is a paper entitled:'' "Walking on eggs." This volume has an introduction by
Dale Spender
Dale Spender (born 22 September 1943)''The Bibliography of Australian Literature: P–Z'' edited by John Arnold, John Hay (page 409). is an Australian feminist scholar, teacher, writer and consultant. In 1983, Dale Spender was co-founder of an ...
.
**
{{DEFAULTSORT:Awatere Huata, Donna
1949 births
Living people
ACT New Zealand MPs
New Zealand Māori feminists
People from Rotorua
New Zealand prisoners and detainees
Māori MPs
Māori activists
New Zealand list MPs
New Zealand politicians convicted of fraud
Māori politicians
Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives
People expelled from public office
New Zealand Māori women
21st-century New Zealand politicians
21st-century New Zealand women politicians
Women members of the New Zealand House of Representatives
Ngāti Hine people
People educated at St Mary's College, Auckland