Kiriau Turepu is a

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

politician and former

Cabinet Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, � ...

. He is a member of the

Cook Islands Party The Cook Islands Party is a nationalist political party in the Cook Islands. It was the first political party founded in the Cook Islands, and one of the two major parties of the islands' politics since 1965. From 1999 until 2005 it sometimes ...

. Turepu was educated at Northland College in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. He represented the Cook Islands in tennis at the

1971 South Pacific Games The 1971 South Pacific Games, held at Papeete in Tahiti from 25 August to 5 September 1971, was the fourth edition of the South Pacific Games. Approximately 1,500 male athletes and 500 female athletes participated in the games. Participating co ...

Papeete Papeete (Tahitian language, Tahitian: ''Papeete'', pronounced ) is the capital city of French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of the France, French Republic in the Pacific Ocean. The Communes of France, commune of Papeete is located on the isl ...

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austr ...

. Turepu was first elected to

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 ...

in the 2006 Matavera by-election. As a result, the government lost its majority and dissolved Parliament to avoid a confidence vote. He was unsuccessful in the ensuing 2006 election, but was re-elected at the 2010 election.

Cabinet Minister

In May 2011 Turepu was made associate minister of agriculture. In July 2013 he was appointed to Cabinet proper as Minister of Agriculture. In November 2013 he was also given responsibility for the Business and Environment portfolios. He was re-elected at the 2014 election, In 2017 he established the

Marae Moana Marae Moana is a multiple-use marine protected area created on 13 July 2017, when the Parliament of the Cook Islands passed a bill creating the largest multiple-use marine protected area in the world at the time of its passage. Marae Moana cover ...

marine sanctuary, which at the time was the largest multiple-use

marine protected area Marine protected areas (MPA) are protected areas of seas, oceans, estuaries or in the US, the Great Lakes. These marine areas can come in many forms ranging from wildlife refuges to research facilities. MPAs restrict human activity for a conserv ...

in the world. He lost his seat in the 2018 election to Vaitoti Tupa.

References

Living people Members of the Parliament of the Cook Islands Cook Islands Party politicians Government ministers of the Cook Islands Year of birth missing (living people) {{CookIslands-politician-stub