Melissa Heni Mekameka Whaitiri (born 11 January 1965) is a New Zealand Labour Party politician and Member of the

New Zealand House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the sole chamber of the New Zealand Parliament. The House passes Law of New Zealand, laws, provides Ministers of the New Zealand Government, ministers to form Cabinet of New Zealand, Cabinet, and supervises the ...

. She was elected to Parliament in the 2013 Ikaroa-Rāwhiti by-election and is currently

Minister of Customs The Minister of Customs was a position in the Cabinet of the Government of Canada responsible for the administration of customs revenue collection in Canada. This position was originally created by Statute 31 Vict., c. 43, and assented to on 22 M ...

, Minister for Veterans and Minister for Food Safety.

Early life

Whaitiri was born in Manutuke near Gisborne in 1965. Her parents were Wirangi Wiremu Whaitiri, a

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

veteran, and Mei Whaitiri (née Irihapiti Robin), who was the model used for the Pania of the Reef statue in Napier in 1954. Whaitiri's father was a native speaker of te reo Māori who taught the language to his daughter. She has four siblings and was brought up in the

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 ...

suburb of Whakatu by a

whānau Whānau () is Māori for extended family. It is also used in everyday New Zealand English, as well as in official publications. In Māori society, the whānau is also a political unit, below the levels of hapū (subtribe) and iwi (tribe or nati ...

of mostly freezing workers. She has affiliation to

Rongowhakaata Rongowhakaata is a Māori '' iwi'' of the Gisborne region of New Zealand. Hapū and marae There are three primary ''hapū'' (subtribes) of Rongowhakaata today: Ngati Kaipoho, Ngai Tawhiri and Ngati Maru. Ngāti Kaipoho Ngāti Kaipoho descend f ...

and

Ngāti Kahungunu Ngāti Kahungunu is a Māori iwi located along the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The iwi is traditionally centred in the Hawke's Bay and Wairārapa regions. The tribe is organised into six geographical and administrative di ...

. At

Karamu High School Karamu High School is a co-educational state high school in Hastings, New Zealand for students in Years 9 to 13. The school is the main co-ed secondary school within Hastings City itself. The school’s campus is located to the easternmost end o ...

, she was

head girl Head boy and head girl are student leadership roles in schools, representing the school's entire student body. They are normally the most senior prefects in the school. The terms are commonly used in the British education system as well as in Aus ...

. She first worked at a freezing works before obtaining a master's degree in education from

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

. In both softball and

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

, she competed to national level. She was selected by the

Silver Ferns The New Zealand national netball team, commonly known as the Silver Ferns, represent New Zealand in international netball. The team take their nickname from the Silver Tree Fern ('' Cyathea dealbata''), which is an emblem for many New Zealand ...

as a non-travelling reserve player. Her first professional job was for

Parekura Horomia Parekura Tureia Horomia (9 November 1950 – 29 April 2013) was a New Zealand Labour Party politician who served as Minister of Māori Affairs between 2000 and 2008. Early life Horomia was born in Tolaga Bay of Ngāti Porou, Te Aitanga Hauiti, ...

, then a manager in the

Department of Labour The Ministry of Labour ('' UK''), or Labor ('' US''), also known as the Department of Labour, or Labor, is a government department responsible for setting labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, training, a ...

, who made her wait eight hours before he saw her, but then hired her immediately. She later worked for the Māori Women's Welfare League before returning to the Department of Labour as deputy secretary. She worked as an adviser in Horomia's office when he was

Minister of Māori Affairs Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of governme ...

. From 2009 until her election to Parliament, she was chief executive officer of

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

. Whaitiri has two sons. She is openly lesbian and was previously in a relationship with

Kiri Allan Kiritapu Lyndsay Allan (born 1984) is a New Zealand politician and Member of Parliament (MP) in the New Zealand House of Representatives. A member of the Labour Party, she entered the House as a list MP in 2017, and won the East Coast electora ...

Member of Parliament

Parekura Horomia, MP for

Ikaroa-Rāwhiti Ikaroa-Rāwhiti is a New Zealand parliamentary Māori electorate. It was formed for the and held by Parekura Horomia of the Labour Party until his death in 2013. A by-election to replace him was held on 29 June 2013 and was won by Labour's Me ...

since 1999, died on 29 April 2013. A

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

to fill his seat took place on 29 June of that year. Whaitiri defeated five others for the Labour nomination, including Hastings district councillor Henare O'Keefe, broadcaster Shane Taurima and

board member Hayden Hape. Most political analysts predicted that Labour would hold Ikaroa-Rāwhiti, which Horomia had held since its formation for the . At his last election in 2011, Horomia had won a majority of 6,541 votes. Whaitiri won the by-election with a majority of 1659 votes over

Mana Party The Mana Movement, formerly known as the Mana Party, is a former political party in New Zealand. The party was led by Hone Harawira who formed it in April 2011 following his resignation from the Māori Party. Harawira won the by-election in Te T ...

candidate Te Hamua Nikora.

Māori Party 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 Co ...

candidate Na Raihania, who had also been endorsed by

National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

, came third. Right-wing political blogger David Farrar called the by-election a "good victory for Labour", and commented that Whaitiri "could be one of the better Labour MPs". Whaitiri was re-elected in the elections of 2014, 2017 and 2020. As an opposition MP for her first two terms, she was Labour Party spokesperson on water (2014–2015) and local government (2015–2017), and a member of the Māori affairs, primary production, and local government and environment select committees. She was a minister in the Sixth Labour Government from 2017 to 2018, when she was removed for assaulting a staff member, and again from 2020. During the interregnum she chaired the Justice select committee.

Government Minister

After the 2017 general election, Labour formed a coalition government with

New Zealand First New Zealand First ( mi, Aotearoa Tuatahi), commonly abbreviated to NZ First, is a nationalist and populist political party in New Zealand. The party formed in July 1993 following the resignation on 19 March 1993 of its leader and founder, Winst ...

and the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

. Whaitiri was

outside Cabinet. She also served as Associate Minister for Agriculture, Forestry, Local Government and Crown/Māori Relations. Alongside Willie Jackson, she co-chaired the Labour Māori Caucus. On 30 August 2018, a staff member in Whaitiri's ministerial office alleged she was assaulted by the minister. Whaitiri was removed from her ministerial positions during an investigation and was not restored to them after the investigation found it "probable" that she had bruised the staffer. On 4 September 2020 the Governor-General granted Whaitiri retention of the title "

The Honourable ''The Honourable'' (British English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific style that is used as a prefix before the names or titles of certain ...

" in "recognition of her term as a member of the Executive Council". After the 2020 general election, Whaitiri was reappointed as Minister of Customs and Associate

Minister of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister ...

(with responsibility for animal welfare) while being appointed as

Minister for Veterans The minister of state for veterans' affairs is a ministerial position in the Cabinet Office in the British government, currently held by Johnny Mercer who took the office on 25 October 2022. Earlier, it was jointly with the Ministry of Defence. Th ...

and Associate Minister of Statistics. She additionally became Minister for Food Safety in June 2022.

References

External links

*
Labour Party profile
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