Merepeka Raukawa-Tait is a New Zealand politician and former chief executive of the Women's Refuge organisation of New Zealand. She is currently a councilor at large for the

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 ...

District Council. She previously stood as a candidate for

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 ...

, serving briefly as deputy leader of the small Christian Heritage Party.

Early life

Raukawa-Tait was born in

Feilding Feilding ( mi, Aorangi) is a town in the Manawatū District of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 54, 20 kilometres north of Palmerston North. The town is the seat of the Manawatū District Council. Feilding has w ...

, New Zealand and raised a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. She has worked in a number of jobs, both in New Zealand and in Zurich,

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. In the early 1990s she was in business in

and was a member of the

Bay of Plenty Regional Council Bay of Plenty Regional Council is the administrative body responsible for overseeing regional land use, environmental management and civil defence in the Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand's North Island. It was founded as part of the 1989 New Z ...

for one term. Her most well-known role was as chief executive of

Women's Refuge A women's shelter, also known as a women's refuge and battered women's shelter, is a place of temporary protection and support for women escaping domestic violence and intimate partner violence of all forms. The term is also frequently used to ...

, an organisation that supports women who suffer

domestic violence Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...

. She was a contentious chief executive bringing embarrassment to the organisation after attending the premiere of a strip club in central Wellington causing staff to lose faith in her judgment

Political career

Merepeka Raukawa-Tait was elected to the Rotorua District Council in 2011. In 2013 Merepeka was re-elected to the Rotorua District Council. Previously, in 2001, she made a high-profile bid for the mayoralty of Wellington; however, after a weak performance at a candidates' meeting and a perceived failure to articulate policies and vision for the city, her support tapered off and she eventually placed sixth. Shortly before the 2002 elections, it was announced that Raukawa-Tait would be standing as a candidate for the Christian Heritage Party. This surprised many commentators, as Raukawa-Tait's previous comments did not indicate a great affinity with Christian Heritage policies – in particular, she was considered to be markedly more tolerant of

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

than the party. As a personal recruit of then party leader

Graham Capill Graham John Capill (born 1959) is a former New Zealand Christian leader, politician and convicted rapist. He served as the first leader of the now-defunct Christian Heritage Party, stepping down in 2003. In 2005 he was convicted of multiple s ...

, Raukawa-Tait was immediately elected deputy leader of the party. In the election itself, Raukawa-Tait contested the Wairarapa electorate against

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Georgina Beyer Georgina Beyer (born November 1957) is a New Zealand politician and former Labour Party Member of Parliament. In 1995 she was elected mayor of Carterton, making her the world's first openly transgender mayor. In 2005 she became the world's fi ...

. Raukawa-Tait eventually placed third, winning 19% of the vote. This was the best result achieved by any Christian Heritage candidate in that election. Not long after the election, however, Raukawa-Tait and Capill entered into a dispute about the election campaign. Her campaign manager, Adam Owens, alleged that Capill's management of the party's campaign was poor, with little strategy and poor advertising. Owens alleged that the party was being financially mismanaged by Capill, and that he was not a "proper person" to lead a political party. After a protracted dispute, Raukawa-Tait and the entire Wairarapa Electorate Committee resigned from the party, citing "the lack of financial accountability" and "un-Christian threats and intimidation". In 2003 she reconciled with Capill, and they gave joint interviews in national newspapers saying that their falling out had been the fault of Adam Owens, and they jointly condemned him. In 2003 Raukawa-Tait stood as a District Council candidate in a controversial and unsuccessful by-election campaign for the

Masterton District Masterton ( mi, Whakaoriori), a large town in the Greater Wellington Region of New Zealand, operates as the seat of the Masterton District (a territorial authority or local-government district). It is the largest town in the Wairarapa, a r ...

Council. She finished last. She left Masterton after her election defeat.

Life outside politics

She worked as CEO of the West Auckland Hospice for a time, and she works as a speaker and

consultant A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization. Consulting servic ...

and has appeared from time to time as a panellist on the television advice show ''How's Life''. She lives in Rotorua, works as a celebrity speaker. In 1993 she was convicted in the Rotorua District Court, under her previous name Merepeka Sims, for failing to pay her employees' PAYE tax to the Inland Revenue, a serious offence under New Zealand law, because she said she needed the money for her businesses.
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raukawa-Tait, Merepeka Year of birth missing (living people) Living people New Zealand activists New Zealand women activists New Zealand feminists Christian Heritage Party of New Zealand politicians Te Arawa people People from Feilding Unsuccessful candidates in the 2002 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 2020 New Zealand general election