Mahara Okeroa (born 1946) is a former New Zealand politician of the

New Zealand Labour Party The New Zealand Labour Party ( mi, Rōpū Reipa o Aotearoa), or simply Labour (), is a centre-left political party in New Zealand. The party's platform programme describes its founding principle as democratic socialism, while observers descr ...

. He represented the

Te Tai Tonga Te Tai Tonga is a New Zealand parliamentary Māori electorates, Māori electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand New Zealand House of Representatives, House of Representatives. It was established for the 1996 New Zealand ...

Māori electorate as a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

from 1999 to 2008.

Early life and career

Okeroa was born in Waitara,

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth Dist ...

and grew up in

Parihaka Parihaka is a community in the Taranaki region of New Zealand, located between Mount Taranaki and the Tasman Sea. In the 1870s and 1880s the settlement, then reputed to be the largest Māori village in New Zealand, became the centre of a major camp ...

. He has

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 ...

affiliations to Te Ātiawa,

Ngāti Maniapoto Ngāti Maniapoto is an iwi (tribe) based in the Waikato-Waitomo region of New Zealand's North Island. It is part of the Tainui confederation, the members of which trace their whakapapa (genealogy) back to people who arrived in New Zealand on the ...

Ngāti Ruanui Ngāti Ruanui is a Māori iwi traditionally based in the Taranaki region of New Zealand. In the 2006 census, 7,035 people claimed affiliation to the iwi. However, most members now live outside the traditional areas of the iwi. History Early hist ...

and

Ngā Rauru Ngā Rauru (also ''Ngā Rauru Kītahi'') is a Māori iwi in the South Taranaki region of New Zealand. In the 2006 census, 4,047 Māori claimed affiliation to Ngā Rauru, representing 12 hapu. History Early history The early history of Ngā Rauru ...

. He trained and worked as a teacher before joining the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

as a Māori education advisor and

Te Puni Kōkiri Te Puni Kōkiri (TPK), the Ministry of Māori Development, is the principal policy advisor of the Government of New Zealand on Māori wellbeing and development. Te Puni Kōkiri was established under the Māori Development Act 1991 with responsib ...

as director for the Taranaki region.

Member of Parliament

Okeroa contested

, the Māori electorate covering the South Island and Wellington city, for the Labour Party at the 1999 general election. He was successful, defeating the incumbent

Tu Wyllie Tutekawa "Tu" Wyllie (born 24 October 1954) is a former New Zealand politician and rugby union player. A first five-eighth, Wyllie represented Wellington at a provincial level, and played one match for the New Zealand national side, the All Blac ...

of the

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 ...

Party. Okeroa held the electorate in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

and

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

. In his first term as an MP, Okeroa was deputy chair of the Social Services

select committee Select committee may refer to: *Select committee (parliamentary system), a committee made up of a small number of parliamentary members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues *Select or special committee (United States Congress) *Select ...

and a member of the Māori Affairs committee. In his second term, he was chair of the Māori Affairs committee and a member of the law and order committee. From July 2004, he held additional appointments as parliamentary under-secretary to the

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 government w ...

and to the Minister of Education. After the 2005 general election, Okeroa was appointed a minister outside of Cabinet holding associate ministerial portfolios for Arts, Culture and Heritage; Conservation and Social Development and Employment. In the 2008 general election,

Rahui Katene Rahui Reid Katene ( Hippolite, born 1954) is a New Zealand politician. She was elected to the 49th New Zealand Parliament at the 2008 New Zealand general election, 2008 general election representing the Māori Party in the seat of Te Tai Tonga, ...

of the

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 ...

out-polled Okeroa by a margin of 1,049 votes. Okeroa's party list placement of 40 meant he was not able to immediately be elected 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 ...

. He declined to re-enter Parliament as a list MP after the resignation of

Darren Hughes Darren Colyn Hughes (born 3 April 1978) is a New Zealand former Member of Parliament between 2002 and 2011, first elected at the age of 24. He represented the New Zealand Labour Party, Labour Party and was a Minister outside Cabinet in the Fift ...

in 2011 and did not stand for the general election later that year. He was succeeded as Labour's Te Tai Tonga candidate by

Rino Tirikatene Rino Tirikatene (born 1972) is a New Zealand politician and a member of the House of Representatives, representing the Te Tai Tonga electorate since the . He is a member of the Labour Party. He comes from a family with a strong political histor ...

Post-parliamentary career

Okeroa was elected to the Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust in 2009 and succeeded Sir

Ngātata Love Sir Ralph Heberley Love (7 September 1937 – 17 October 2018), known as Ngātata Love, was a New Zealand Waitangi Tribunal negotiator, academic and Māori people, Māori leader. Love was a Professor Emeritus of Business Development at Victori ...

as chair in October 2012 after the latter was removed, following a Serious Fraud Office investigation. Okeroa held the chair until October 2013 when he was replaced by Neville Baker. Okeroa's resignation from the Trust was announced the following year. He has also been a trustee of the Wellington Tenths Trust.

External links

Parliamentary website page

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Okeroa, Mahara 1946 births Living people New Zealand Labour Party MPs Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand New Zealand schoolteachers New Zealand MPs for Māori electorates People from Waitara, New Zealand People educated at Opunake High School Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Unsuccessful candidates in the 2008 New Zealand general election 21st-century New Zealand politicians