Rino Tirikatene (born 1972) is a New Zealand politician and a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

, representing 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 ...

electorate since the . He is a member of the Labour Party. He comes from a family with a strong political history.

Early life

Born in

Rangiora Rangiora is the largest town and seat of the Waimakariri District, in Canterbury, New Zealand. It is north of Christchurch, and is part of the Christchurch metropolitan area. With an estimated population of Rangiora is the 30th largest urba ...

, Tirikatene affiliates to the

Ngāi Tahu Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori (tribe) of the South Island. Its (tribal area) is the largest in New Zealand, and extends from the White Bluffs / Te Parinui o Whiti (southeast of Blenheim), Mount Mahanga and Kahurangi Poi ...

and

Ngāti Hine Ngāti Hine is an iwi with a rohe in Northland, New Zealand. It is part of the wider Ngāpuhi iwi. Its rohe (tribal area) covers the areas of Waiomio, Kawakawa, Taumarere, Moerewa, Ruapekapeka, Motatau, Waimahae, Towai, Akeramaa, Pakara ...

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 ...

. He is the grandson of Sir

Eruera Tirikatene Sir Eruera Tihema Te Aika Tirikatene (5 January 1895 – 11 January 1967) was a New Zealand Māori politician of the Ngāi Tahu tribe. Known in early life as Edward James Te Aika Tregerthen, he was the first Ratana Member of Parliament and wa ...

and the nephew of

Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan Tini "Whetu" Marama Tirikatene-Sullivan (9 January 1932 – 20 July 2011) was a New Zealand politician. She was an MP from 1967 to 1996, representing the Labour Party, and was New Zealand’s first Māori woman cabinet minister. At the time o ...

. His grandfather and aunt between them held the

Southern Maori Southern Maori was one of New Zealand's four original parliamentary Māori electorates established in 1868, along with Eastern Maori, Western Maori and Eastern Maori. In 1996, with the introduction of MMP, the Maori electorates were updated, an ...

electorate for 64 years from

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...

and 1996. As such, the name Tirikatene is for many voters synonymous with the Māori electorate that covers the southern part of New Zealand. Prior to running for parliament, Tirikatene worked as a commercial lawyer with

Simpson Grierson Simpson Grierson is a New Zealand commercial law firm founded in 1887; it is ranked in the top legal firms in that country, and the largest by headcount. The firm is a partnership comprising 48 partners and consultants supported by around 160 l ...

and in a variety of Māori economic development roles.

Member of Parliament

In Opposition, 2011–2017

Tirikatene stood for Labour in

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 ...

in the 1996 election. His father, Rino Tirikatene Senior, was originally selected for the seat but died suddenly on the campaign trail. Tirikatene was asked to replace his father. That year,

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 ...

won all Māori electorates, with

Rana Waitai Rana Donald Waitai (26 November 1942 – 8 May 2021) was a New Zealand politician and lawyer. He was a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives representing Te Puku o Te Whenua, for the New Zealand First Party and Mauri Pacific P ...

beating Tirikatene and

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 ...

defeating Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan. He was selected to represent Labour in the Te Tai Tonga electorate on 1 December 2010. Te Tai Tonga is one of the seven Māori electorates, covers the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

plus

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

and is New Zealand's largest electorate by area. In the

2011 New Zealand general election The 2011 New Zealand general election took place on Saturday 26 November 2011 to determine the membership of the 50th New Zealand Parliament. One hundred and twenty-one MPs were elected to the New Zealand House of Representatives, 70 from sing ...

, Tirikatene was placed at number 45 on the Labour Party list. He contested the Te Tai Tonga electorate against the incumbent,

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 ...

. Labour's selection of Tirikatene was criticised as cynical by Katene, as they are both from the same

hapū In Māori and New Zealand English, a ' ("subtribe", or "clan") functions as "the basic political unit within Māori society". A Māori person can belong to or have links to many hapū. Historically, each hapū had its own chief and normally opera ...

, but this was rejected by Tirikatene, as "all Maoris connect up somewhere along the line". Tirikatene won the electorate with a margin of 1,475 votes. The electorate had previously been held by Labour, from until 2005. In 2013, Tirikatene voted against the Marriage Amendment Bill, which aims to permit same sex marriage in New Zealand, with fellow Labour MPs

William Sio Aupito Tofae Su'a William Sio (born 1960) is a politician who became a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives on 1 April 2008 for the Labour Party as a list MP. Since the November , he has represented the Māngere electorate. Pers ...

Ross Robertson Harold Valentine Ross Robertson (born 22 May 1949), known as Ross Robertson, is a New Zealand politician for the Labour Party. He was a Member of Parliament from until his retirement in 2014. He also served as president of Parliamentarians ...

and

Damien O'Connor Damien Peter O'Connor (born 16 January 1958) is a New Zealand Labour Party politician who currently serves as Minister of Agriculture, Minister for Biosecurity, Minister for Trade and Export Growth, Minister for Land Information and Minister ...

. Tirikatene significantly increased his majority in the and again in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

. In Opposition for the six years of his Parliamentary career, Tirikatene served variously as the Labour Party spokesperson for customs, fisheries, tourism and Treaty of Waitangi negotiations, as well as holding a number of associate spokesperson roles.

In Government, 2017–present

When the Labour Party formed a

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

in 2017, Tirikatene was appointed chairperson of the Māori Affairs select committee. During the 2020 general election, Tirikatene was re-elected by a margin of 6,855 votes, retaining Te Tai Tonga for Labour. In early November 2020, Tirikatane was appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries and Minister for Trade and Export Growth with responsibility for Māori Trade.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tirikatene, Rino 1972 births Living people New Zealand Labour Party MPs New Zealand MPs for Māori electorates Ngāi Tahu people Ngāti Hine people Ngāti Kahungunu people Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Unsuccessful candidates in the 1996 New Zealand general election People from Rangiora 21st-century New Zealand politicians Candidates in the 2017 New Zealand general election Candidates in the 2020 New Zealand general election