Meka Whaitiri

Melissa Heni Mekameka Whaitiri (born 11 January 1965) is a New Zealand Labour Party politician and Member of the New Zealand House of Representatives. She was elected to Parliament in the 2013 Ikaroa-Rāwhiti by-election and is currently Minister of Customs, Minister for Veterans and Minister for Food Safety.

The Honourable
Meka Whaitiri
MP
63rd Minister of Customs
Assumed office
6 November 2020
Prime MinisterJacinda Ardern
Chris Hipkins
Preceded byJenny Salesa
In office
26 October 2017 – 30 August 2018
Prime MinisterJacinda Ardern
Preceded byTim Macindoe
Succeeded byKris Faafoi
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti
Assumed office
29 June 2013
Preceded byParekura Horomia
Personal details
Born
Melissa Heni Mekameka Whaitiri

(1965-01-11) 11 January 1965
Children2
ProfessionPolitician

Early life

Whaitiri was born in Manutuke near Gisborne in 1965.[1][2] Her parents were Wirangi Wiremu Whaitiri, a Korean War veteran, and Mei Whaitiri (née Irihapiti Robin), who was the model used for the Pania of the Reef statue in Napier in 1954.[3][4][5] Whaitiri's father was a native speaker of te reo Māori who taught the language to his daughter.[6] She has four siblings and was brought up in the Hastings suburb of Whakatu by a whānau of mostly freezing workers. She has affiliation to Rongowhakaata and Ngāti Kahungunu.[7] At Karamu High School, she was head girl.[1]

She first worked at a freezing works before obtaining a master's degree in education from Victoria University of Wellington. In both softball and netball, she competed to national level.[7] She was selected by the Silver Ferns as a non-travelling reserve player.[8][9] Her first professional job was for Parekura Horomia, then a manager in the Department of Labour, who made her wait eight hours before he saw her, but then hired her immediately.[10] 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.[11] From 2009 until her election to Parliament, she was chief executive officer of Ngāti Kahungunu iwi.[12]

Whaitiri has two sons.[1][7] She is openly lesbian and was previously in a relationship with Kiri Allan.[11][13][14][15]

Member of Parliament
New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate Party
2013–2014 50th Ikaroa-Rāwhiti Labour
2014–2017 51st Ikaroa-Rāwhiti 19 Labour
2017–2020 52nd Ikaroa-Rāwhiti none Labour
2020–present 53rd Ikaroa-Rāwhiti 28 Labour

Parekura Horomia, MP for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti since 1999, died on 29 April 2013.[16] A by-election to fill his seat took place on 29 June of that year.[17]

Whaitiri defeated five others for the Labour nomination, including Hastings district councillor Henare O'Keefe, broadcaster Shane Taurima and Ngāti Kahungunu board member Hayden Hape.[18][19][20][21]

Most political analysts predicted that Labour would hold Ikaroa-Rāwhiti, which Horomia had held since its formation for the 1999 election. At his last election in 2011, Horomia had won a majority of 6,541 votes.[22] Whaitiri won the by-election with a majority of 1659 votes over Mana Party candidate Te Hamua Nikora. Māori Party candidate Na Raihania, who had also been endorsed by National, came third.[23][24][25] 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".[26]

Whaitiri was re-elected in the elections of 2014, 2017 and 2020.[27] 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.[28] 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.[28]

Government Minister

After the 2017 general election, Labour formed a coalition government with New Zealand First and the Green Party. Whaitiri was Minister of Customs outside Cabinet.[29][30] She also served as Associate Minister for Agriculture, Forestry, Local Government and Crown/Māori Relations.[28][31] Alongside Willie Jackson, she co-chaired the Labour Māori Caucus.[11]

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.[32][33][34][35] On 4 September 2020 the Governor-General granted Whaitiri retention of the title "The Honourable" in "recognition of her term as a member of the Executive Council".[36]

After the 2020 general election, Whaitiri was reappointed as Minister of Customs and Associate Minister of Agriculture (with responsibility for animal welfare) while being appointed as Minister for Veterans and Associate Minister of Statistics.[37][38] She additionally became Minister for Food Safety in June 2022.[39]

References
  1. "Meka Whaitiri". New Zealand Labour Party. Retrieved 29 June 2013.
  2. Laing, Doug (20 September 2014). "Meka Whaitiri wins Ikaroa-Rawhiti". Hawke's Bay Today. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  3. Gower, Patrick (27 April 2011). "Labour's Pania of the Reef". Newshub. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  4. "Vet's widow wants war memorial returned". NZ Herald. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  5. "Delivering a baby best birthday present". NZ Herald. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  6. "How 14 MPs rate their fluency in te reo Māori". NZ Herald. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  7. "Labour selects Meka Whaitiri". The New Zealand Herald. 26 May 2013. Retrieved 29 June 2013.
  8. "Meka Whaitiri : Curriculum Vitae" (PDF). Scoop. Retrieved 29 June 2013.
  9. "Waatea News Update". Waatea 603 AM. 2 March 2009. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
  10. Rutherford, Hamish (1 July 2013). "Successor's first job was for Horomia". The Press. p. A7. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
  11. "Audrey Young: Ranking Labour's Māori caucus – from ambitious to exceeding to pedestrian". NZ Herald. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  12. "Ikaroa-Rawhiti by-election: Sprint nears end". Hawke's Bay Today. 28 June 2013. Retrieved 29 June 2013.
  13. "New Zealand is on track to elect the 'gayest parliament in the world'". SBS News. 28 June 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  14. Young, Audrey (29 October 2013). "Labour to look at 'fairly representing' gay members in Parliament". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  15. Sheppard, Nicholas (8 October 2014). "Labour's gay conundrum". Stuff. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  16. "Labour MP Parekura Horomia dies". The New Zealand Herald. 29 April 2013. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
  17. Chapman, Kate (8 May 2013). "June by-election for Horomias-seat". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
  18. Burr, Lloyd. "Labour's potential Horomia replacements". Newshub. 3 News. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
  19. "Duo vie for Labour position". Hawke's Bay Today. 15 May 2013. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
  20. Trevett, Claire (15 May 2013). "Broadcaster eyes vacancy". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
  21. "Shane Taurima joins race for Ikaroa-Rawhiti by-election". TVNZ. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  22. Small, Vernon (27 May 2013). "Iwi CEO beats broadcaster as seat candidate". Waikato Times. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
  23. "Majority drops slightly in final by-election result". Radio New Zealand. 10 July 2013. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
  24. "Ikaroa-Rawhiti goes to the vote". stuff.co.nz. 29 June 2013. Retrieved 29 June 2013.
  25. "Maori Party spells out balance of power". NZ Herald. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  26. Farrar, David (30 June 2013). "Ikaroa-Rawhiti byelection: a good victory for Labour". National Business Review. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
  27. "Ikaroa-Rāwhiti – Official Result". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  28. "Whaitiri, Meka – New Zealand Parliament". www.parliament.nz. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  29. "Who's in? Who's out?". Radio NZ. 20 October 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  30. "Ministerial List". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  31. "Hon Meka Whaitiri". New Zealand Labour Party. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  32. "Customs Minister Meka Whaitiri stands down from all ministerial portfolios over alleged assault on staff member". 1 News. 30 August 2018. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  33. Hurley, Emma; Lynch, Jenna (30 August 2018). "PM Jacinda Ardern accepts Govt Minister Meka Whaitiri's offer to stand aside". Newshub. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  34. "Labour MP stands down amid assault allegation". Radio New Zealand. 30 August 2018. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  35. "Official report into Meka Whaitiri incident released". RNZ. 5 October 2018. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  36. "Retention of the title 'The Honourable'". New Zealand Gazette. 8 September 2020. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
  37. "Ministerial List for Announcement on Monday" (PDF). Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 2 November 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 November 2020. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
  38. "Meka Whaitiri gets customs role back in ministerial reshuffle". NZ Herald. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  39. "Cabinet changes following Faafoi, Mallard resignations". The Beehive. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
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