Mita Ririnui | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Labour party list | |
| In office 2005–2011 | |
| Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Waiariki | |
| In office 1999–2005 | |
| Succeeded by | Te Ururoa Flavell |
| Majority | 6,717 (44.44%) [info 1] |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Tauranga,New Zealand |
| Political party | Labour |
| Children | 7 |
| Residence | Tauranga |
| |
Mita Michael Ririnui is a former New Zealand politician and a member of the Labour Party. He was a member of parliament from 1999 to 2011.
Ririnui was born in Tauranga. He obtained his education from Tauranga Boys' College,Bay of Plenty Polytechnic,University of Waikato and Massey University. Before entering politics,Ririnui worked for a number of notable Maori community organisations including Te Puni Kōkiri,and he is a registered minister of the Rātana church. [1]
| Years | Term | Electorate | List | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 –2002 | 46th | Waiariki | 47 | Labour | |
| 2002 –2005 | 47th | Waiariki | 32 | Labour | |
| 2005 –2008 | 48th | List | 15 | Labour | |
| 2008 –2011 | 49th | List | 23 | Labour | |
Ririnui was originally elected to Parliament as the MP for the Māori electorate of Waiariki, winning the 1999 election from Tuariki Delamere. He retained the seat in 2002. However, in the 2005 election, he lost his electorate seat to Te Ururoa Flavell of the Māori Party and remained in Parliament as a list MP.
At the beginning of his second term as an MP, Ririnui was appointed a Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the ministers responsible for Conservation, Corrections and Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations; in July 2004, his Conservation portfolio was replaced with Health. In December 2004 Ririnui instead became a Minister outside Cabinet, as a Minister of State with Associate Ministerial roles in the Corrections, Health, Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, and Forestry portfolios, and held these roles until the defeat of the Labour government in 2008. [2] He also chaired the Labour Party's internal Maori Caucus.
Labour was defeated in the 2008 general election, meaning that Ririnui was unable to retain his ministerial positions. He was unsuccessful at regaining Waiariki, but his list placing of 23 ensured his return to Parliament on the Labour list.
On 14 June 2010, four days after the release of ministerial credit card records, Ririnui along with two other MPs Chris Carter and Shane Jones were demoted by Opposition Leader Phil Goff for misuse of such credit cards. In the case of Ririnui, he was accused of purchasing items such as golf clubs and a bike which violate the rules regarding the usage of ministerial credit cards. Ririnui reimbursed Ministerial Services at the time for the purchases. Ririnui's demotion included the loss of the shadow portfolio of Forestry. [3]
In February 2011, Ririnui announced that he would retire at the 2011 election. [4]
Rātana is a Māori Christian church and movement, headquartered at Rātana Pā near Whanganui, New Zealand. The Rātana movement began in 1918, when Tahupōtiki Wiremu Ratana experienced visions, and began a mission of faith healing. In 1925 the Ratana Church was formed, and on 25 January 1928—T. W.'s 55th birthday, and "Rātana Day"—the church's iconic temple, Te Temepara Tapu o Ihoa was opened. From its beginning and through to the 20th century, the church has pursued political goals, and still welcomes political leaders to the Rātana Pā annually on Ratana's birthday. In the 2018 New Zealand census, 43,821 people identified with the religion.
Christopher Joseph Carter is a former New Zealand Labour Party and independent Member of the New Zealand Parliament. He was a senior Cabinet Minister in the Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand, serving lastly as Minister of Education, Minister Responsible for the Education Review Office and Minister of Ethnic Affairs. He was the Member of Parliament for the Te Atatu electorate, where he was first elected in 1993. He did not win re-election in 1996, but won a new and expanded Te Atatu seat in 1999. In 2010, he was suspended from the Labour Party caucus following a dispute with party leader Phil Goff, shortly afterwards he became an independent MP. He was expelled by the Labour Party for breaching the Party's constitution in bringing the Party in disrepute, on 11 October 2010. In September 2011 Carter resigned from Parliament following his appointment to a United Nations position in Afghanistan where he served for 4 years. In 2015 he was appointed to head UN operations in Rakhine State in Myanmar where he served for 3 years. In 2018 he rejoined the New Zealand Labour Party and stood for election as a Labour Party representative in the 2019 New Zealand local elections. Carter was elected and appointed as Chairperson of the Henderson Massey Local Board with 11,250 votes. He also won election in 2019 as one of the seven elected board members of the Waitemata District Health Board with 14,593 votes. Both positions have three year terms.
James Robert Sutton, generally known as Jim Sutton, is a New Zealand politician who was a Member of Parliament between 1984 and 1990 and again between 1993 and 2006. He has held a range of ministerial portfolios including Agriculture, Forestry, Rural Affairs, Biosecurity, and Trade Negotiations.
Dame Tariana Turia is a former New Zealand politician. She was first elected to Parliament in 1996. Turia gained considerable prominence during the foreshore and seabed controversy in 2004, and eventually broke with the Labour Party as a result. She resigned from parliament, and successfully contested a by-election in her former electorate as a candidate of the newly formed Māori Party, of which became a co-leader. She retired from Parliament in 2014.
Te Pāti Māori, also known as the Māori Party, is a political party in New Zealand advocating Māori rights. With the exception of a handful of general electorates, Te Pāti Māori contests the reserved Māori electorates, in which its main rival is the Labour Party.
In New Zealand politics, Māori electorates, colloquially known as the Māori seats, are a special category of electorate that give reserved positions to representatives of Māori in the New Zealand Parliament. Every area in New Zealand is covered by both a general and a Māori electorate; as of 2020, there are seven Māori electorates. Since 1967, candidates in Māori electorates have not needed to be Māori themselves, but to register as a voter in the Māori electorates people need to declare that they are of Māori descent.
Sir Douglas Lorimer Kidd is a former New Zealand politician. He was an MP from 1978 to 2002, representing the National Party. He served for three years as Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Tuariki John Edward Delamere is a former New Zealand politician and athlete. He was elected to the New Zealand House of Representatives in the Te Tai Rawhiti electorate, representing the New Zealand First party, in the 1996 New Zealand general election. He was later a member of the Te Tawharau party, before losing his seat in 1999.
Koro Tainui Wētere was a New Zealand politician. He was an MP from 1969 to 1996, representing the Labour Party. He served as Minister of Māori Affairs in the Fourth Labour Government (1984–1990).
Māori politics is the politics of the Māori people, who were the original inhabitants of New Zealand and who are now the country's largest minority.
Shane Geoffrey Jones is a New Zealand politician and a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives for the New Zealand First party.
Te Ururoa James William Ben Flavell, also known as Hemi Flavell, is a New Zealand politician who was a co-leader of the Māori Party from 2013 until 2018 and represented the Waiariki electorate for the party in Parliament from 2005–2017.
Waiariki is a New Zealand parliamentary Māori electorate that was established for the 1999 election, replacing the Te Tai Rawhiti electorate. It is currently held by Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, who won it in the 2020 and 2023 general elections.
Tāmati Gerald Coffey is a New Zealand broadcaster, politician, and former Member of Parliament.
Stuart Alexander Nash is a politician from New Zealand. He was a list member of the House of Representatives for the Labour Party from 2008 to 2011, and was re-elected in the 2014 election as representative of the Napier electorate. He entered Cabinet in October 2017, with the portfolios of Police, Revenue, Small Business and Fisheries. On 28 March 2023, following several breaches of conduct, including using his position to attempt to influence police procedures, it was revealed Nash communicated confidential details surrounding a Cabinet meeting to two of his donors, and Nash was removed from all Cabinet positions by Prime Minister Chris Hipkins. In early April 2023, Nash confirmed that he would not be contesting the 2023 election.
Kelvin Glen Davis is a New Zealand politician. He is a member of the House of Representatives, and was a senior minister in the Sixth Labour Government and the deputy leader of the New Zealand Labour Party from 2017 to 2023.
Rino Tirikatene is a New Zealand Labour Party politician and a former member of the House of Representatives. He comes from a family with a strong political history.
Paul Jonathan Goldsmith is a New Zealand historian and politician. The biographer of several leading right-wing political and business figures, he was first elected a list member of the New Zealand House of Representatives for the National Party at the 2011 election.
Rawiri Wikuki Waititi is a New Zealand politician and co-leader of Te Pāti Māori alongside Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. He has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Waiariki since 2020, when his election returned Te Pāti Māori to the New Zealand Parliament following their defeat at the 2017 general election.
Joseph Mooney is a New Zealand politician. In 2020 he was elected as a Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for the National Party in the Southland electorate.