Tariana Turia

Last updated

New Zealand Parliament
Dame Tariana Turia
Tariana Turia 2019 (cropped).jpg
Turia in 2019
1st Minister for Whānau Ora
In office
8 April 2010 8 October 2014
YearsTermElectorateListParty
1996 1999 45th List20 Labour
1999 2002 46th List16 Labour
2002 2004 47th Te Tai Hauāuru None Labour
2004 2005 47th Te Tai Hauāuru Māori Party
2005 2008 48th Te Tai Hauāuru1 Māori Party
2008 2011 49th Te Tai Hauāuru1 Māori Party
2011 2014 50th Te Tai Hauāuru7 Māori Party

Turia entered the New Zealand Parliament in the 1996 election as a list MP for the Labour Party, ranking 20th on the party list. In the 1999 election, she remained a list MP, but ranked sixteenth. In the 2002 election, however, she contested the Te Tai Hauāuru Māori electorate, and opted not to place herself on the party list at all. Te Tai Hauāuru (roughly, the Māori voters of the west of the North Island) returned her as their member of parliament.

Although never a member of Cabinet, Turia has held a number of non-Cabinet ministerial roles. From Labour's electoral victory in 1999, she served as Associate Minister of Māori Affairs, Associate Minister of Social Services and Employment, Associate Minister of Health, and Associate Minister of Housing. In 2002, she also became Associate Minister of Corrections. After the formation of the Labour–Progressive coalition in 2002, she dropped the Corrections role and gained full ministerial rank as Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector. [2]

Foreshore and seabed legislation

When debate about ownership of New Zealand's foreshore and seabed broke out in 2003, and the Labour Party proposed vesting ownership in the state, Turia voiced dissatisfaction. Along with many of her supporters in Te Tai Hauāuru, she claimed that Labour's proposal amounted to an outright confiscation of Māori land. When it became publicly known that Turia might vote against Labour's bill in parliament, tensions between Turia and the Labour Party's leadership increased. The hierarchy strongly implied that if Turia did not support Labour policy, she could not retain her ministerial roles.

By-election

On 30 April 2004, after a considerable period of confusion about Turia's intentions, she announced that she would resign from parliament on 17 May. This precipitated a by-election being called in Te Tai Hauāuru, which Turia contested as a member of the new Māori Party that formed around her. On the same day that Turia announced her resignation, Prime Minister Helen Clark sacked her from her ministerial posts. [3]

Her supporters see Turia as having bravely defied her party in order to stand up for her principles. The Labour Party has criticised Turia for putting the foreshore and seabed issue before the party's wider policies for Māori development, and says that she has unreasonably focused on a single issue. Helen Clark said that Turia had shown "an astonishing lack of perspective". [3] Turia described the Te Tai Hauāuru by-election of 10 July 2004 as a chance to test her mandate, and to ensure that she had the support of her voters, but doubts remained about the significance of the by-election, since none of the major parties put forward candidates. Labour called the event "a waste of time and money", although the by-election was required by waka-jumping law in force at the time. [4]

Turia received 92.74% of the vote in the by-election, [5] and resumed her seat in Parliament on 27 July 2004.

2005 general election

Turia and Pita Sharples in 2005 Tariana and Pita at Maori Party Launch 2005.jpg
Turia and Pita Sharples in 2005

On 17 September 2005, the Māori Party contested the general election with electoral candidates in all seven of the Māori seats. Turia was re-elected in Te Tai Hauāuru and that night three more Māori Party candidates won parliamentary seats, Pita Sharples (co-leader) in Tāmaki Makaurau, Hone Harawira in Te Tai Tokerau and Te Ururoa Flavell in Waiariki. The winning of the four seats resulted in celebration for their supporters who anticipated seeing an independent, Māori voice in parliament. However, the Māori Party share of the party vote across the country was 2.1 percent, placing them sixth out of the eight parties in parliament by party vote. This was attributed to voters in the Māori electorates mainly giving their party vote to the incumbent Labour government.

2008 general election and ministerial posts

Support for the Māori Party in the 2008 general election increased with the party gaining an additional seat. [6] National won most seats overall, to form a minority government with support from the Māori Party as well as ACT New Zealand and United Future. In return for Māori Party support in confidence and supply, John Key agreed to not abolish the Māori seats without the consent of Māori. [7] It was also agreed to review the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004 and to consider Māori representation in a wider constitutional review which began in 2010. [8] Turia and co-leader Sharples were both made Ministers, although like other support party members both remained outside Cabinet. Turia was given the portfolios of Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector, Associate Minister of Health and Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment, while Sharples was made Minister of Māori Affairs. [9]

When Paula Bennett stepped down as Minister for Disability Issues on 30 June 2009, Key appointed Turia the new minister. [10] In 2010, the National and Māori Parties announced Whānau Ora, a taskforce designed to streamline social service resources. Turia was announced Minister responsible for the implementing of the scheme. [11]

On 7 April 2011, during the term of the 49th New Zealand Parliament, the composition of the Abortion Supervisory Committee was debated. Turia moved that an anti-abortion Pacific Island doctor, Ate Moala, be appointed to the ASC. The vote was lost 67–31 against, with twenty four absences or abstentions. [12]

Turia confirmed in November 2013 that she would retire at the 2014 election. [13]

Life after Parliament

In 2022, Turia drew media attention for her anti-vaccinationist views and opposition to mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic. On 17 February 2022, Turia accused Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of having Nazi sympathies on Radio New Zealand, in an interview about the Sixth Labour Government's response to the 2022 Wellington anti-vaccination protests. She falsely claimed that Ardern had been filmed as a student doing “almost a Heil Hitler salute”. [14] [15]

In the 2023 New Zealand general election, Turia publicly supported her relative Harete Hipango as the National Party candidate for Te Tai Hauāuru, running against Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. [16]

Following the 2023 New Zealand general election, Turia expressed support for the incoming Sixth National Government's plan to scrap the Te Aka Whai Ora (Māori Health Authority). She opined that she would rather see funding being given directly to whanau (families), iwi (tribes), hapū (sub-tribes) to allow them to manage their own health needs. While Turia praised John Key and Bill English for the Fifth National Government's progress on Māori health, she criticised the outgoing Labour Government for allegedly not taking "into account the differences in the way people view things". [17]

Honours

In the 2015 New Year Honours, Turia was appointed a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services as a Member of Parliament. [18]

Related Research Articles

The New Zealand foreshore and seabed controversy is a debate in the politics of New Zealand. It concerns the ownership of the country's foreshore and seabed, with many Māori groups claiming that Māori have a rightful claim to title. These claims are based around historical possession and the Treaty of Waitangi. On 18 November 2004, the New Zealand Parliament passed a law which deems the title to be held by the Crown. This law, the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004, was enacted on 24 November 2004. Some sections of the act came into force on 17 January 2005. It was repealed and replaced by the Marine and Coastal Area Act 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2004 Te Tai Hauauru by-election</span> New Zealand by-election

The Te Tai Hauauru by-election was a by-election in the New Zealand electorate of Te Tai Hauāuru, one of the Māori electorates. The date set for the by-election was 10 July 2004. It saw the re-election of Tariana Turia, a former MP for the Labour Party and now co-leader of the Māori Party.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Te Tai Hauāuru</span> Māori electorate in New Zealand

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References

  1. "Michele Hewitson interview: Tariana Turia". New Zealand Herald. 5 March 2011. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
  2. 1 2 Berry, Ruth; Tunnah, Helen (30 April 2004). "Turia quits Labour, stripped of portfolios". The New Zealand Herald . Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  3. Professor Andrew Geddis. "Who controls the past now, controls the future" . Retrieved 11 January 2017.
  4. "By-Election Results – Te Tai Hauauru". Chief Electoral Office. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
  5. "Party vote status 2008". Archived from the original on 9 February 2009.
  6. Trevett, Claire (17 November 2008). "Maori Party takes 'sensible position'". The New Zealand Herald . Retrieved 17 November 2011.
  7. http://www.parliament.nz/NR/rdonlyres/22CACF7A-2530-45E6-9569-518E53CF0056/184002/NationalMaori_Party_agreement20096.pdf [ dead link ]
  8. "Key's Government". The New Zealand Herald . 17 November 2008. Retrieved 17 November 2011.
  9. "Minister drops Disability Issues" (Press release). New Zealand Labour Party. 30 June 2009. Retrieved 8 April 2010.
  10. "Whanau Ora: Turia to head welfare shake-up". The New Zealand Herald . 8 April 2010. Retrieved 8 April 2010.
  11. "Appointments — Abortion Supervisory Committee".
  12. Small, Vernon (5 November 2013). "Tariana Turia set to go". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 19 September 2014.
  13. "No confidence in Ardern – Dame Tariana Turia". Radio New Zealand . 18 February 2022. Archived from the original on 17 February 2022. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  14. "Listen: Dame Tariana Turia makes bizarre claim about PM, supports protest". The New Zealand Herald . Archived from the original on 18 February 2022. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  15. "Former Māori Party leader supporting National candidate in Māori electorate". NZ Herald. 19 November 2024. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
  16. Hemi, Tema (19 October 2023). "Dame Tariana Turia believes more can be accomplished for Māori health under National". The New Zealand Herald . Archived from the original on 24 October 2023. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
  17. "New Year honours list 2015". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 31 December 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Te Tai Hauāuru
2002–2014
Succeeded by
Party political offices
New political party Co-leader of the Māori Party
2004–2014
Served alongside: Pita Sharples, Te Ururoa Flavell
Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector
2003–2004

2008–2011
Succeeded by
Preceded bySucceeded by
Preceded by Minister for Disability Issues
2009–2014
Succeeded by
New ministerial post Minister responsible for Whānau Ora
2010–2014
Succeeded by