Carmel Sepuloni
|
Carmel Sepuloni MP |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Kelston |
|
|
Assumed office 21 September 2014 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1977 (age 39–40) Waitara |
| Nationality | New Zealand |
| Political party | Labour |
Carmel Jean Sepuloni (born 1977) is a New Zealand politician and a member of parliament for the Labour Party. She was first elected to Parliament following the 2008 general election as a list member, becoming New Zealand's first MP of Tongan descent. In the 2011 general election, Sepuloni won the seat of Waitakere on the official count with an eleven-vote majority over incumbent National MP Paula Bennett, who subsequently requested a judicial recount, which resulted in Sepuloni losing her seat in Parliament. She returned to Parliament in 2014 as the member for Kelston.
Sepuloni was born, raised and schooled in Waitara, Taranaki. She moved to Auckland in 1996 to attend the Auckland College of Education and University of Auckland where she attained a Diploma Teaching (Primary), and a Bachelor of Education respectively. She also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Education. Her father was a Samoan-Tongan migrant freezing worker and 'staunch unionist' and her mother was a Pākehā from a conservative farming family. She has two sons. Before entering politics, Sepuloni was a teacher, with teaching experience in Samoa and with Auckland Youth in alternative education programmes; an equity manager; and a research project manager in Pacific health at the University of Auckland.
Sepuloni came to parliament in the 2008 general election as a list MP for Labour. She was ranked 35 on the party's list and did not stand in any electorate. The promotion of Sepuloni and others was cited by The New Zealand Herald as an effort by the Labour Party to 'inject new faces' and increase the party's ethnic diversity.
...
Wikipedia