Meka Whaitiri
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Meka Whaitiri MP |
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| Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti |
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Assumed office 29 June 2013 |
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| Preceded by | Parekura Horomia |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 11 January 1965 |
| Children | two sons |
| Profession | chief executive officer |
Meka Whaitiri (born 11 January 1965) is a politician of the Labour Party and a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives. She won the 2013 Ikaroa-Rāwhiti by-election, succeeding Labour's Parekura Horomia. She previously worked in senior advisory and management roles.
Whaitiri was born in Manutuke near Gisborne in 1965, and brought up in the Hastings suburb of Whakatu by a whānau of mostly freezing workers. She has affiliation to Rongowhakaata and Ngāti Kahungunu. At Karamu High School, she was head girl. She first worked at a freezing works herself before obtaining a master's degree in education from Victoria University of Wellington. In both softball and netball, she competed to national level. She was selected by the Silver Ferns as a non-travelling reserve player. Her first professional job was for Parekura Horomia, who made her wait eight hours before he saw her, but then hired her immediately for the Department of Labour.
She was a negotiator for Rongowhakaata's treaty settlement. From 2007 to 2009, she was a senior adviser for the Minister of Māori Affairs Office, and thus advised Hon Parekura Horomia while he was the minister. Since 2009, she has been the chief executive officer of Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi. Whaitiri's mother, Mei Whaitiri (née Irihapiti Robin), was the model used for the Pania of the Reef statue in Napier when it was made in 1954.
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