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Tom Marsters

Tom Marsters
Tom Marsters 2011.jpg
Marsters in 2011
Queen's Representative to the Cook Islands
Assumed office
27 July 2013
Monarch Elizabeth II
Prime Minister Henry Puna
Preceded by Frederick Tutu Goodwin
Deputy Prime Minister of the Cook Islands
In office
10 December 2010 – 10 June 2013
Prime Minister Henry Puna
Preceded by Robert Wigmore
Succeeded by Teariki Heather
Personal details
Born 4 August 1945 (age 69)
Palmerston Island, Cook Islands
Political party Cook Islands Party
Alma mater Avele College
Grimsby Institute

Tom John Marsters (born 4 August 1945) is the 7th Queen's Representative to the Cook Islands. He is a former Deputy Leader of the Cook Islands Party and Deputy Prime Minister of the Cook Islands.

Marsters was born on Palmerston Island and educated at Nikao and Avarua Primary Schools before attending Avele Agriculture College in Samoa and Grimsby Institute of Technology in the United Kingdom. Before entering politics he worked as a public servant. He was Secretary of the Cook Islands Party from 1968 to 1999.

He was first elected to Parliament for the seat of Murienua in a by-election in 1991.

Marsters served as Minister of Works in the Cabinet of Geoffrey Henry, but resigned his position in 1997 in protest at budget cuts. He later served as a Minister in the first coalition Cabinet of Robert Woonton from 2002, but was sacked in 2003 after a coalition realignment. He rejoined Cabinet after the 2004 election, when Woonton was trying to put together a new coalition; when Woonton resigned to fight a by-election, he served in the Cabinet of Jim Marurai, holding the portfolios of foreign affairs, transport, and youth and sport.

In August 2005, Marurai sacked Cook Islands Party leader Geoffrey Henry from Cabinet, causing the CIP to reconsider its role in government. A month later, Marsters was also sacked, and the coalition formally dissolved.

The retirement of Geoffrey Henry in 2006 led to a leadership election, which saw Marsters replaced as Deputy leader by Tupou Faireka. However, both Faireka and party leader Henry Puna lost their seats at the 2006 election. After a short period in which Puna continued to serve as leader outside parliament, Marsters became leader of the opposition.


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