Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan

Tini "Whetu" Marama Tirikatene-Sullivan ONZ (9 January 1932 – 20 July 2011) was a New Zealand politician. She was an MP from 1967 to 1996, representing the Labour Party. At the time of her retirement, she was the second longest-serving MP in Parliament, being in her tenth term of office. She was one of twenty holders of the Order of New Zealand, the highest honour of the country.

The Honourable Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan ONZ
Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan circa 1960
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Southern Maori
In office 11 March 1967 (1967-03-11) – 12 October 1996
Preceded by	Eruera Tirikatene
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	9 January 1932 Rātana Pā, New Zealand
Died	20 July 2011(2011-07-20) (aged 79) Wellington, New Zealand
Political party	Labour Party
Relations	Eruera Tirikatene (father) Rino Tirikatene (nephew)

Early life

Whetu Marama Tirikatene was born on 9 January 1932, the daughter of Eruera Tirikatene and Ruti Tirikatene (née Solomon). She was raised at Rātana Pā by her grandmother, dress designer and tailor Amiria Henrici Solomon.[1] Educated at Rangiora High School[2] and Wellington East Girls' College, she excelled in dancing, winning the New Zealand amateur Latin American ballroom dancing championship with her Australian partner Kevin Mansfield, and was also accomplished in fencing, becoming one of the top four female fencers in the country.[3][4] She studied for a PhD in political science at the Australian National University, with the topic "Contemporary Maori Political Involvement".[4] While there, she met and married Denis Sullivan, a PhD physics student who later became an associate professor in physics and astrophysics at Victoria University of Wellington.[4][5]

Member of Parliament

New Zealand Parliament
Years	Term	Electorate		Party
1967–1969	35th	Southern Maori		Labour
1969–1972	36th	Southern Maori		Labour
1972–1975	37th	Southern Maori		Labour
1975–1978	38th	Southern Maori		Labour
1978–1981	39th	Southern Maori		Labour
1981–1984	40th	Southern Maori		Labour
1984–1987	41st	Southern Maori		Labour
1987–1990	42nd	Southern Maori		Labour
1990–1993	43rd	Southern Maori		Labour
1993–1996	44th	Southern Maori		Labour

Tirikatene stood unsuccessfully for the Labour Party in the 1966 election for Rangiora.

Tirikatene-Sullivan was first elected to Parliament in the Southern Maori by-election of 1967, which was prompted by the death of the long-serving incumbent—her father Sir Eruera Tirikatene.[4][6] Between 1972 and 1975 she was the Minister of Tourism.[7] She was Minister for the Environment from 1974 to 1975.[8] She was re-elected by substantial majorities until the 1996 election, when the Southern Maori electorate was abolished in the transition to MMP. Tirikatene-Sullivan then contested the new Te Tai Tonga electorate, which covered much of the same territory as the old Southern Maori electorate, but she was narrowly defeated by Tu Wyllie of New Zealand First. She subsequently retired from politics.

In 1970 Tirikatene-Sullivan was the first woman to give birth whilst a sitting MP. She later became the first (both in New Zealand and the Commonwealth) cabinet minister to give birth to a child.[9]

On 6 February 1993, Tirikatene-Sullivan was appointed a Member of the Order of New Zealand, the highest civilian award given by the New Zealand government. The same year, she was awarded the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal.[10] She died in Wellington on 20 July 2011.[11]

Notes

1. Elizabeth, Wratislav (2014). Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan : travel in style. Hammonds, Lucy,, Cracknell, Tryphena,, MTG Hawke's Bay (Museum). Napier. ISBN 9780992259679. OCLC 893610628.
2. "Rangiora High School - Alumni". Retrieved 10 December 2013.
3. "Where the Queen went she followed". Te Ao Hou. Department of Maori Affairs (7): 11. Summer 1954. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
4. "New Member of Parliament for Southern Maori". Te Ao Hou. Department of Maori Affairs (59): 5. June 1967. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
5. "Denis Sullivan". Victoria University. Retrieved 9 August 2011.
6. Wilson 1985, p. 240.
7. Wilson 1985, pp. 92–93.
8. Wilson 1985, p. 93.
9. "Mothers in Parliament: The women who paved the way for Jacinda Ardern". Newshub. 24 June 2018. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
10. "The New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal 1993 – register of recipients". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 26 July 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
11. "NZ's longest-serving female MP passes away". The New Zealand Herald. 22 July 2011. Retrieved 22 July 2011.

References

• Women in Parliamentary Life 1970-1990: Hocken Lecture 1993 by Marilyn Waring, page 36-37 (Hocken Library, University of Otago, 1994) ISBN 0-902041-61-4
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Political offices
Preceded by Joe Walding	Minister for the Environment 1974–1975	Succeeded by Venn Young
Preceded by Bert Walker	Minister of Tourism 1972–1975	Succeeded by Harry Lapwood
New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by Eruera Tirikatene	Member of Parliament for Southern Maori 1967–1996	Constituency abolished