Tom Marsters

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

Sir Tom Marsters

KBE
Marsters in 2011
Queen's Representative to the Cook Islands
Assumed office
27 July 2013
MonarchElizabeth II
Prime MinisterHenry Puna
Preceded byFrederick Tutu Goodwin
Deputy Prime Minister of the Cook Islands
In office
10 December 2010 – 10 June 2013
Prime MinisterHenry Puna
Preceded byRobert Wigmore
Succeeded byTeariki Heather
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
10 December 2010 – 10 June 2013
Preceded byRobert Wigmore
Succeeded byHenry Puna
In office
18 December 2004 – 12 September 2005
Prime MinisterJim Marurai
Preceded byRobert Woonton
Succeeded byWilkie Rasmussen
Minister of Transport
In office
10 December 2010 – 10 June 2013
Preceded byWilliam (Smiley) Heather
Succeeded byHenry Puna
Minister of Works
In office
15 February 2002 – 30 January 2003
Prime MinisterRobert Woonton
Preceded byNgamau Munokoa
Succeeded byTangata Vavia
Member of the Cook Islands Parliament
for Murienua
In office
1991 – 25 July 2013
Succeeded byKaota Tuariki
Personal details
Born (1945-08-04) 4 August 1945
Palmerston Island, Cook Islands
Political partyCook Islands Party
Alma materAvele College
Grimsby Institute

Personal life

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.[1] Before entering politics he worked as a public servant. He was Secretary of the Cook Islands Party from 1968 to 1999.[1]

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

Cabinet

Marsters served as Minister of Works in the Cabinet of Geoffrey Henry, but resigned his position in 1997 in protest at budget cuts.[2] He later served as Minister of Works, Youth, Sport and Recreation in the first coalition Cabinet of Robert Woonton from 2002,[3] but was sacked in 2003 after a coalition realignment.[4] He rejoined Cabinet after the 2004 election, when Woonton was trying to put together a new coalition;[5] 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.[6]

In August 2005, Marurai sacked Cook Islands Party leader Geoffrey Henry from Cabinet,[7] causing the CIP to reconsider its role in government. A month later, Marsters was also sacked, and the coalition formally dissolved.[8]

Opposition

The retirement of Geoffrey Henry in 2006 led to a leadership election, which saw Marsters replaced as Deputy leader by Tupou Faireka.[9] However, both Faireka and party leader Henry Puna lost their seats at the 2006 election.[10] While Puna continued to serve as leader outside parliament, Marsters became leader of the opposition.

Deputy Prime Minister

Marsters was re-elected at the 2010 elections, which saw the Cook Islands Party win 16 of the 24 seats. henry Puna was elected Prime Minister, and Marsters was appointed to Cabinet as Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Minister of Mining and Natural Resources.[11] As Minister of Mining and Natural Resources he promoted seabed mining,[12] and negotiated a Regional Seabed Mining Framework through the Pacific Islands Forum.[13] he began negotiations with the Cook Island's neighbours over marine boundaries,[14] and sent a delegation to the United Nations in New York to negotiate an extension of the country's continental shelf boundaries under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.[15]

In June 2011 his son Giovanni Marsters was arrested on 14 charges of importing, selling, and possessing illicit drugs.[16] He later pled guilty and was sentenced to six years imprisonment for importing cannabis.[17]

Queen's Representative

On 5 June 2013 Marsters was appointed Queen's Representative, replacing Frederick Tutu Goodwin.[18] He resigned from Parliament on 25 July 2013 to take up the role,[19] precipitating the 2013 Murienua by-election. In June 2016 he made a rare intervention as Queen's Representative, ruling that Parliament had been properly adjourned and that therefore a purported opposition vote of no-confidence ousting the government was of no effect.[20] He was reappointed for a second three-year term in July 2016,[21] and a third one in 2019.[22]

In the 2018 Birthday Honours Marsters was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.[23] In November 2018 he was knighted in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace.[24]

In January 2019 Marsters helped turn the first sod and lay the first stones of Marsters House, a hostel for the various branches of the Marsters family in Rarotonga.[25] The hostel was opened in July 2019.[26]

References
  1. "Tom John Marsters". Cook Islands Government. Archived from the original on 26 March 2009. Retrieved 27 December 2009.
  2. Wilkie Rasmussen (1999). "Cook Islands in Review: Issues and Events, 1 July 1997 to 30 June 1998". The Contemporary Pacific. 11 (1): 207.
  3. "COOK ISLANDS PRIME MINISTER WOONTON'S AND NORMAN GEORGE'S LONG PORTFOLIO". Pacific Islands Report. 18 February 2002. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  4. "Cook Islands deputy PM sacked". RNZ. 30 January 2003. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  5. "Former Cooks cabinet minister says PM breaching party rules". RNZ. 18 November 2004. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  6. "Cook Islands coalition appoints minister for sport". Radio New Zealand International. 18 December 2004. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  7. "Cook Islands deputy PM dumped, new government formed". RNZ. 9 August 2005. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  8. "Cook Islands PM sacks two more ministers". RNZ. 12 September 2005. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  9. "New leader of Cook Islands Party looks forward to challenge". RNZ. 4 September 2006. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  10. "Democratic Party leads in Cooks election". RNZ. 27 September 2006. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  11. "Cooks PM announces cabinet line up". RNZ. 3 December 2010. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  12. "Cook Islands promoting its vast seabed mineral reserves". RNZ. 4 April 2011. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  13. "Regional Seabed Mining Framework Launched At Pacific Forum". Pacific Islands Report. 30 August 2012. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  14. "Cook Islands Negotiating Economic Zone Borders With Neighbors". Pacific Islands Report. 22 June 2012. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  15. "Cooks to ask UN for extension of continental shelf". RNZ. 6 February 2013. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  16. "COOK ISLES OFFICIAL'S SON IN MAJOR DRUG BUST". Pacific Islands Report. 10 June 2011. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  17. "Three jailed after huge Cook Islands drugs bust, seven awaiting trial". RNZ. 24 July 2012. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  18. "Marsters appointed new QR". Cook Islands News. 5 June 2013. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  19. "By-election next month". Cook Islands News. 1 August 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
  20. "Vice regal backing for the status quo in Cooks battle". RNZ. 23 June 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  21. Rashneel Kumar (28 July 2016). "QR reappointed three more years". Cook Islands News. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
  22. "Queen's Rep reappointed". Cook Islands News. 8 August 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  23. "No. 62311". The London Gazette (2nd supplement). 9 June 2018. p. B38.
  24. "Cooks Queen's Representative being knighted in London". RNZ. 6 November 2018. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  25. "Palmerston House development begins". Cook Islands News. 28 January 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  26. "Nearly a thousand people gather for opening of the new house for Palmerston". Cook Islands News. 9 July 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  • Profile at Cook Islands Parliament.
Government offices
Preceded by
Frederick Tutu Goodwin		 Queen's Representative to the Cook Islands
2013–present		 Incumbent
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